Focussed attention is your choice. If you choose to not focus on purpose then you will focus by default, as something either demands or entices your attention. In this article I will explain what focus is and why it is important to focus on purpose. I will begin by explaining the pattern that is occurring in the brain. From there I will show you how it relates to what shows up in your experience. I will conclude by showing you how to stop a persistent pattern that has shown up in your life and how to gain more of what you do want. You can be, do, or have, anything that you wish, your focus will make the difference.
What you experience is the extent to which you can believe and therefore expect, based on your own intent, and therefore what you choose to pay attention to. The brain is designed for you to experience what you focus on. There are a series of perceptual pathways to and from one location in the brain ( the Thalamus) which is also responsible for focussed attention. This location is responsible for a myriad of things but for now we will focus on just these two. The brain maps these perceptual pathways based on what you pay attention to.
An example of how the thalamus filters: would be choosing to take a photo, pointing the lens in that direction, focussing and then taking the picture. The subject of the photo would be clear, but what ever is behind the subject of interest, or beside it, may be out of focus. When you decide what to focus on the thalamus does the same thing by filtering out the unfocussed content.
After the “picture” or (what you have given your focussed attention to) has been filtered it will be assigned an emotional priority marker by the emotional center of you brain. How you felt about it will give it the order in which it will be recalled again. Something that you paid attention to that had no emotional content may not be given any recall.
An example of this would be: that you can clearly remember what the phone number is to a friend you haven’t seen in years, but you cannot remember what drawer the paper clips are in. In essence what I am saying is that it isn’t about the thing, it’s how you feel about the thing that matters.
So far then, once you choose what to pay attention to, your perception in a sense follows the experience from the thalamus to the cortex and back to the thalamus again. The experience is then filtered, and an emotional marker is given in terms of priority or not. The information that is given priority is mapped and sent back to the thalamus. This repeats quickly and constantly, appearing seamless. The more one subject is allowed to repeat that process, the more the momentum builds up until it reaches a threshold and the likelihood of the formation of an experience. How does the information about the brain that I have just given you have anything to do with your “real” life? Stay with me for a bit and I will show you.
The thalamus receives all sensory information from everything that you experience. Anything you see, touch, etc. When you focus on something, anything that you choose, your attention can easily be swayed by sights, sounds, smells or movement in your area. People refer to this as becoming side tracked or scattered, among other things. If you turn your head to it, and then away from the distraction feeling nothing, then nothing meaningful happens. If you turn your head to it and it causes you to feel something, for instance annoyance; that’s when the fun begins according to your brain, and the law of attraction. If you continue to be annoyed, momentum builds, and that is what will be mapped.
The chances of it being mapped rely greatly on the amount of times the process is allowed to repeat as stated above. The sooner you lose the feeling of annoyance on this subject the better. When I say “the sooner” I am speaking in terms of instances or fractions of a second. Remember that the entire rotation from the thalamus to the cortex and back to the thalamus takes an instant. This from beginning to end, and integrated with the emotional and memory centers in the brain appear seamless. What you focus on, and feel something about is what you will experience. Once that annoyance is mapped, a whole host of annoying distractions will come along. You will become more and more annoyed causing a thread of annoying things and situations to come your way.
The annoyance will not just be about the original subjects that annoyed you, the annoyance will now invade the new experiences that you form. It will become a part of an entire emotional mix from many different subjects that cause you to feel emotion. The dominant negativity or positive nature of your experiences will lend to all that come to you in that thread. You may even experience a surprise that annoys you. You are mapping your own creation, one emotional thought at a time.
The easiest way to counter anything negative that may come along, is to train yourself to feel less emotion regarding the things that would normally feel bad. In other words, turn away quickly, and feel as little as possible about it. Focus on purpose when it comes to the things or situations that make you feel emotion in some way. If it happens that you perceive something not good that has gained momentum, and is now stuck in your head, the easiest way to stop that momentum is with meditation. I am speaking here of focussed meditation as it stops thought, that or you can have a nap. Either way when you are finished with your meditation or nap you will have to get onto a subject that makes you feel good. Decide before your nap or meditation, that when you are no longer doing those things, your intent is to feel good. Decision is very powerful but a subject on it’s own, and best left for another day. The best way to end a pattern is by catching it as early as possible and not letting it gain any or as little momentum as possible.
To get more momentum on the things or situations that you do like, allow what you do like more air time. Think about it more, focus on the subject and envision it with purpose just how you would like it to be. Feel it as though it were happening.
The thalamus makes no distinction as to what you think is “real”, imagined or daydreamed. It is all treated and mapped the same way. It also makes no distinction on time. If it’s something you remember from the past, the brain still maps it based on emotional priority at the time that you are remembering it. Therefore if it is a bad memory, you are reliving it in a sense through the emotions associated with it, and you will get more experiences that give you the same feelings. This is how patterns are formed.
An example of this would be: someone that is remembering a past relationship that they had with someone who had certain not so great traits. Only to find after leaving them, and dating several people afterwards, that they all had the same not so great traits. Every time they focus on those past relationships, even perhaps noticing the similarities, they reinforce it in their “now”. The emotional marker will state the priority in which it is mapped, and focus on the subject will define it, and cause it to come faster. The envisioning or sensual information (perceptual feedback/feedforward to and from the thalamus) adds momentum to the experience and causes it to form faster. With every rotation that is allowed to happen more clarity and definition is given to the experience. Together, these form your experience.
The fact is that you can be, do, or have, anything that you wish by focussing on it. By not directing your focus on purpose you are forming all sorts of experiences caused by distraction or apparent invasion. This is true whether you believe it or not. Your brain is designed to send and receive, be it from or to the body, or from or to “reality”.
For more reading on this subject please refer to these papers and others. Other blogs posted to my website. Visit me on my Facebook page, on Twitter or Instagram.
Some science for those interested.
These are only two of infinitely many papers I have read but I thought you may find them interesting. It looks very much like science is catching up.
For an expanded explanation you can join my seminar or have a look around the website. I hope I have helped a little with my short blog about focus.