Administrivial attention

Sunday. No traffic. Office phones are asleep in their cradles. No tight calls on my time. I am footering.

There are many categories of stuff claiming attention (thoughts, feelings and moods (TFM)). In my case these include the major themes listed below. They are continually interacting in response to immediate inputs from the sense organs, and historical inputs from memory. I note that each major theme is substantiated by large numbers of middle level themes which in their turn are founded on a seemingly never-ending stream of micro perceptions.

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• shopping (functional for groceries (Coop and Tesco) – foraging instinct)
• being a consumer that does not consume – watch what grabs my attention (online esp. Amazon)
• cooking (have new equipment (eg food processor))
• gardening (mow grass and prune bushes)
• managing the cottage (cleaning and paperwork)

• reading (instruction manuals, cutting edge non-fiction)
• writing (diary, blog, Banffie)

• doodling (becalmed and non-egoic – about 30 minutes – more creative than colouring books)
• just sitting (mindfulness)
• dosing – (there has been more memories of foreign places)

• email and social networking (analogue and virtual)
• media (radio and TV)
• music (especially learning how to use the Zoom16 and Cubase LE8, and connecting the keyboard by midi. I have not kept up to date with the technology)
• ICT (FTP and web sites. I have not kept up to date with the technology)

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In terms of TFM there are two supermajor categories – (a) the non-egoic Oneness which is the guarantor of bliss and (b) the egoic multiplicity which calls up stress, depression, anxiety and panic (SADAP?) There is an acceptable urge to have more of the former and less of the latter. But both have their uses and the real task is to have them in a wholehearted balance.

Jack Kerouac reckoned[1] that “the passer through everything must feel good about everything that happens – the lucky exuberant bastard”. 24/7 monks and nuns aspire to perpetual bliss. I don’t know about bliss but I spend most of my days in equanimity. A variety of worrisome TFM appear but they do not take over the whole attention centre. The witness appears and by being an audience takes the sting out of the mind stuff. Neural plasticity operates even amongst the instincts and reflexes of the hard wired, old brain. The Zombie switches off the autopilot and the authentic existentialist takes over.

I get my jollies from being non-egoic and post-existential. It is therefore important that administrivial attention (see most of the above list does not commandeer the mindbrain.

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[1] The quote is from memory and may not thus be accurate. If you know the source please leave a note in the comments box.