Lost in Thought

The past two Tuesdays I have been fortunate to teach a course on Speech Language and Communication. I have introduced some new terms, new jokes and some mind boggling statistics. I also used one of my favourite quotes of all time: "The limits of my language mean the limits of my world" (Ludwig Wittgenstein).

As I was sharing it, I was struck by an uncomfortable notion: I no longer think that nugget to be the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. Anyone watching the news and the American Presidential race knows that language can be a beast of a thing: divisive, inflammatory and imprecise.

As a clinician in communication pathology, I am thinking that regardless of your language, your status, your qualifications or your age, the limits of my attention are the limits of my world. The ability to be truly present in in being present, to attend and befriend, is by far the great equaliser of human beings.

Paying attention is a challenge, and as Weil says the truest and rarest form of generosity. Undivided attention is an ideal, as it seems for most human beings, the whole world conspires to divide attention. Undivided attention becomes a guilty thing, and then more often than not, it becomes an unattainable thing, a 'one day' or a 'when- things -settle-down' thing.

Here it is though: our minds will always try to occupy us away from the here and the now. Why? Because there seems to always be a little chaos to manage, an injustice to lament, unfairness to contemplate, and so on. Too many hours and too many days are spent lost in thought. We are living in a virtual reality.

Let's be real. Let's get practical. Why not, right where you are, quiet your mind by attending to your body? Feel your feet grounding you, your position on the chair, the tension in your shoulders, the placement of your hands. Don't adjust or change it, just create awareness around it. Feel your breath, honour it with attention for doing all that work without you having to think about it. Try to carve out a minute every few hours to breath and attend and befriend yourself. You will be amazed.

"at the still point, there the dance is"

(TS Elliot)