Quotes About Attention

Thank you for leaving us alone but giving us enough attention to boost our egos.

He did not perceive his father nor his brothers to be any competition regarding the attention he received from the two females in his life. Therefore, as an adult Mhlengwa did not consider any male as competition.

Prostitution has been called the oldest profession and prostitutes have always been a part of the history of the human race. So have serial killers, but they managed to elude attention until the infamous Jack the Ripper killed five prostitutes between August and November 1888 in London.

Once a killer is in prison, we carry on with other investigations and do not pay much attention to those who are behind bars. This infuriates them and they get jealous. I compare it to sibling rivalry. I became the 'Bad Mother' object to our suspect and he vented his anger in those letters.

Most of us can easily do two things at once; what's all but impossible is to do one thing at once.

No one really listens to anyone else, and if you try it for a while you'll see why.

Let every man mind his own business.

Las mujeres saben siempre cuándo se las mira, aun sin verlas, y cuándo se las ve sin mirarlas.

I mean, we're only here for a short while. And I think it's such a lucky accident, having been born, that we're almost obliged to pay attention. In some ways, this is getting far afield. I mean, we are—as far as we know—the only part of the universe that's self-conscious. We could even be the universe's form of consciousness.

The optimal state of inner experience is one in which there is order in consciousness. This happens when psychic energy—or attention—is invested in realistic goals, and when skills match the opportunities for action. The pursuit of a goal brings order in awareness because a person must concentrate attention on the task at hand and momentarily forget everything else.

The mark of a person who is in control of consciousness is the ability to focus attention at will, to be oblivious to distractions, to concentrate for as long as it takes to achieve a goal, and not longer. And the person who can do this usually enjoys the normal course of everyday life.

The ultimate test for the ability to control the quality of experience is what a person does in solitude, with no external demands to give structure to attention.

Entropy is the normal state of consciousness—a condition that is neither useful nor enjoyable. To avoid this condition, people are naturally eager to fill their minds with whatever information is readily available, as long as it distracts attention from turning inward and dwelling on negative feelings. This explains why such a huge proportion of time is invested in watching television, despite the fact that it is very rarely enjoyed.

To pursue mental operations to any depth, a person has to learn to concentrate attention. Without focus, consciousness is in a state of chaos.

After curiosity, this quality of concentrated attention is what creative individuals mention most often as having set them apart in college from their peers. Without this quality, they could not have sustained the hard work, the 'perspiration.' Curiosity and drive are in many ways the yin and the yang that need to be combined in order to achieve something new.

The mark of a person who is in control of consciousness is the ability to focus attention at will, to be oblivious to distractions, to concentrate for as long as it takes to achieve a goal, and not longer.

To be distracted against one's will is the surest sign that one is not in control.

we can experience pleasure without any investment of psychic energy, whereas enjoyment happens only as a result of unusual investments of attention.

We create ourselves by how we invest this energy. Memories, thoughts, and feelings are all shaped by how we use it. And it is an energy under our control, to do with as we please; hence, attention is our most important tool in the task of improving the quality of experience.

The optimal state of inner experience is one in which there is order in consciousness. This happens when psychic energy—or attention—is invested in realistic goals, and when skills match the opportunities for action

We have seen that experience depends on the way we invest psychic energy—on the structure of attention. This, in turn, is related to goals and intentions. These processes are connected to each other by the self, or the dynamic mental representation we have of the entire system of our goals. These are the pieces that must be maneuvered if we wish to improve things.

As this example suggests, we can experience pleasure without any investment of psychic energy, whereas enjoyment happens only as a result of unusual investments of attention.

A person can feel pleasure without any effort, if the appropriate centers in his brain are electrically stimulated, or as a result of the chemical stimulation of drugs. But it is impossible to enjoy a tennis game, a book, or a conversation unless attention is fully concentrated on the activity.

Why is solitude such a negative experience? The bottom-line answer is that keeping order in the mind from within is very difficult. We need external goals, external stimulation, external feedback to keep attention directed. And when external input is lacking, attention begins to wander, and thoughts become chaotic