I was talking to my sister who lives in India over the phone for few minutes the other day, and in those few minutes I decided to check my messages, emails and even wash the dishes. My sister noticed that there was a gap in our conversation mentally and emotionally--she asked me to call her back whenever I’m not busy. I put the phone down, but in those moments I felt a sense of hurt, dissatisfaction and restlessness. I felt as if I didn’t do justice to our conversation, and that I didn’t pay attention to what she was saying. Neither did I read my messages properly. What was wrong? Why didn’t I feel happy?
Psychologist Professor Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi has done some remarkable research. Over the course of a number of years, he randomly interrupted the day to day routines of several hundred people. He asked them what they were doing, thinking and feeling at the precise moment. His major discovery was that, when our attention is not absorbed by some external activity, some of us turn to black thoughts. As a result, we try to keep our minds “ occupied”. So we read our emails while chatting on the phone, we watch TV while we are eating, we listen to music while running and so on. However, we only experience pleasure – real pleasure – when our attention is entirely engaged on one thing; a conversation, preparation of a meal, taking care of kids, or even listening to their make believe stories. Only, that is, when we are not dividing our attention to various tasks. Our attention is pure Energy. It transforms whatever it comes into contact with.
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