Focus of Happy People

Focus of Happy People

Another one from the Winners Circle that set the grey-matter going. In this post Lou Tice talks about happy people, and what they focus their attention on. He helps us to realize that, maybe, we have more of a choice than we think we do.

Do you think happy people are blind to reality? Or, do you think they see things that the rest of us miss?

I think the answer may include a little of both, but I also think that, in the final analysis, people are happy because they make up their minds to be. Let me explain what I mean.

Most happy people aren’t blind to the pain in the world, but because they have chosen to be happy, they don’t focus their attention on it. They don’t let the cruelty and injustices that are undeniably present in the world rob them of the pleasures and beauty that are also undeniably there.

And, it’s entirely possible that happy people can see things that others don’t, because their power of paying attention is enormous. Your attention, when you really focus it, is a lot like a searchlight. When you focus on beauty, you’re simply going to see more beauty than other people do.

The same thing happens when you focus on a problem: you see it everywhere you look, even though people around you may have to have it pointed out to them. The challenge is using that laser-like focus to find solutions.

Where is your attention focused these days? Do you see mostly problems, or solutions? Are you surrounded by people you enjoy and appreciate or are you surrounded by people who give you nothing but trouble? Does life send you an unending cavalcade of pleasures or a litany of pain? And finally, how could changing what you focus your attention on change the results you are getting?

Lou Tice
The Pacific Institute

I know from experience that when I constantly think about problems I have, it seems that more and more can just pile in on top of themselves, and then I can really start to feel low. It never occurred to me that I could possibly change my overall mood by changing what I focus my thought processes onto — start to think about more positive things, and my overall mood might become more positive.

I wonder what sort of affect this might have on prayer and spiritual life. There seems to be an element of putting an individual in control to the exclusion of God. I don’t want to ignore the problems. But maybe that isn’t what’s being said here. Maybe it’s about balance, as life so often is; and looking at the problems in a different way.

This all needs much more thought, and possibly experimentation.

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