What do you pay more attention to: your inner voice or the constant nagging distraction of notifications that pop-up on your smart phone, tablet, and computer?
What do you give more credibility to: your gut instincts or your Judge – that universal inner critic we all struggle to silence?
When sitting with another human being, what do you pay more attention to: the other person’s words and body language, or your internal voice that pushes forward the laundry list of things you want to say in response?
When actively moving your body (jogging, cycling, hiking, rowing, etc.,), where does your attention go? To your breath and heartbeat? To your surroundings? To your thoughts? To the music coming through your ear buds? The performance of others moving near you?
My invitation to you:
Tune in. Notice. Observe.
Why? Wherever you direct your attention, energy follows.* In other words: you get more of what you are focusing on.
Ask yourself: are you focusing on what you want more of?
Bring your mind into alignment with your vision in each moment. It’s not easy, but it’s straight forward.
Build your alignment muscle by practicing again and again and again and again and again and again… you get the idea.
To be more focused and productive: focus your attention on the single task you are performing.
To connect more deeply and better understand others: breathe and listen with curiosity, ignoring that ego-based need to share your ideas and opinions: be fully present with the other and appreciate your experience and what you can learn by doing so.
To reduce stress and preserve precious life force energy: turn off audio and visual notifications from your email, social media, and other apps. You can always carve out time later to check them with focused attention.
Remember: Wherever you direct your attention, energy follows.* You get more of what you are focusing on in life, in relationships, and in work.
*Erin’s 2nd foundational principle — learned from the practice of yoga asana — with infinite applications in life off the mat.