A Joyful Stream. Painting by Zhou Ping-Guang featured in his album, A Collection of Artworks by Zhou Ping-Guang.
Choosing Your Focus
Whenever I hear a phrase like "Choose Your Focus," I like to stop and actually consider the meaning of it both generally and personally.
Most of us have already heard all the things we need to make our life into a masterpieces. The reason we don't get the results we want is really a matter of practical and thorough application. Often times we don't apply what we know because we don't take the time to deepen our understanding of simple success principles that we feel we have heard many times.
When was the last time you sat down and attempted to intentionally direct your focus? When I was first exposed to teachers who were teaching about the power of positive thinking, I was shocked at how difficult it was to sit down and direct my thoughts in positive ways. My mind was like a combination of a wild horse and an opulent child. It raced back and forth wildly from thought to thought and when I attempt to wrangle it and direct it to something specific it would protest and resist.
I needed to go through an intentional process of submitting my mind to the higher part of myself. It wasn't easy for me, but slowly my mind let go of the control and accepted its role as a creative tool. My mind was no longer free to focus as it saw fit. It was now to be directed by the higher part of myself to focus in a way that was consistent with creating the life experience that I was desiring.
Competition For Your Focus
One thing that constantly amazes me is how voracious the competition is for our focus. It is almost like human focus is the most sought after commodity in the whole world.
From business advertising, to family and friends, to social media, to movies and television, and even games on your smart phone, there are so many entities clamoring for the precious minutes of your focus.
The Immersive Focus Experience of Entertainment
I am a huge fan of movies and television. There is nothing I like more than binge watching a good television series. Its like watching your favorite movie but the experience lasts for 20+ hours rather than just two. It was only recently that I considered the consequences of consuming main stream entertainment in this way.
Good writers and directors have a way of drawing you into the experience of their television and movie. Rather than just safely observing, the best ones are trying to give you a visceral experience of having lived what their characters have lived. This wouldn't be the worst thing except for the fact that most stories depict high stress situations where stakes and consequences are exaggerated for effect. There is also a recent trend towards hyper realism in movies and television where the stories are drenched in the stress and sorry of the worst depiction of modern life with no underlying message except that life is chaos and terrible things can happen to you for no reason.
It is important for all us to consider the consequences of this type of immersive focus, especially if we subscribe to the fact that our thoughts and focus have creative power over our life experience.
A Sign Post Back to Your Desires and Dreams
Here at the OAS Family, we are not ignorant to the fact that we are another entity that is competing for your focus.
This email is something that is being sent to you with the idea that you will read it and spend some time focusing on the ideas it is presenting. Our saving grace is that we are making it our first priority to reconnect you with yourself.
We are offering our 500 year family tradition as an exercise for you to reconnect with your creativity and establish a life that is richer with joy and purpose.
It is our trust that making this our first and foremost priority, we will be of ultimate service to you and be a thriving part of your everyday life.