Paying Attention

How can we really make a difference?  Maybe even change the world (as we know it….and it knows us)?  Feed the starving? End war? Cure cancer?  Well, of course, all of those would be positive developments, but realistically speaking, how?

I have been on kind of a mindfulness kick lately, adopting the habit of meditating in the morning and reading a lot on the subject. Mindfulness means, among other things, paying attention to what is going on in your life.  To use a very well-worn cliche it means, basically, stopping to smell the roses.  And that is a good habit to instill.  To train one’s mind to be, well, mindful, can, I believe, enhance one’s quality of life.  But this post is more about changing the quality of life of others, about making a difference.  So, how can mindfulness help us do that?

It dawns on me on a regular basis that people in general just don’t pay attention.  Why is that?  The simple and probably most accurate answer is that they don’t want to pay the price of doing so.  Paying attention takes time, energy, and effort.  It can be annoying to try to do so in the midst of one’s busy day.

Let me provide an example that I experienced recently.  While walking along the pristine paths that lead to the summit of Cerro Chirripo, Costa Rica’s highest mountain and one of its most beloved national parks, I chanced upon an alarming sight.  Trash that some hiker who was NOT paying attention had thrown down on the ground.  Maybe intentionally.  Maybe not.  I am not here to judge.  I was tired.  I had a large backpack that was making my shoulders and  lower back ache and burn.  I did not want to notice the trash, let alone stop, stoop and recover.  After all, where would I put the stuff.  I don’t want to stick someones dirty crap in my pocket, do I?  But then I thought, what was the RIGHT thing to do?  What would be impact-full? What would make a difference, albeit a small one, but a difference nonetheless?  After considering all that in the blink of an eye, I stopped, I stooped and I recovered.  In fact, by the time I reached Base Crestones, I had two pockets full of the stuff.

After considering all that in the blink of an eye, I stopped, I stooped and I recovered.

You might regard my example as a trivial one.  Maybe so.  But it does get right at the heart of what I am talking about.  And that is, being mindful of the impacts we have.  Paying attention to how our actions, and in-actions, can influence the world, or other’s experience of it.  I will promise you that if you begin to pay attention, you will quickly find that throughout each waking day, there are about 1 million ways to make a difference, to have an impact, just by paying attention.

Throughout each waking day, there are about 1 million ways to make a difference, to have an impact, just by paying attention.

Once you begin paying attention, that inner voice will lead you to the right action.  Oh yes, there will always be a competing voice as well.  But if your goal is to be an impactful person, to make a positive difference, to live with integrity and honor, then the “good voice” will usually win the battle, as long as we are paying attention in the first place.

It is much easier to be indifferent.  To rationalize that your actions really can’t make much of a difference.  That there are more important things to do….things reserved almost exclusively for me and after all, you gotta look out for number one, don’t you?  No, not that much.  Not nearly as much as we generally reserve time for.

Why not start today?