Pay Attention!

Pay Attention! 150 150 Ben Coker

Pay Attention!

Who is it within me that can ‘notice’ what’s going on in my body but isn’t my body?
Who is it within you that does that?
Who is it within me that can ‘notice’ my thoughts, comment on my thoughts, decide to stop or continue my thoughts?
Who is it within you that does that?
Who is it within you and I who comes up with spontaneous ideas – ‘out of the blue’?
(Where or what is this ‘blue’ by the way?)
And who is the other guy within you and I, who discards those ideas and dismisses those observations?
Which one are you and I paying attention to?
Are you and I listening to the voice that says, when an opportunity or idea arises,
• “I’m not ready”
• “It’s not convenient”
• “I’m not sure how it would turn out”
• “You can’t do that”
and so on?
Or are we listening to the one who says “Give it a go”?
You see
In the first few months of our lives that ‘negative’ voice isn’t there. It isn’t something we’re born with. It doesn’t chip in with “you can’t do that” when we’re taking those very first steps learning to walk.
At that early age we’re noticing everything around us, paying attention to what’s going on and trying to make sense of this brand new environment we find ourselves in.
So where does this ‘second voice’ come from?
Even before you and I started school we were programmed with hundreds of different paradigms, many of which were described as ‘common sense’, that ‘showed us the ropes’, gave us the ‘rules’ and mapped out what ‘life’ was all about.
Because this ‘training’ came from various authority figures in our lives, parents and schools in particular but also from our peer group, most of us took them on board without question.
Those of us who did question, were labelled ‘misfits’ or found ourselves in ‘trouble’ – when all we were doing was noticing and paying attention to that first original voice inside us.
Unfortunately, the vast majority of people pay attention first and foremost and sometimes exclusively to their ‘second voice’.
And even when they become dissatisfied with their lives and even though they may develop ambitions and visions, are unable to fulfil their ‘dreams’ because they ignore their true selves.
(Maybe that’s why most people consider ‘dreams’ to be something unachievable.)
But you and I . . .
You and I don’t have to go along with this set of paradigms our ‘operating systems’ have been loaded with.
You and I can go within ourselves and notice our original programming – to ‘boldly go where no man has gone before’.
You and I can pay attention to that original voice, the one who watches what we are doing, listens to what we are thinking and comes up with all those great ideas and then . . .
Notice the second voice, notice the negative programming, notice the ‘common sense’ that objects to our originality, put it to one side –
And go boldly towards the achievement of our ambitions, visions, goals and dreams.
I’m paying attention.
Are you?