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Have you ever thought?
I mean have you ever really thought?
Have you ever considered how deep reflective focused thinking is important to our selves, our culture, our world but treated with very little regard at times by our selves, culture and world?
The ability to focus, concentrate, reflect, to think is undervalued in our society.
I woke up this morning with this picture in my mind of thought.
Thought can be focused and cutting like a pin-point laser that cuts through things
or
it can be a larger light like a flashlight that illuminates many things at once.
The ability to focus your thought back and forth from the details to the big picture is crucial to be able to solve problems, gain knowledge, learn.
The key is to be able to switch back and forth appropriately.
Have you ever met someone who if you ask them to describe an automobile (we are assuming you've never seen one) would give you an explanation like, "A car is made up of over 7863 separate parts, the bumper is one part, bumpers are made of chrome, chrome was mined in the United States until the late 1950's after which it became cheaper to mine in Argentina......"
Instead of saying, "an automobile is a motorized vehicle used to transport people, here let me show you a picture."
Our society has very little respect for focused thought. There are a variety of possible reasons. We are lazy, we like others to think for us (TV, radio, books, magazines, newspaper), we like quick fixes (read easy). Real focused attention is hard work.
We are a society of attention deficit prone adults and children.
Why?
Noise.
Internal and external.
Breathing, meditating, getting in tune with nature, being quiet, praying will all help quiet the internal noise.
Take a news break, turn off the TV, radio, visit a church, take a break from listening or participating in conversations to quiet the external.
The ability of a system to create or receive information is a function of the signal (containing the intelligence) to noise ratio. What we want to do is maximize our ability to create and process signals and minimize the noise.
We are a culture of short attention span. Take some time to think and exercise your mind. Practice quieting your mind by paying attention to your breath. Say something simple to yourself like I breath in, I breath out in synch with your breaths. Find some prayers you like and recite them with relaxation and mind clearing as your goal.
There are some difficult problems we all face, everyday, as individuals, as members of society. Take some time out of your busy day to quiet yourself, to think, to reflect, to concentrate. It works great.
Your mind is like a muscle the more you use it the better it will serve you. You will be happier.
I guarantee it.
