What is Paying Attention?

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Contents

Paying Attention

Paying attention is the mind’s way of choosing one thing to focus on while ignoring everything else for a while. It is what lets a person take in the important bits of the world instead of being overwhelmed by all the sights, sounds, and thoughts happening at once.

What attention is

Attention is a mental filter that lets selected information “get through” so the brain can make sense of it and use it. It is not just one skill but a process that supports understanding, learning, and getting tasks done.

The main steps

When someone pays attention, a few things usually happen in order:

They become alert and ready to notice what is going on.
They pick what to focus on (a voice, a page of text, a ball in a game).
They block out distractions as best they can.
If they get distracted, they shift their focus back to the thing they meant to do.

How it feels in everyday life

Paying attention is what allows a person to follow a conversation in a noisy room, read a page and remember what it said, or drive a car without missing traffic lights. When attention is shaky, the person may start tasks but not finish, lose track of instructions, or find noise, movement, or their own thoughts pulling them away.

Warning!

It is possible, due to fear, or some other emotion attached to an object or experience, to use focus to filter out or filter in the things that you come across. Sometimes, over-focussing on one danger, that triggers us, means we overlook another.

Similarly, we might under-focus, and miss something that is focus. It is therefore important to be aware of what you are focussing your attention on, and also, what you might not be – what your mind has chosen to exclude.