“When I walk out into the world, I take no thoughts with me. That’s not easy, but you can learn to do it. An empty mind is hungry, so you can look at everything longer, and closer. Don’t hum! When you listen with empty ears, you hear more. And this is the core of the secret: Attention is the beginning of devotion.”
-Mary Oliver
Do you ever wish you could just shut your brain off some times? I know that I do as I’m constantly thinking about what I have next to do, or what I may have just done or what I’d like to do in the near future. It can be truly exhausting as I feel like I’m a hamster on a treadmill that is never going to stop and often times I have too many things to focus on all at once. Luckily, in today’s quote American poet Mary Oliver says there is a secret towards become more focused. We must clear our minds as we face the world. This will afford us the time to look at everything much longer and closer. Just like an empty stomach is hungry for food so is an empty mind for knowledge. The only way to satisfy that hunger of the mind is through our attentiveness to that world around us. That openness. It is through our attention that the doors of devotion are open and that presence of being in the moment walks through that door.
This attention to devotion should be happening in all facets of our lives. And it can if we are willing to put away that cell phone. Turn off that TV. Close that laptop. Go out into the world with arms wide open and soak it all in. See things with a newer perspective; like you are seeing things for the first time. Be like a kid again and be that explorer. Someone that takes it all in and just stops to listen. Listen to others. Listen to yourself. Devote this much needed time now. It is within your control to do so.
What does this quote mean to you and how can you apply today’s message towards managing yourself better?
Becoming The Change 