What Is Your Focus?

Man Turns in Money Found in Parking Lot, Refuses Reward.
Teenager Befriends New Student, Changes Anxiety into Optimism.
Woman Rescues Neglected Dog, Takes Good Care of It.

These are headlines you will probably never see, but these events happen every day throughout the world. There is no shortage of murder and mayhem reporting, but news of kindness and integrity is scarce. Years ago we did not have instant, exhaustive information about every tragic event; news filtered to us selectively and over time. No wonder it is so easy to focus on the negative and to experience the negative reality that focus brings.

The older I get, the more convinced I am that what I focus my mind upon greatly determines my life experience and how I feel, moment to moment. The conscious mind can only attend to about five things at the same time, so we must constantly decide what those five conscious things ought to be. For example, if you look for all of the red objects in a room, you will find them and if you look for the green, you will find them as well. If you sort for all of the mean people in the world, you will find them and if you look for the kind ones, you will also find them. In other words, we can choose to focus on what we want in life – what we want to be in the forefront of our minds.

• Focus on what you have.This does not mean to live in denial of the things we do not have, but to focus on what is working as opposed to what is broken. Do you have food and shelter? Some people do not. Do you have legs? Some people do not. If that which is "broken" is embedded in your crosshairs, you will experience a dissatisfied life.
• Focus on what you want. What you focus upon expands, so it only makes sense to focus on what you want in life. If you want misery, watch the news 24-7, enmesh yourself in everyone else's miseries and be on the lookout for potential miseries. If you want happiness, look for it in others and read books or articles about happiness. Catch yourself being happy and let the feeling linger. Most of our focusing is done subconsciously and without intention. It runs automatically – which means that we sometimes focus on and empower what we do not want. We can make conscious choices about what we focus on and not allow our minds to go on automatic pilot. We can direct our thoughts instead of being directed by them.
• Focus on what is good. Do you have a significant other or friend that has an irritating habit or mannerism? Take that mannerism or habit and visually shove it into the background. Then focus on what you like best about that person and visually make it huge and compelling, full of color and life. Keep what you like best in the foreground and allow the irritation to fade into the background. We can also focus on our own positive aspects. If we are stuck in the guilt and regrets of past mistakes, we are unable to face the future with a healthy outlook; the future is tainted by the past. The guilt and regret are not helpful to anyone and interfere with one's ability to build positive relationships in the here and now. Relegate what is past to the past and give some focus to the good choices that have been made. Focusing on either the bad choices or the good choices will give them much more power and influence on the future.

Helen Keller said, "Although the world is full of suffering, it is also full of the overcoming of it." She was blind and deaf and surely suffered greatly in her life, but she chose to focus on the strength and determination that helped her and countless others overcome huge obstacles.

Though many people allow their minds to run all over the place, we can decide at any moment what we focus our minds on and what thoughts we think. We can take the reins of our minds and direct our thoughts to what we have, what we want and what is good.