Devotion to Attention

At so many points in my healing,
I discovered over and over again
that the body, the nervous system,
or whatever it is
had already figured out
the problem I’ve been wrestling with.

The missing part was just
paying enough attention to notice it,
to become aware of it,
to allow it to manifest.

Kind of like remembering.
And it really helps being reminded.
But it’s not necessary.

The learning itself turns out
to be one of those problems
that the nervous system
had already figured out.

All that’s needed is to pay attention.
So this is a reminder of what to do.
and maybe that’s all it takes.
Go!

But you need to pay attention
not just when you’re comfortably sitting
on your meditation cushion.

You need to pay attention
when it hurts,
when it’s scary,
when you’re on the edge
in the middle of life.

You need to look it in the eye.
And pay attention!
The eye will guide you up the mountain.
And, in fact, you don’t even need to climb it.

It doesn’t have to hurt as much
if there’s somebody else
paying attention with you.

Two nervous systems working together
have multiple times the capacity
of the sum of the parts.
Even a stranger’s eye
can help tremendously.

That kind of help
should not be so hard to find.
It’s not a complicated skill.
Yet it’s scarce and expensive.

But it is available.
Right here: https://helmofdestiny.com