Cafe…about 35 people…and all but one head down and fiddling with a mobile devise.
Even those people who apparently are in the cafe together. Not talking to each other, but heads bent…lost in a world of digital.
1000 emails a day, plus your choice of poison…be it twitter, facebook, instagram…news feeds…or all of the above.
This is our life of constant distraction. Senses overload. With frequent pings to remind us of a new message or tweet.
Add to this lack of sleep and busi-ness, and we are all suffering from attention deficit disorder.
The art of focus, of refusing to multitask…of being fully present to the person right in front of you…or the activity….why do we not celebrate this as a high skill?
When did we place half attention on the altar of achievement? A gold star to John who half attended to our customer Mrs O’Neil as he was busy juggling all of the other distractions of his day.
When did you last take a good chunk of time and simply sit and be? Be with your child as they worked to read a difficult passage? Be with your lover as they unraveled their frustrations of the day?
Or…radical thought…be with your own self? Pay attention to the deep call of your 2:23AM moments?
Instead of attention deficit we need more attention. Focused attention. And that is an inside job.
Photo credit: 
David Rothwell via Compfight
