SUSTAINED ATTENTION
What is sustained attention? ... if it sounds like something common as teachers in schools often say to children "Pay attention " ... but do we really pay attention? ... no, we do not ... some studies suggest that we do not hold or even a minute of attention in an object or situation. That is serious but it is common to those who have not happened to forget what they had planned to do from one moment to another, Where do I leave the keys ?, When is the appointment with my doctor ?, Simple situations that reflect that we are not attentive
We do not realize that we are not even in the present moment - we are thinking about the past either remembering and looking for answers - or we are in the future dreaming about what we are going to do or what can happen at work on The next one goes away, we are not even aware of it, we validate as normal to be remembering and planning, we do not pay attention to what we are doing at the moment and we enjoy it. It does not mean that we should not take advantage of past experiences or be cautious preparing for a better future, but not all the time.
The latest studies of depression reflect that it has to do with a mind stationed in the past and anxiety with a mind worried about the future, not healthy emotional problems.
What can we do? Start by observing at some moments of the day that I am thinking of doing it repeatedly and we will find that we are not in the today and now.
Lack of attention
Our performance is the most affected by our lack of attention, for example, we do not listen correctly to the problems of children in school, if we listen to them, we arrive somewhere late because On the way we stopped to see beautiful shoes on a sideboard ... we are not attentive. We become unpunctual, unreliable, stressed and irritable ... and most of the time we blame others and they are not the outside is a cooperative cause the substantial cause is our mind without attention. This state is compared as a pig in a cage that jumps and jumps from one place to another without standing still at a point in it, or as a runaway river that cannot flow in serenity.
Sustained attention requires being in the present, identifying when our mind is in the past or future and making sure to return to the present. The great news is that the above gives us mental space to solve everyday situations effectively and in productivity.
In short, the best recipe is meditation, however, if we do not have much practice with this resource, anchoring moment by moment our attention to the present is already of great benefit in our activity. Let's start by observing how our mind is in the past ... in the future? or in the present? This is already a great start, as everything is also a practice that should become habitual and getting familiar with it is undoubtedly the best solution.
AUTHOR: Pilar Vázquez, collaborator of the great family of the White Brotherhood
