Choosing How and Where to Place Your Attention

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Guest Post by Dennis Ernst

I started up an unnamed trail in southern Arizona one cool breezy morning. Recent rain had softened the earth in the foothills of the remote San Rita Mountains and left low hanging clouds spread across the sky. Further up in the mountains, I could see snow in the higher elevations, shrouded with dark clouds. Beyond that was my destination, Mt. Wrightson.

I love hiking alone, early in the morning. Somehow nature softens my ego and the feelings of being unique, separate, and individual give way a bit to the deep interconnectedness with nature and all around me. The view of me hiking up the trail and the world around me and the richness of nature with a human hiking through it coexist in the moment.

I stopped and looked around. The rugged rocky mountain and the valley sprawling below me provided a strong and interesting scene. Off the edge of the trail a short way, I could see the start of what would soon be wildflowers just getting started and the dead stalks of last year’s plant lay close by. A beetle was struggling up the steep hillside, battered by gust of wind and the jumble of dead grass and plants making a never-ending obstacle course. The trail, the hike and the mountains had melted away as I gaze at nature just a few feet away. Interesting.

I adjusted my focus of my attention to the valley below and watched tiny cars and trucks creep along a black strip of road. Miniature cattle and horses were grazing in a field and a truck with hay had just pulled up to a feeding area. Across the valley dark cloud covered the next mountain range and were creeping slowly down towards the valley.

Oh, where was I? Back on the trail the thought struck me that I should be going, tearing myself away from the world below me and get my focus back on the trail. Pay attention! To what I wondered, as I started on. The damp earthy smells of my surroundings, the obstacles in the trail and the chill of the increasing breeze clamored for my attention. Focus and execute, keep hiking.

The trail was getting steeper with more obstacles and the wind picking up. The light jacket I was wearing now was beginning to feel a little light. Pick up the pace and get warmed up. Now I needed to pay attention to the trail ahead of me, keep focused and carefully choose each step. Breath, deeply and sync my breathing and heart rate to my energy burn and hike efficiently.

A half mile further up the trail I realized that my surroundings had vanished, and only the trail a few steps ahead now made up my  world view. It all happens so naturally, almost without notice, the shift of my attention and what I was choosing to experience. Ah, what was I choosing to experience? Was it a conscious choice or just something produced by running on autopilot? Where am I?

Where am I, now that’s a good question. It was time to get some perspective. Letting go of the human centered focus just a bit, I could experience something larger, shift my point of observation and allow myself to experience a wider range of perceptions. What a narrow limited focus the human senses based perception is. It was necessary to keep focused on the trail and safe from the obstacles along the trail. I had chosen to hike, but it wasn’t all of my attention.

Was the shift away from the human senses perspective just imagination? If it was, what a powerful tool that imagination would be. How was the experience of an imagined view different than the human senses based view? The human senses view feels real, but the imagined view feels even more real as it isn’t limited by the narrow range of human sensors. Could my attention be in more than one place at a time and was I only cherry picking viewpoints I found useful?

I noticed I had stopped again, to contemplate all these things and it was time to get going on up the trail. How was it that I hadn’t even noticed stopping? The wind was picking up and the chill factor made a cool morning feel downright cold. Get moving, warm up!

I was immersed in the incredible beauty of nature all around me and yet my body was challenged by the hike and the strong gust of wind that were now battering me. I was nearing the top of the small mountain I  was climbing and it was the end of the trail. Part of me was wishing the hike would never end, as it reveled in the wonder of being here and my body was saying let’s get out of here, I’m freezing.

On top of the peak, the view was outstanding. Even with the low clouds racing over the mountains the 360 degree view is truly amazing. Tiny ant-like cars and trucks were creeping along a ribbon of roadway and there were cattle and horses grazing in a big field. A tiny truck with a load of hay pulled up at a gate in the field and all the cattle started rambling towards it.  It’s like I just can’t take in enough of it, and it becomes more addictive as you expand your view. Who cares about that whiny body when you are so immersed, so connected to so much?

It was time to head back, much to my body’s delight and I thought about this experience I was having. It’s so natural but yet so illusive.  Wherever I placed my attention, I experienced something.  That something was based on the perimeters I had chosen, consciously or unconsciously. Was I just observing what was already there, or like my imagination, creating it in the moment? Quantum Theory supports the idea that observation solidifies a wave-like field. It is fluid until you focus on it then it appears to become solid and real. Both the solid and the field exist at the same time. Hmmmm…..

My years of photography had disciplined my attention to look for and notice the beauty in the world around me. That choice had brought me the exquisite experiences of nature. Both the beauty and nature were my choice and had been expressed in the context of the present moment.

I noticed I had stopped again, this time focused on watching the sunspots and the shadows racing with the clouds across the valley floor. It was mesmerizing. My body was nagging at me, come on let’s go I want to be in the warm truck, out of the wind.

I started down the trail again, wondering how  many more rich viewpoints I could have chosen and what my experience might have been. The viewpoint of the human experience, the view from a character immersed in a self created drama is a challenging set of parameters. This immersion into an observation, the beingness of the experience within the parameters set by the observation may be what consciousness is. This unique ability to create and observe simultaneously creates  the sense of reality.

All of this is really about attention. The ability to choose how and where to put your attention and keep it on it long enough to have that experience. If the attention is really only a form, or application  of imagination, is something to ponder.  Is this how I’m learning to use imagination to create a moment, a life or an experience? Is this what being human is all about, attention?

I started the motor of the truck. My body just couldn’t wait for the heater to warm it. It was muttering, I can’t believe you made me hike like that, got me all cold and miserable. Why would you do that? I chuckled as I realized that it was my choice to have put attention on my body and experience from that viewpoint.

Focus, time to focus my attention to what I want to happen next and start driving back towards home. Nature was still calling me, begging for more attention but the commitments of the day rated higher.

Choose your journey and own your choices.

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Dennis Ernst is a retired Professional Land Surveyor who now devotes his time to sharing the natural beauty he finds on his many treks through photography, blogs, and poetry. Please visit his website, Dennis Ernst Photography, for a glimpse into his fascinating world.