Fighting the Focusing Illusion

"Adaptation to a new situation, whether good or bad, consists in large part of thinking less and less about it.  In that sense, most long-term circumstances of life, including paraplegia and marriage, are part-time states that one inhabits only when one attends to them."--Daniel Kahneman, Thinking, Slow and Fast, page 405.

We can choose where to focus our attention.  I cannot choose what has happened to me.  I cannot, as they say, get a new past.  I am highly unskilled at predicting my future for more than a moment or two from now.  The uncertainties and variables of existence are too immense and complex.  I can, however, make intentional and deliberate decisions about where to focus my attention in the here and now.

Where I focus will determine how I feel.  Where I focus will determine where I walk.  Where I focus will determine what I do or don't do, think or don't think, believe or don't believe.  Kahneman puts it in simple terms as he describes the "Focusing Illusion."  His description should probably be reproduced in all those cute ways we use to remind ourselves of significant insights.

"Nothing in life is as important as you think it is 

when you are thinking about it." 

I know this is true.  I also know that we cannot focus on...nothing.  So one of the skills we need in fighting the Focusing Illusion is some competence in focusing on something or someone else.  We need to substitute a more positive object or experience in place of the negative one that clamors for our attention.

If I try NOT to think about something (say, purple and polka-dotted elephants), I know what image will immediately occupy my thoughts.  Try it.  Try NOT thinking about purple and polka-dotted elephants right now.  Be honest and admit that you cannot accomplish that.

Now in place of those fanciful creatures, think about pink zebras.  Substitution is a key to fighting Focusing Illusion.  This is why service is the antidote to selfishness.  We have an alternative to our inescapable self-absorption.  This is why exercise is such a good treatment for low-level depression.  We have an alternative to the darkness.  This is why a funny movie is such good treatment for the blues.  We have a whole story and set of images to displace the dark ruminations that plague us.

Christian Scripture is many things, but I am learning that it is a primer in behavioral psychology and economics.  For example, note these words from Philippians 4:

"Finally, beloved, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. Keep on doing the things that you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, and the God of peace will be with you."

Think about whatever is true, honorable, just, pure, pleasing, commendable, excellent, praiseworthy...that should be enough to leave little room for hatred, bitterness, recrimination, guilt, self-doubt, shame and fear.  Where we focus is where we live and love, where we walk and work.  In the words of AA wisdom, be where your hands are.  Choosing where to focus is a critical tool in the process of adaptation.  It is key to fighting the Focusing Illusion.