Watch Your Attention

When someone kicks you on the shin, blood rushes to your head, you’re angry, and you want to retaliate.

Back in school, soccer was a favorite sport among boys and girls alike, but all too often someone would get hurt on his or her knee or shin. Surprisingly, that didn’t stop the game. In fact, the “victim” would keep playing, forget the hurt, focus on the game and play the best he or she could to score a winner goal.

In the game called life, sometimes we too face people who hurt us whether intentionally or not. When our focus stays on the hurt or on them, we can’t forgive, and all our thoughts are obsessed with how to get them back. We lose focus of the present and dwell in the past which doesn’t exist. In soccer, when a player does not pay attention to his game, he loses, and it brings the whole team down. Even if the attention shifts for a minute, the opponent takes control of the ball, and the game can be lost.
When someone takes control of your thoughts, you lose the enjoyment of being in the present moment. Perhaps, it’s better to forgive and move on. When we keep our attention on our spirituality, we connect better to our spirit, which is a source of deep joy within our hearts.