Avoiding Distraction in the New Year

Setting proper priorities

January 12, 2024

A Year with the Contemplative Pilgrim

"But you, when you pray, enter your closet, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly."

Matthew 6:6

"To be contemplative, we have to have a slight distance from the world to allow time for withdrawal from business as usual, for contemplation, for going into what Jesus calls our “private room” (Matthew 6:6). However, we have to remain quite close to the world at the same time, loving it, feeling its pain and its joy as our pain and our joy. Otherwise, our distance can become a form of escapism."

Richard Rohr

I wrote last time about the need for focus, to be able to clearly identify which thoughts should take priority in my planning and which are distractions. Being able to decide what to focus on each day helps maintain motivation.

As always, semantics often get in the way. The meaning I give to words may not resonate with others. The English language is often hard to pin down. Because of this I will attempt to clarify my words to help get my point across.

The first word to look at is "contemplation." The word itself comes from the Latin “contemplatio”   “the act of looking at something” or “gazing attentively”.  I often find however, that when I refer to being a contemplative, I create confusion. I am not referring to one being a monk or needing to live in a cloistered community. I am also not suggesting that one spend hours a day in meditation.

Being a contemplative, to me, is a person who has a regular spiritual practice that allows them to remove oneself from the many demands that life puts on them. This may be for five minutes or thirty days. The key practice is learning how sit quietly and to release all thoughts, to allow them to drift away on one's stream of consciousness. The ability to observe thoughts and let them go quickly is vital for contemplation. 

Once one can easily let thoughts go, there is a sense of simply being in the moment. I am amazed at how much my ego wants to be in charge of every waking moment. In contemplation, I simply am. No pretenses, no role to maintain, simply me.

Of course, one cannot stay in this contemplative state forever. Life goes on, and requires one to act.

I have often been frustrated by professionals who create desire for change without explaining "how" one goes about creating this change. Perhaps a better way to say this is explaining how one sets the proper stage for change to unfold naturally. I was visiting a client yesterday, and we spoke about gardening, another passion of mine. A gardener does not directly grow plants. The plants grow of their own accord. What a gardener actually does is create the ideal soil environment for the plants to thrive in. When a plant has all the nutrients needed for proper growth, then the growth occurs naturally. Good gardeners understand they are, in essence, soil experts!

Similarly, persons who excel at goal-setting and achievement are time management experts. It requires establishing the proper mental environment to allow one's natural desires to flourish. 

Contemplation, then, assists the person seeking to maintain focus, to have a foundation on which to build. Once I have cleared my mind of anxious thoughts, my true desires can come to the surface. I then have the ability to choose which desire is the priority for the day and feel intrinsically motivated to accomplish it.

In summary, here is what I am attempting to convey:

I begin the day with a spiritual practice of calming the mind. In this practice I release all thought and simply focus on being present. This allows my Higher Power to connect with my inner being. From deep within me, my true desires rise to the surface of my conscious mind. I observe them, then let them go.

Once I have completed my contemplative time, I recall the desires that surfaced and take steps to complete them. I know, from my true self, what my priority is for the day.

Here is a top priority for me. I have the commitment to write every day. Often, I do not feel like writing, or I simply feel too busy. Taking five minutes to clear my mind through contemplation allows me to reconnect to the desire to write. An idea of what to actually write often surfaces as well. From this the writing itself flows easily. My priorities crystallize and the day has begun.

The key is avoiding getting caught up in the frenzy of daily demands. By taking time for contemplation first, my true motivations and focus become clear. From that space of mental clarity, I can discern where to direct my energy. My ego is put aside and my Higher Power guides me forward.

Until next time,