Focus

Few people question their focus from day to day. Most live as victims of circumstance while dreaming of a better reality. Life provides any excuse I need to keep myself from pursuing progressive movement in my mind and my behavior.

 

Having a daily practice is a commitment. It is a commitment to myself to be proactive and creative with my own life. That commitment is up to me to maintain or betray in my daily thoughts and actions moment to moment.

 

Focus entails defining conscious intent. For instance, my focus today is the hosting of my dear friend from Canada, whom I have not seen for years. My daily activities will center on ensuring his comfortable arrival and settling in. While maintaining this focus, I will also be maintaining my daily routines for health and well being. This includes fulfilling domestic, financial and intellectual commitments.

 

Living a life in reaction to circumstances is what non-human animals must do. They live by their instincts in order to survive and reproduce. Being human comes with the unusual animal ability to imagine, to see beyond circumstance and to actualize those imaginings. In other words, the ability to intentionally become.

 

Practice is the development of this ability through daily decisions and actions. Humanist practice is the actualization of the noblest human values through daily thoughts and actions. Maintaining daily focus facilitates this actualization.