A line from the NY Times op-ed pages caught my eye today, “Silence makes it possible to think.” (“The Cost of Paying Attention” by Matthew R. Crawford, March 7, 2015)

The “attention overload” that Mr. Crawford bemoans are the seemingly endless bits of commercial sight and sound that are thrown at us everywhere we turn. He goes on,

“Attention is a resource; a person has only so much of it. … What if we saw attention in the same way that we saw air or water, as a valuable resource that we hold in common? Perhaps, if we could envision an “attentional commons,” then we could figure out how to protect it.”

This is a complicated problem, but one way to protect our “attention” is to protect our time. We can protect our attention by setting aside a little time each day to disengage from doing. Just sit still and pay attention to whatever arises in that place. Regard the sensations, feelings, and thoughts, that arise in you with the same tender care that you might lavish on a sleeping baby in your arms. For a few minutes, let there be nothing to do except giving this precious life your full attention.