If you have seen or read The Secret or understand the Law of Attraction, then you already know the basic principle: what you pay attention to matters.
Even if you don't believe in a spiritual power behind your attention, it is a powerful tool at your command.
Attention bankruptcy
By paying attention to something, you are giving your energy to it. Just as sitting upright in a desk chair burns a few calories at a time, you are spending your physical and emotional energy with whatever you choose to watch, read, listen to or care about.
You know the feeling: stress drains you of minor amounts of energy for every moment you give to it.
Some things we choose to give our attention to: if you are chatting with a friend about her new boyfriend, you are listening to her words and watching her body language. You would be leaning toward her, and raising your eyebrows and smiling a bit while you nod in encouragement to reflect her joy back to her. You might be waiting for her to take a breath so you can say something about the spinach between her teeth.
The benefit of this kind of attention is that it is an equal exchange. Your friend will return this attention to you while you are telling her about your new boss.
Some things we choose to worry about: when you're watching a troubling news segment on television it's likely your eyebrows are knitted together, you've tensed your abdomen or jaw. You may even have to call someone to discuss this latest development. You might lay awake in bed that night thinking about this problem, giving it your sleep and even your weariness the following day.
The truth of the matter is that the government has levied a tax on your mind. Every time you turn your tired thoughts to the news about what our government has or has not done, will or will not do, does or does not stand for - you are giving it your energy. Do you really want to "pay" energy to the War in Iraq? Do you really want to "pay" for the 2008 Election?
Those distant people or events may not "receive" your energy and attention payments, but you certainly expend them. Why do you think the phrase is "pay attention"?
The good news is that you don't have to pay this tax. The IRS will never audit you. They get their energy paychecks whether you participate in the system or not. You can choose to save your attentive energy for something more worthy: children playing, a sunset, your favorite song, a good book.
You are what you watch
Looking at a heaping salad bar you know what you should choose to eat. You know that high fat, high-carb dressing is no tastier than light vinaigrette. You might make your selections based on comparative nutrients, your cravings at the moment, or perhaps simply out of habit.
The same selection is presented to us each and every day in the smorgasbord of mass-media. We choose what we take into our bodies. The problem is that most of the mass-media buffet is not healthy. There is not equal representation among the mental and emotional food groups. There is no Recommended Daily Allowance for bad news.
It is an accepted fact that mass-media engines have to stick with news that sells. They thrive on headlines. If they can't find something big and splashy, they will make something mundane seem sensational.
In order to "hook" audience members, the media must evoke an emotion in their readers, listeners or viewers. Emotions like fear or anger will captivate large numbers of people. Especially those who are habituated by years of picking up fear and anger like croutons on the salad bar.
Happy stories make so little money that "good news" is rarely even considered to be real "news" anymore. That's because happy people aren't the target audience. (It is generally assumed we have better things to do with our time.)
YOU are the Target Audience
Once you've noticed the media you are faced with each day, notice what you do with it. Do you frown or smile? Do you tense up or relax? Do you feel compelled to buy something? Eat or drink something?
Have you ever noticed what "target audience" categories you fall into? Do you see the same previews every time you see a film in the theater? Do you see the same car commercial every time you turn on the television? These previews are expensive - they haven't been broadcast willy-nilly to precede every film this summer. Those car commercials are targeted to a viewer who will watch a particular program during a specified time frame. You.
