The Science Of Attention
What we focus on expands
I used to love playing video games and perhaps I still do (I’ve not really had the time lately…hopefully soon). In adventure games especially, there is something I noticed and that is;
Every bit of the game has already been programmed and given to the user. However, environments and scenarios only come alive as the user goes to them.
Let me explain that further. If there is an assailant on 4th street, the user would only know if he takes his character to 4th street. If he decides to go through 3rd street, he experiences no assailant. Not because they don’t exist, but because he has put his attention on 3rd street. Likewise, as he leaves 3rd street, it fades behind him and the next street opens up. That’s how video games work. Everything already exists in the program but what a character experiences is entirely based on where their attention lies. Are you following?
Video games are programmed this way so that energy can be saved. If all the parts of the game are active at the same time, the game will probably run slow or even crash.
NOW HERE’S THE TRIPPY PART! I feel that is what we experience here in our reality as well (Shhhh!!).
Simulation theory
This has become a big deal in the past couple of years. Personalities such as Dr. Michio Kaku, Neil DeGrasse Tyson, and Elon Musk have spoken on the theory that our reality is a simulation run from some machine somewhere and that implies that nothing is real. Before I continue, here’s a short story.
One day I was playing ‘Winning Eleven' on PS2 (as you can see, that was a loooong time ago) and a thought hit me. These men on the field in my video game believe they are playing for 90 minutes. Meanwhile, in my world, it’s just 10 minutes. This reminded me of the bible verse that says “a thousand ages in thy sight are like an evening gone”. Have I lost you yet? Stay with me I’m going somewhere with this.
The Law of attraction
This law states that what you focus on will expand (kinda like in the video game). If this is cross-referenced with the simulation theory, it does make sense that what we focus on will expand and when we remove our focus from any aspect of the game, it dissipates to save energy. The thing with this video game, however, is that we have been given the power to code our own experiences and we do that with our thoughts. Our thoughts and dispositions become our energy/focus and that moulds our experiences. I hope you are caught up now.
Have you ever played ‘The Sims'
It’s an online game of life where you have a character who is living in the game world. You can carry out any task such as get married or get a job or make your bed. The thing with the sims is that, when you don’t assign your character any task, he or she creates one and goes ahead. Humans have created a simulation that advanced…hold that thought!
Even though for me, the simulation theory validates the law of attraction, I am not asking you to believe that we are living in a simulation. But I’m sure you believe what the sages have been saying.
- As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he.
- We create our own reality.
When we give our attention to something, we start to notice it more and it’s not because it wouldn’t have been there if we didn’t give it attention; but if we didn’t give it attention, we wouldn’t have noticed it.
Look around you right now. Spot ten instances of the color blue. When you have done that, spot ten 'reds’. This simple exercise shows you that those colors have been there; but until you focused your attention, you didn’t take note — they didn’t pop out to you (remember our video game?).
Remember that time you saw that car and you liked it? Then all of a sudden you started seeing them everywhere you went? That is how attention works. Our reality shows us more of what we think about and it is showing us because we are thinking about it.
Many people think that things happen at random so they erroneously give their attention to unpleasant things and wonder why those things show up over and over again. If a person is given to watching the news and counting deaths and mishaps, then their reality will show them more deaths and mishaps and they will think everyone else is experiencing the same. See how that works?
Attention exercise
Take a piece of paper and write out what you’d like to experience. Write it in the present tense. Read it aloud to yourself as you wake up in the morning and just before you sign off at night. Don’t think about how it’ll happen and don’t doubt it. After reading it, forget about it and go about your day. Then see how long it takes for you to start noticing that experience creeps into your reality.
Conclusion
Attention is an amazing gift we’ve been given and through social media is doing everything possible to take it from us, once we learn how to use it, then we can have whatever we want from life. Remember the program already has everything in it. It’s been coded with every possibility. Our attention is what determines what we experience.
