Now Pay Attention!

This is probably a phrase you have heard many times in your life but did you know that one of the most powerful things you can do with your mind is learn to focus your attention. When our attention is unfocussed, it simply ends up being sapped away and the biggest culprits are things like television, junk mail and email, whining friends, the supermarket, too much background noise and negative self-talk.

If, on the other hand, you learn to focus your attention, then you are tapping into one of the greatest resources you have. The act of ‘paying attention’ is basically you making a deliberate choice to withdraw form other things in order to focus one thing. This is of great importance because, when we do this, we are actually choosing which things will ultimately shape our reality. If you focus on how much poverty there is in the world, then chances are you are going to develop a lack mentality and this will ultimately affect your attitude to acquiring wealth. If you like to read stories about wealthy and successful people who are doing great things with the money they have made, then chances are you will develop a positive attitude towards money and the good it can do and the acquisition of wealth should come easily to you. In other words, what we pay attention to becomes of great significance to us, while what we chose to ignore fades into the distance.

Limit the time you spend with negative people and try not to listen to their criticism; read positive stories in the newspaper and try to watch educational or uplifting programs on television, rather than the usual drama-infused soap operas. Know what you are looking for when you log onto the internet, then your attention won’t be sucked away by random messages and advertising. Most importantly, limit the time you spend thinking about the neagtive things that are happening in your life and, instead, try to focus on the positive outcomes you would like to achieve.

Your mind has unlimited potential for attention so learn some methods for increasing your ability to pay attention such as meditation and relaxation so that when you focus on something you want to focus on, it will negate all of the attention you wasted on things you didn’t want to focus on.

Remember, it is your mind that creates your reality, so learning to pay attention properly is one of the most important life skills you can ever learn.