On Attention, Attention, Attention
Today I leave the house with nothing - just my running vest, adidas shorts, compression socks and running shoes on. The intention is clear: to run up Wansfell Pike (430m up and 2 miles in distance) and then back down again the other side.
I’ve no phone ‘in case I need it’; I’ve no jacket ‘in case it rains’; I’ve no notebook and pen ‘in case I decide to lengthen my adventure and include time in a cafe etc’. No water. No food.
I’m here to complete the mission, that’s all. And it’s a fun one indeed!
I’m grateful to have found certain things that I truly enjoying giving my full attention to. Running, writing, physical training, reading, cooking, teaching, sex. And yet still I can’t help but dilute the experience at times - to do too many things at once, and simply to avoid the full immersive experience of the thing itself.
As Steven Pressfield in ‘The War Of Art’ stresses, this is Resistance showing it’s face and manifesting itself in one of it’s many, many forms. The podcast that I put on whilst out in the hills ‘running’, the Whatsapp chats chiming in on the side whilst writing, the calls I sometimes pick up from friends when I’ve only just settled into the creative act of crafting the next ReMo Magazine.
Maybe we all need certain ‘candies’ along the route of self-transformation - goodies that make life that little more bearable, 10 minutes into a long run, 60 pages into a novel or 2 sets into our 5 prescribed sets of pull-ups etc etc.
Maybe there’s a place for the candies… and yet, at what point do we unfortunately forget what that pure experience of attention, of oneness with one’s action and one’s intention, ever felt like…?
The sweet distractions, if not noticed and recognised for what they are, and if not taken away again at times, become the new (largely unconscious) NORM. And these NORMS are what become of our everyday life.
One thing Life has taught me (when I’m not forgetting it) is that ‘taking things away’ is typically a better orientation for positive change than ‘adding something else’ to the equation. And so the most useful question remains: what can I take away from my daily routine to allow for a stronger sense of focus and attention in everything else that I do?
Some suggestions (to remind myself also):
> Keeping the phone on airplane mode ALL OF THE TIME unless it’s being consciously used
> Have a pre-prepared music playlist designed for specific purposes (workouts, studying, meditation etc) to reduce scrolling and algorithmic attention grabs
> Design and tidy one’s physical space in order to minimise unnecessary distractions and/or unhelpful input
> Keep the mobile phone AWAY in an entirely different room when engaging in conversations, dinners, games etc with others
It can be a delicate sweet spot, I notice, to facilitate optimal conditions for Attention whilst not diverting that attention into too many areas.
Non-verbal music whilst writing can enhance attention sometimes I notice, just as hip-hop music whilst doing strength training can also facilitate a stronger, more concentrated output. Anything at all, when running in the mountains, however, is too much input all at once for me (something I find myself battling against and still questioning from time to time).
No doubt it’s a personal recipe for each of us, to some extent. To take it all away at times, or to deliberately mix it up purely from a place of curiosity, seems essential however in order to fully trust that we have things wired correctly for ourselves in the HERE and NOW.
Having an invested interest in others’ ideas might be the MOST important and essential factor of all with regards to attention. ‘Standing on the shoulders of giants’ is likely the only way to know what we don’t yet know, as well as to get honest feedback regarding where we’re actually at. As individuals, we all can’t help but to think we know who we are - that is until better teachers, role models, ideas, techniques etc show us the next version of who we are.
Feedback, through even something as simple as the video camera (for movers) or the stopwatch (for runners) goes a huge way towards ‘forced’ attention, and for a small amount of money and with little preparation needed!
Personally, as a runner, I’ve noticed over the years how easy it is to go through the motions, keep up a certain habitual output, and be able to enjoy the identity and basic health benefits without needing to SHOW UP fully with my best, most attentive self. When the stopwatch is running with me, however, I can’t hide from the basic facts of how far I’ve ran and how fast I’ve ran it.
These objective truths are essential for attention to be obtained and sustained, and give an important context for our more social-emotional experience to be understood and respected also. Without a framework and some basic set of parameters, our minds and thoughts, after all, take us to all kinds of unhelpful (and even delusional) places!
These are just some thoughts on the subject of Attention - to research this subject more I recommend reading through some of my earlier blogs (free and available on this site) and/or the following list of books that have contributed greatly to my understanding and practice of this subject…
The War of Art (Steven Pressfield) // Peak Performance (Steve Magness & Brad Stulberg) // Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind (Suzuki) // Awareness (Anthony Di Mello) // Endure (Alex Hutchinson) // Freedom From The Known (J. Krishnamurthi)
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