The Importance of Focus

The mind is like a man peering out the window of his city apartment that overlooks a busy street. All day the street is filled with activity. The man may passively watch the things happening in front of him or he may choose to focus his eyes on one item. Even though he can see what is going on around him, the happenings are not his. He is simply an observer. The mind is similar. Every moment that we are awake the brain is flooded with information. Perpetually our minds are barraged with information and feed back from our environment. Most thoughts do not come simply from our own conjuring. They represent our awareness of what we are sensing around us and within us. We choose to interpret this data. Some thoughts we have inform us and help us, while others can derail us. Anxious thoughts birthed from stress and fear often pass through our minds. These futile thoughts can clear our mind but in their negative fashion make our hearts cower. Doubts come to mind and cripple our ability to improve ourselves. The more we entertain negative thoughts the more we begin to internalize their ideas. We begin to see them as our own thoughts and they shape our identities. Yet the mind need not be like this. The mind is at our control. We can choose to focus it on the thoughts that we desire. We do not have to waste any moment on passing thoughts of doubt or fear, rather we can redirect our thinking to positive things. Most importantly we can focus our attention on God. We can make Her our focus. When we purposefully reject negative thoughts and replace them with purposeful thinking about God, we give rise to our spirits. Only then can we be awake to God.