Paying attention on purpose seems like a simple thing to do and it sounds like a very good idea. In reality, it is often something that individuals struggle with as they begin to learn the practice of mindfulness.
We learn to avoid those things in our life that are painful and uncomfortable when we are young, and we often hear people in our adult lives, even professionals, advise us to distract ourselves to cope with distress. In a society that offers us a constant stream of distractions including TV, radio, phones, and the internet, it gets harder and harder to pay attention to the present moment.
This is not a new problem, though. The 16th century poet, William Blake wrote, "All of man's problems can be traced to his inability to sit alone in a room, by himself."
John Weaver, Psy.D.
0 comments:
Post a Comment