I can’t concentrate.
Concentration is hard for me. Or, at least it has been these last few years. This last month especially, with our schedule shuffling us all around, it’s been exceptionally hard to think straight.
Is it hard for you, too?
When I was a younger person, school-aged and well into my twenties, I used to sit down for several hours on end, studying, writing a paper, fixated on homework or reading.
But now? I can’t.
Or, should I say…..it’s really, really hard.
Maybe I had time for nothing else back then? Maybe nowadays, there is more to think or worry about? Maybe I have more responsibilities?
Maybe the biggest thing that has changed between now and then (when I was school-aged, or even well into college and grad school) is the presence of social media and texting.
Now, I get messages all day long. This was not the case ten or fifteen years ago.
When I need to concentrate now, I have to actively think about quieting my brain. And I try to escape to nature. I quiet my mind and try to think of nothing at all. I look at birds or water and soften my gaze. When I was younger, this sort of thing sounded really WEIRD to me.
Now, I crave it. And I can tell when I have not made an effort to do it.
It feels like I am concentrating….focusing…fixating… on nothing.
And when I can’t find the time to slip outside for a walk or a quick breath of fresh air, I pull up a photo of nature, think about the trip I took, or that place where I last found peace. And it helps.
What brings you peace? Share the peace!
4 the Love of Peace 