The Art of Distraction
In truth, we all suffer from attention deficit disorder - that's the truth.
Our spouse is telling us about their day at work and instead of giving our full attention to them, we find ourselves lost in thought.
We are at the grocery store and instead of attending to finding the groceries on our list, we find ourselves looking at items that we said we wanted to abstain from.
We ask our child to do something and instead of making sure they follow through with the request, we find ourselves checking our phone, email or starting a load of laundry.
Guy Finley, a truth teacher, spoke recently about honesty, and the absolute necessity of us to be honest with and about ourselves.
We have to be honest, as parents, to admit that most often we are consistently distracted from actually parenting our kids in a right and helpful way. When we ask a child to do something and then get distracted from making sure that they follow through with the request they were given, what that child learns from that distracted parenting is that a higher (parental) authority means nothing. They actually learn that they alone are their own authority and they need not take direction from anyone.
Consider that very idea when your child becomes an adult and enters the work environment. Will they have a difficult time taking instruction from their department head if they believe they are their own authority?
...Or what about entering into a relationship with a partner? Will they have a difficult time when their partner asks something of them if they believe they are the center of their own universe?
The honest truth is that when we want something from another, whether from our job (a paycheck) or a partner (love and attention), we will do what is asked of us in fear that what we want from them might be taken away from us. That is something we must admit to see in ourselves - that most all of our relationships are based in how they can serve "us" and our "wants." That in truth, we really don't want to listen to anyone except ourselves, but we do because of what we want from them.
That is a difficult thing to admit for sure - but it is an admission that must be made.
By fully attending and making sure our children follow through with what is asked of them, we set the stage for them not only in becoming responsible adults, but also in laying the groundwork necessary to receive guidance in the moment from a higher consciousness. When a person believes they are their own authority, there is no room for anything higher, which ultimately means there is no point to their life at all.
There is a part of us that is constantly pushing and prodding us to move onto the next thing, instead of just remaining in the present moment and attending to that.
We must slow ourselves down, no matter how much we believe is on our plate. What we find, if we attend to things properly in the present moment, is that time ceases to exist the way we believe it exists. We are able to take care of the things that we need to take care of because we are aligned properly within ourselves, so there is never a need to rush through or push through anything. We then are helpful and not harmful to the loved ones around us.
We need not condemn ourselves when we see how we were distracted and taken away from the moment and didn't follow through with our child. We just need to see it and then start over. Agreeing to see it, is agreeing to be fully honest with ourselves, and that honesty is what changes things for us.
The most helpful thing I can add here is to work to see if you can hear a voice inside you that claims you need to be doing something else other than attending to the moment at hand. Work to feel the pressure inside yourself because that pressure is what pushes and prods us into the next thing and the next...
Photo by Sergiu Vălenaș on Unsplash
