I’d like to re-introduce to you one of the most rare and uncommon ancient practices that may drastically improve your life – physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually.
Some of you might have heard of it before and for others it may be a new concept.
I am unsure of when its origin but it can probably be pinpointed to the time of B.C (Either Before Christ or Before Covid).
The ancient practice I am referring to is the practice of undivided attention.
We live in a world that constantly demands your attention. From school to work, family to friends, television to social media, the list goes on.
As a result we have trained ourselves to divide our attention in order to keep up with all the demands in our lives.
We use multitasking as a means to achieve our tasks/goals because it gives us the ability to do multiple things at the same time, which can sometimes result in completing most of our tasks in a short period of time.
Multitasking is not necessarily a bad thing as it has its benefits at times. Have you ever cooked dinner and washed dishes at the same time? It saves you time and less work at the end of your meal because you have less dirty dishes to wash.
As there are benefits to multitasking, there are also downfalls. Multitasking divides the time you spend on each task, the energy/effort you spend on each task and ultimately divides your attention on each task.
Let me ask you this: How many browsers do you have open right now? How many of those browsers are unrelated? Are you using your phone and computer at the same time? If you’re using your phone, are you doing anything else? If you’re on your computer, where is your phone?
We have consciously or unconsciously trained ourselves to need constant stimulus. So much so that we can’t even give one thing our undivided attention. I’m definitely guilty of it.
I knew it was a problem when I went to go spend time with God and I was having trouble being still and focusing. My mind was wandering and my eyes couldn’t stay on the same page without looking around at what else I could do while waiting on the Lord to speak to me.
After that experience, I felt the Lord convict me about my untrained mind.
2 Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.
Romans 12:2 (New International Version)
I used to think that multitasking was the greatest thing. It’s like a cheat code to getting a bunch of things done in a small amount of time. But what God revealed to me was that multitasking was a form of disrespect. Not being able to give my undivided attention to something showed my lack of care and respect for the thing I was interacting with. In this case it was God and He’s forgiving but how many times have I done that with other things or people.
Is this a pattern of this world or a pattern of God?
I’ll be honest, multitasking used to impress me. Being able to simultaneously knock out 4-5 tasks in one go is impressive but with my new understanding, the fact that I can’t give my undivided attention to one thing isn’t an asset for me, it’s a deficit.
Let me give you another example:
I was cooking my regular lunch when my wife came up to me and started telling me about her day. As I was cooking, I realized that I couldn’t pay attention to my eggs and my wife talking at the same time. The reality was that both needed my attention. But one was worth more than the other. So I made my eggs…JUST KIDDING!
I told my wife that I was unable to give her all the attention she needed and deserved. I asked her if it was okay with her if I could finish making my eggs, so that they wouldn’t burn and I would be able to give her my undivided attention.
My wife is the best so she let it slide. For some of us the first step into training our minds is to recognize when our attention is divided. Once we recognize that our attention is divided, we can stop and make the adjustments necessary.
As an intern therapist, there is a direct correlation between my ability to give my undivided attention to my clients and their willingness to be open and share with me.
I remember hearing a quote that said “Attentiveness is the rarest form of generosity.”
How generous are you willing to be with your attention? What does the task/person/thing deserve?