{"id":76,"date":"2012-04-02T18:49:23","date_gmt":"2012-04-02T18:49:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/bittmanbliss.com\/wordpress\/?p=76"},"modified":"2012-04-10T00:57:43","modified_gmt":"2012-04-10T00:57:43","slug":"practice-holding-my-attention","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bittmanbliss.com\/wordpress\/practice-holding-my-attention\/","title":{"rendered":"Paying Attention"},"content":{"rendered":"

Gandhi said, \u201cHappiness is when what you think, what you say and what you do are in harmony.\u201d In addition to happiness, I can see that when my consciousness is in harmony, when all aspects of it are centered and focused on my deepest intentions and values, I also experience peace, serenity, joy, strength and the manifestation of my dreams. When I am whole and one in my consciousness, I experience my true state of wholeness and oneness.<\/span><\/p>\n

I also notice quite clearly how this is easier said than done. I am whole, but I fragment myself in so many ways. I hold things on myself and reject those parts of myself I\u2019m not so crazy about. I sometimes have trouble forgiving others, making them responsible for my feelings and moods, and therefore give them some of my focus and my power. I sometimes separate my spiritual life from the rest of my life. Often I think one thing, feel another, say a third and do a fourth!<\/span><\/p>\n

Speaking of things being easier said than done, if I had a nickel for every time I said one thing and did another, Bill Gates would be asking me for loans. It\u2019s like the old Italian proverb: \u201cBetween saying and doing, many of pair of shoes is worn out.\u201d Not to mention all the times I\u2019ve thought something and said another, thought something and didn\u2019t do it (wow, that\u2019s a big one. Have you ever noticed that the most effective way to NOT do something is to think about doing it?); all the combinations and permutations make my head spin. Which might be an improvement.<\/span><\/p>\n

My mind is not only a world traveler but a time traveler. It can zip between here and there and between past and future at something approaching the speed of light. Sometimes I\u2019ll be near the end of a wonderful hike or a delicious meal, and suddenly realize I haven\u2019t really noticed or tasted a thing. My body was hiking or eating, but my mind was in some other place or time.<\/span><\/p>\n

So, I\u2019ve decided that the most important thing for me to do in order to fulfill my desire to have a more harmonious and unified consciousness is to practice holding my attention. Here\u2019s what I\u2019m going to do, and I invite you to join me. I\u2019m going to do one thing at a time, and I\u2019m going to give it my full attention. I\u2019m OK with my mind doing its traveling thing, but I intend to have some say about where it goes. At the very least I\u2019d like to know that it left! I\u2019m going to practice holding my attention on what I\u2019m doing, even if it\u2019s mundane or what I have perceived as boring. I will no longer attempt to juggle eating with texting, thinking about what so and so said yesterday and filling out my to-do list. I am a uni-tasker!<\/span><\/p>\n

There would be tremendous value in giving my full attention to my thoughts, feelings and words, too, but for now I\u2019m going to focus on my actions, since I believe my actions are what contribute most to my growth and unfolding. Even when my thinking is stinking, if I\u2019m paying attention, I can still choose to do what is most aligned with my core values. Right now I can even choose to start doing all those things I\u2019ve thought myself out of over the years, all those things I know in my heart would make my life better and bring more light into this world.<\/span><\/p>\n

While I\u2019m paying attention, I\u2019m confident I\u2019ll have a better chance of choosing actions that help to create things that are good and beautiful and true. And through taking action, I\u2019m also confident that more of what\u2019s good and beautiful and true will filter back into my thoughts and feelings and even my words. All this from simply paying attention. It\u2019s a small price to pay!<\/span><\/p>\n

If that\u2019s all we remember, that\u2019s more than enough for now.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Gandhi said, \u201cHappiness is when what you think, what you say and what you do are in harmony.\u201d In addition to happiness, I can see that when my consciousness is in harmony, when all aspects of it are centered and … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-76","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-look-for-the-good"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bittmanbliss.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bittmanbliss.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bittmanbliss.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bittmanbliss.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bittmanbliss.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=76"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/bittmanbliss.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":96,"href":"https:\/\/bittmanbliss.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76\/revisions\/96"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bittmanbliss.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=76"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bittmanbliss.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=76"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bittmanbliss.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=76"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}