The Skill We Were Never Taught
There are moments when we recognize that we have wandered.
We may feel tired, overstimulated, confused, unsettled, or unable to determine what to do next. We may be trying to resolve something, make a decision, establish a goal, or understand what an experience means.
But before asking what we should do, there may be another question worth considering:
From what state am I trying to decide?
We can’t always prevent confusion, exhaustion, grief, stimulation, or uncertainty from arising. These are part of the human experience. Conscious participation doesn’t require us to remain permanently established in one ideal state.
It asks us to notice.
Where am I standing?
What is moving through me?
What has captured my attention?
Do I need to determine something from here… or do I first need to return?
Bringing attention back doesn’t guarantee that the noise will disappear or that an answer will immediately arrive, but it does give us the opportunity to meet what is here from a different relationship with ourselves.
In this reflection, I explore attention as a capacity we can cultivate, the relationship between state and discernment, and why bringing attention back may be one of the most important skills we can practice in an overstimulated world.
