Your attention matters

Your attention matters.

Living with so many things catching our attention all around. Flashy, big, shiny, a lot of information.

We were never meant to live in such overstimulation, in such an overwhelmed state.

And with that, stress has been normalized, and we live with it as a daily component that just needs to be accepted.

But how about lessening your anxiety? How about gaining back your attention and being mindful of what you give it to.

Hear me out…

Let’s look at a very real scenario.

Imagine you go outside and walk around. Now, I am from a relatively quiet city when you compare it to the bigger cities of the world, but nevertheless, you go out and you see billboards with very random and actually useless texts that just try to get you to buy something. Sometimes the messages on billboards, ads are actually conveying the wrong message. You walk more, and you open your phone, go on Instagram and scroll through “a couple“ of videos, because that’s just a little. In those videos, you often don’t remember them afterwards, but they took your attention, they were very short and made you think quickly, shift attention from one to another, and then you put it down. You walk further, and it’s cars, noise, a lot of stimulation all at once.

In online channels the way videos are presented, have you seen? YOU NEED THIS! YOU DON’T WANT TO MISS! THEY DON’T WANT YOU TO KNOW! THEY … DON’T … and on and on.

I’m not saying everything is presented in such a way, but I know you might have seen a lot.

Also, as you go through your day, you may have become very good at multitasking, so you can possibly do many things at once. Then you do that once, twice, more, and even the cup of tea, or the work task, doesn’t get your full attention.

Give your mind a break

How about you give your attention to one-thing-at-a-atime?

How does that sound?

I know you already do, so you know the benefit and the feeling when your attention is not scattered all around.

We live in a very polluted world, in this case, I mean, with stimuli that is mentally overwhelming. And then our mind and nervous system doesn’t fully have time to comprehend everything, making stress higher, anxiety heavier, and overthinking a daily habit.

Oftentimes, it’s not our fault, other times, it is, but in both cases, we can choose a different way.

We can choose daily habits that give us back the peace in our minds and hearts. We can choose to be present and active in the current moment, give our minds time to focus on a task for more than 5 minutes. GIve that cup of tea our full attention. Move our bodies, being active, being mindful and rushing less. Be present with people in our lives, think about our goals, breathe deeper, and think more clearly. Because it’s a choice, and we can make it every day.

I would ask you, and I am, what could you do today that would benefit your wellness?

And I also want to know what you have already done? Reflecting on what you have done is a beneficial way to see what you are already doing good for yourself, because you are:).

Once you start doing things better for your wellbeing, it becomes a habit you love repeating.