Why Does Where You Put Your Focus Matter?
If you focus on what you can’t control, you cede your power.
Between world news, politics, celebrity gossip, and everything else that the news media and social media tend to share and spread – it’s easy to get caught up in the bullshit.
And I do mean bullshit. I’m not saying it’s not good to have a general idea of what is happening in the world at large – but when that’s your primary focus, you shouldn’t be surprised when it has all your time and attention.
Then – because this is the case – you find you have less control over your life than you desire, and/or you feel like you’ve little to no control.
The primary issue is this – what you focus the most on is what you give your attention to. That means that if you focus on people, places, and/or things outside of yourself, you lose focus on yourself.
That leads to discontent, uncertainty, and the secession of your power and empowerment to the ethers.
And that means that rather than be mindful of and consciously aware of – and able to control – your life experience, you’ll likely find distress, discontent, and uncertainty.
When you focus on your needs, desires, and life happenings – you empower yourself to be more in control of it all.
Control begins with active conscious awareness
Active conscious awareness is mindfulness. This is the act of being present, here and now, and aware of your thoughts, feelings, actions, and intentions.
When you focus on your thoughts, feelings, actions, and intentions, you can see if they suit you – or not. And if not – you now have the power to change or alter them.
That’s empowerment. Focus on yourself, and you empower yourself.
However, this probably leads to this question: Isn’t this selfish?
NO. Why not? Because self-care and self-awareness are not selfish.
People around you might indeed see your actions as being self-centered and selfish as such. That’s because when you sacrifice less, set boundaries, and put your health/wellness/wellbeing first, to anyone who feels entitled to be put first in your life, your actions will be seen as selfish.
If you are neglecting your children, pets, and responsibilities that you took on along the way in the name of self-care, that might be selfish. How can you tell? Malice of forethought.
In other words – you fully intend hurt and harm to another. You act in a way that is unkind, uncompassionate, and unempathetic. If it’s something you’d be upset by if someone did it to you intentionally – that’s genuine selfishness.
You cannot control the thoughts and feelings of anyone else. Remember that kindness, compassion, and empathy cost you nothing.
Focusing on your self-care gives you control of your life experience.
Focus within versus without
There are indeed lots of things in the world at large that can help you grow. Numerous books, movies, webinars, and blogs across the internet can teach you virtually anything at all.
Likewise, if you want to know the latest celebrity gossip, which politicians are manipulating the system for their own gain, and which businesses are screwing over whole communities – that’s all out there, too. And it is clamoring for your attention.
Why? Because someone likely is making money off where you put your attention.
This isn’t a cynical viewpoint I’m expressing. It’s the truth. Lots of your information sources – even good and healthy ones – are aiming to sell you something.
Focus on what’s outside of you – the people, places, and things you have little to no control over – and you lose sight of yourself.
When you focus within, however, you empower yourself. That’s because when you focus within, you get clarity of your thoughts, feelings, actions, and intentions.
Guess what you have 100% control of in this life? Your thoughts, feelings, actions, and intentions.
Focusing within empowers you to take control of these and align them to best suit your life.
Why does this matter?
In a culture where the idea of being “woke” has been weaponized to suggest that such awareness is bad should tell you everything about why this matters. Because the people “in power” – knowing that the truth is that it’s utterly bullshit and fake – don’t want “woke” people. “Woke” people are awake, aware, and empowered.
If you put your focus and attention on all the distractions – you’re easily disempowered. That leaves you open to manipulation from without, constant longing that will never be satisfied, and increased disconnect and disempowerment of your self.
When you turn your focus inwards, you gain clarity of your true needs, desires, likes, dislikes, and so on. That clarity informs you if you are content, discontent, satisfied, dissatisfied, and everything in between.
Then, focus within empowers you to change what you need/desire to change. It might be much smaller than you realize – but focusing without doesn’t let you find it easily.
Focus within, on the other hand, and you are more empowered.
This takes regular work, and active conscious awareness via mindfulness. But when you do it – you gain true control of your life experience.
When you are better balanced, more centered, and more self-assured – that can and will inspire the people around you. Then, you can help them turn their focus within – and become empowered.
Empowerment is limitless. Everyone has the right to it, and almost all lack, scarcity, and insufficiency you encounter is artificial and intentionally disempowering.
The good you desire for your life isn’t the same that I desire for mine. Focus within and you see that both of us are worthy and deserving of having it. Neither lacks or loses when the other gains and wins.
That’s why, ultimately, where you focus matters.
Recognizing where you put your focus isn’t hard
It’s all about working with mindfulness of your thoughts, feelings, and intentions to direct your actions.
When you recognize and acknowledge that putting your focus within rather than without gives you more insight and power to control your life experience, you can see why where you put your focus matters. Knowing that putting your focus on what’s without tends to be distracting and disempowering, you can choose where to put your focus to do you the most good.
This empowers you – and in turn, your empowerment can empower others around you.
Taking an approach to positivity and negativity – from the vast cylinder that exists between them – shifts life in a way to open more dialogue. With a broader dialogue, you can explore and share where you are between the extremes and how that impacts you here and now.
Choosing thoughts, feelings, actions, and intentions for yourself employs an approach and attitude of positivity for realizing amazing potential and possibilities for your life.
The better aware you’re of yourself in the now, the more you can do to choose and decide how your life experiences will be. When that empowers you, it can spread to those around you to their empowerment.
Don’t you think that’s a worthwhile endeavor to explore and share?
Thank you for coming along on this journey.
This is the four hundred-and-ninetieth entry of my Positivity series. I hope that these weekly messages might help spread positive energies for everyone. Feel free to share, re-blog, and spread the positivity.
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