Attention as a Moral Practice

After waking up while still just getting consciousness up and still in bed is about a decision that rarely feels like one to us. Automated, even before we get up, even before we perceive the weather outside, a headline, a notification, a message is already waiting for us. Or better said they all want something, they all want our attention. That scarce resource, which we like to reserve for those things that are so valuable to us.

This, not only cognitive ability that we possess is however more than its pure description. It is a declaration of the value we bring to others. And no matter whom or what we give, grant and devote this attention to, it will be a fundamental building block of our self. We are, so to speak, the architects of our lives through the building blocks that we create from our attention. This can be so simply everything we do, the books we read, the people we really listen to but also the conversations we do not pursue further, and the scenes we avoid.

The quality of our life is perhaps no longer, and possibly never was, measurable by what we achieve, be it at work or what we stand for privately in society, but through the attention we give to situations, people or things.

Everything around us wants attention, often 24/7, it is the touch of the screen, the feedback, the look. Therefore, it is our task to give attention to what we consider important and valuable for ourselves. We become what we, sometimes slowly, perceive as omnipresent and constant.