Attention Control as a Key to Connect with the Present Again


Written and verified by the psychologist Fátima Servián Franco
We’re not used to being present in the present. In most cases, your body is there, but not your mind. We have gotten used to distraction, multitasking, and the development of partial attention. The result is disconnection with your inner self. The practice of attention control can help you solve this problem.
Attention control is a mental state that helps us to focus all of our attention on what we’re doing or wanting. Also, it works like a muscle – the more you use it, the stronger it gets.
Stephan Bodian was trained for a decade as a Zen Buddhist monk and licensed as a psychotherapist. According to him, the key to mental peace is not in the circumstances, but in how you respond to them. So, when we concentrate any type of energy, including mental energy, we acquire unlimited power.
“Attention training allows us to become real people. When we’re real people, we see those around us as real. And life acquires all of its richness.”
-Thich Nhat Hanh-

The importance of attention training
If you want to be successful in any sphere of life, you should cultivate your power of attention on one single objective. Determined and focused people tend to work more and accomplish more tasks more quickly. They tend to have jobs that pay better and deeper networks of friends.
All jobs should be done with concentration. According to Ian Fleming, if you fail in important things, it’s because you don’t have interest in them or concentration. Aptitude appears and the tools are made available by themselves when you do.
Attention control is also important for well-being. It can keep us from falling into fears and anxiety. Thoughts come and go like the clouds in a windy sky. Knowing how to focus can be our anchor. Where the water is deepest is also where it’s calmest.
In fact, only from a state of inner calm was man able to discover and make peaceful environments. The more tranquility you feel, the more success and influence you will be able to obtain. Mental peace is one of the beautiful jewels of wisdom.
“The joy of productive focus must replace, in a mature man, the joy of being scattered.”
-Charles Baudelaire-
We’re not used to being present in the present. In most cases, your body is there, but not your mind. We have gotten used to distraction, multitasking, and the development of partial attention. The result is disconnection with your inner self. The practice of attention control can help you solve this problem.
Attention control is a mental state that helps us to focus all of our attention on what we’re doing or wanting. Also, it works like a muscle – the more you use it, the stronger it gets.
Stephan Bodian was trained for a decade as a Zen Buddhist monk and licensed as a psychotherapist. According to him, the key to mental peace is not in the circumstances, but in how you respond to them. So, when we concentrate any type of energy, including mental energy, we acquire unlimited power.
“Attention training allows us to become real people. When we’re real people, we see those around us as real. And life acquires all of its richness.”
-Thich Nhat Hanh-

The importance of attention training
If you want to be successful in any sphere of life, you should cultivate your power of attention on one single objective. Determined and focused people tend to work more and accomplish more tasks more quickly. They tend to have jobs that pay better and deeper networks of friends.
All jobs should be done with concentration. According to Ian Fleming, if you fail in important things, it’s because you don’t have interest in them or concentration. Aptitude appears and the tools are made available by themselves when you do.
Attention control is also important for well-being. It can keep us from falling into fears and anxiety. Thoughts come and go like the clouds in a windy sky. Knowing how to focus can be our anchor. Where the water is deepest is also where it’s calmest.
In fact, only from a state of inner calm was man able to discover and make peaceful environments. The more tranquility you feel, the more success and influence you will be able to obtain. Mental peace is one of the beautiful jewels of wisdom.
“The joy of productive focus must replace, in a mature man, the joy of being scattered.”
-Charles Baudelaire-
Attention training helps you be present
Training your attention helps you to focus all of your energy. When attention is spread throughout your mind and body, you become capable of leaving aside your fears and worries. In this way, your productivity improves. This is because you become focused on the present – on the here and now – and you feel better.
Creativity is also improved when you concentrate. When your mind is clear of external noise, it is easier to think on that which you want to create and become inspired.
Additionally, thanks to this ability, you also save yourself some time. It is not the same to be doing something while thinking of a thousand things at once as to be totally focused. In the first case, you lose more time. In the second, you make better use of it.
As you can see, what attention training gives us is a connection to the present. Also, it definitely invites us to experience a fuller life. Its practice helps you avoid losing yourself in what is happening around you. However, it’s also important to realize that it’s not the solution to every problem. It will not change your life from one day to the next.
The practice of attention training is a process and an agreement with life and with yourself. Its objective is not to change what you live and feel. Its objective is to change the way you relate to these things. That is the secret.
“In order to reduce the infinite to the finite, the unattainable to the humanly real, there is only one path. This is concentration”.
-Théophile Gautier-
This text is provided for informational purposes only and does not replace consultation with a professional. If in doubt, consult your specialist.

Written and verified by the psychologist Fátima Servián Franco








