Happy 2018 – Day 316 – Are you giving away your most precious commodity for free?

Yesterday, I swooned over my favourite Comedienne-turned-Mental Health guru Ruby Wax, and today, I’m doing it again!

Because this is too good to keep to myself.

Ruby says, “Attention is our most precious commodity and we give it away the fastest”.

Just think about that for a moment.

Attention is our most precious commodity.

Wherever our mind is, that’s where we go… it’s where we are. Our attention, or lack of it, dictates how we think and feel, as well as what we say and do.

Where we lack control over our own focus, unhelpful thinking patterns often become ‘the norm’ – they take hold, forming beliefs about who we are, who others are and about the way the world works overall.

And Ruby’s right, because we give it away so quickly.

We’ll be right in the middle of a deep and meaningful with someone who is incredibly important to us…. and our phone will ping, and we’ll grab our phone thoughtlessly, and begin trawling through some utterly useless crap on social media. We’ll take the time to workout in the morning and fuel our bodies with a nutritious breakfast, only to turn on the news and have our attention pulled towards anxiety-invoking stories.

Imagine that every time you let your attention be pulled away, you throw away a pound coin. Would be give away our money so easily?

The irony here is that money is something that you can actually get back. Once you’ve lost it, you can find ways to earn more.

But you can never get back those moments taken by distraction. You can never get that time back.

Learn to notice those situations in which you freely give away your focus and attention;

and step by step, start to pull this back to where you want it to be.