Quotes About Attention

Attention Deficit Disorder, Seasonal Affect Disorder, Social Anxiety Disorder. These aren't diseases, they're marketing ploys. Doctors didn't discover them, copywriters did.

Give the act to me. Purged of hope and ego, Fix your attention on the soul. Act and do for me.

We get ourselves in trouble because it's a cheap way to get attention. Trouble is a faux form of fame.

That was what I did at night. I read all the stuff that you're supposed to read in college but never do, or if you do, you're not paying attention. I read Tolstoy and Dostoevsky and Turgenev. I read Cervantes and Flaubert and Stendhal and Knut Hamsun, and I read every American except Faulkner.

Attention Deficit Disorder, Seasonal Affect Disorder, Social Anxiety Disorder. These aren't diseases, they're marketing ploys.

Civilization is revving itself into a pathologically short attention span. This trend might be coming from the acceleration of technology, the short-horizon perspective of market-driven economics, the next-election perspective of democracies, or the distractions of personal multi-tasking.

Dear Lord, I thank You that You listen to my prayers and that You answer, not according to my own goodness, but according to Yours. Help me to not let anything discourage me from coming to You in prayer—especially not my own sense that I am undeserving of Your attention and blessing. I come entirely because You are full of grace and mercy.

God sometimes uses a man's physical ailments to get his attention so He can speak to him.

Watch the shagging, you little bastard!' he shouted. 'Fucking look at it!' Hot sun was burning the

I believe you dropped something

hear it again." "I'm listening." "We've got a good business here, but you're screwing it up." "What are you talking

listened to the woman's voice.

I showered and shampooed. I even shaved the requisite legs and armpits just in case I fell in a swoon and one or the other was exposed to view. (Kinsey Millhone)

There's nothinng like an outsider's idle glance to make you conscious of your own environment.

Sometimes the import of a minor moment makes all the difference.

Qué narrador no quiere oír historias nuevas? Las viejas nos consuelan y las nuevas nos enseñan. Necesitamos tanto las unas como las otras. Me parece que hay algo que no has comprendido. Tú y yo somos narradores y escuchamos para aprender. La gente sólo presta atención para vivir las historias. Tus relatos sobre K'os son buenos, pero ¿quién desea convertirse en K'os? ¿Te gustaría a ti ser ella?

If we love our partners, why do we not just hear each other's calls for attention and connection and respond with caring? Because much of the time we are not tuned in to our partners. We are distracted or caught up in our own agendas. We do not know how to speak the language of attachment, we do not give clear messages about what we need or how much we care. Often we speak tentatively because we feel ambivalent about our own needs. Or

Love is a continual process of seeking and losing emotional connection, and reaching out to find it again. The bond of love is a living thing. If we don't attend to it, it naturally begins to wither. In a world that is moving even faster and requiring us to juggle more and more tasks, it is a challenge to be present in the moment and to tend to out own and our partner's need for connection.

She had read the same sentence over and over, and each time she lifted her eyes to look at Graham, he was always there, looking back at her. The wait had seemed endless to her, but finally the lights blinked off and on several times, and the store began to empty out.

Now and then sprays of rain flew over and misted our faces. Every time I refused to wipe away the wetness. It made the world seem so alive to me. I couldn't help but envy the way a good storm got everyone's attention.

How do we accomplish this matter of gathering life together in God? We must begin primarily by refocusing our attention keeping our minds and hearts directed toward God. The essence of the centered life is attention to God in all we think, say and do. It is the growing realization of His presence in our most down-to-earth living.

How often do we do that, he wondered--look at someone and fail to see what's really there?

We are surrounded on all sides by God but often we are no more conscious of him than we are of air pressing against us. We don't turn our attention to Him. (Evelyn Underhill)

Synchronicities, those times when an outer event resonates mysteriously and powerfully with what's happening inside, are more numerous during great shifts and upheavals. If we pay attention, if we approach them as symbolic and revelatory, they will often illuminate a way for us.