Definition
Selection and maintenance of certain information in the field of consciousness, at the expense of other demands.
Attention is not a perfectly voluntary projector. Fatigue, emotions, environment, neurodiversity and technology influence what captures or maintains mind.
To be retained
- Recognize a limited resource
- Environmental development
- Alternate focus and rest
- Avoiding guilt
Origin of the term and context
Attention comes from the Latin waitere, "tender towards". Contemplative traditions propose disciplines, while psychology studies limited and variable attention systems.
Why does it matter?
Training can improve some attention tasks, but the effects depend on practice and context. Persistent difficulties may require an assessment, not moral judgment.
- Recognize a limited resource
- Environmental development
- Alternate focus and rest
- Avoiding guilt
How can it be explored or practised?
- Choose a task and keep a distraction away
- Observe five breaths without aiming for mental void
- Make a regular visual pause
- Record what automatically captures attention
Misconceptions and points of caution
- Disturbance is not always a lack of will.
- Meditation is not the same for all.
- Hyperfocalization can also exhaust.
Perspectives from different traditions
- Buddhism: just attention in an ethical whole.
- Yoga: dhāra
- Cognitive psychology: networks of alert, guidance and control.
To go further
- Attention — Jean-Philippe Lacaux
- The Attention Revolution — B. Alan Wallace