Pa’Shun Minter

Dr. Lars Strother

PSY 499.1003

15 April, 2020

Written Assignment 8

Maura Thomas’s Ted Talk on Controlling Attention really spoke to me because I struggle

with focusing on one task at a time. Last summer my grandpa brought it to my attention that I am

often trying to do so many things at once that It takes more time to complete each task than if I

focused on finishing one at a time. My attention is diverted to a variety of things and I feel the

need to meet the demands of all of them. This often creates a feeling of being overwhelmed and

leads to putting things off for another day. To escape that aversive stimulus of feeling

overwhelmed I fill the space with something more reinforcing. I clean the house, cook dinner,

call up a friend; anything to take my mind off of the fact that I have to finish a list of things that

require my undivided attention. Thomas says that if we control our attention we control our lives.

As of lately I have gotten back on social media for business reasons and immediately I feel like I

am missing out on something if I do not check my phone every 5 minutes. The demands on my

attention have become automatic, I do not even have to actively think about it because

subconsciously I am already checking my social media platforms. Thomas also says that time

management is not relevant in contemporary society because time still passes whether we focus

or split our attention. Just because we have intentions to use a specific time to complete

something does not mean that the time will stop if we complete or don’t complete the task. But,
we may not have the experience we intended. If it is the experience I am living in, my goal is to

become more conscious of my experience because I feel like I am on autopilot.

In my 10 minutes of reflection, I could feel the stress weighing in on my back and rattling

my nerves as I tried to quiet the storm. Then, I did a body scan to assess where the tension was

and what it felt like throughout my body. I tried to clear my mind and take deep breaths but that

was easier said than done. Instead I visualized the weight of chaos closing in on me and I

physically pushed them away. With every large exhale i pushed away the things in my mind that

was causing me stress with each of my hands. I did this until I found something to focus on. I

talked with myself because I needed to affirm the things I know to be true. I think i was

practicing mindfulness in some sense by acknowledging and identifying the things that were

weighing me down and stealing my focus and then acting on them. It would kind of resemble

martial arts if you visualize the movements and state of calmness. With that being said, it

brought me a lot of peace. It was rewarding to let my mind wonder and then catch it again once I

could manage my emotions.