Paying Attention

We may think we understand the art of paying attention.
by Alison Bonds Shapiro, M.B.A. in Healing Into Possibility
Originally published online by Psychology Today on

Attention is the key to so many things related to our lives. We have to pay attention to walk across the street. We know our relationships are more satisfying if we actually pay attention to one another. Our business affairs require our attention. All of this seems somehow self evident. We know that attention is important, but we may not know that attention has direct biological results.

As my friend Rick Hanson says in his beautiful book Buddha's Brain: The Practical Neuroscience of Happiness, Love and Wisdom, "attention shapes the brain." What we pay attention to is literally what we will build in our brain tissue. Our neurons wire in response to what we focus upon.

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