Dilemma of the week (or if I was totally in non-denial, "Dilemma of my adult life") = Focus, staying in the moment.
Sometimes (often) when my kids ask me something, my mind is multitasking on other work and visa versa; when a work project needs my full attention, my mind is often multitasking on how I should have listened to my kids earlier. Doh.
Scenario that happens all-too-often:
Vee / Kee: "Mom, I ___ and ___. Do you think ___? What about ___?"
Me: "Muh huh... Yes, sure... Hum... Uh huh...."
Vee / Kee: "Mom, I put the box of magnets on top of your laptop, and well, the house is on fire."
Me: "...Uh huh...."
Vee / Kee: "Mom, are you composing an email instead of listening to me?"
Me: "Wha? Oh yeah, sorry. What did you say?"
This particular line of dysfunctional dialog started probably five years ago when Vee and Kee became self-aware enough to realize how deeply the mind can multitask. I think they became aware of this in their science class, the one with the really bad teacher. They had to keep a rich and vibrant inner world going to keep from withering in boredom.
It all started one day with The Confession. I hadn't been listening well that day and when Vee asked, "Mom, what's wrong? It seems like your mind is working on something else rather than listening to me." I confessed with, "Whoops. I'm composing an email in my mind and put your conversation on a bit of auto-pilot. Sorry about that, won't happen again."
Yeah, right.
So, now the joke is when you see me not listening, "Oh, she's composing an email, just let her be for a minute."
Last night as I was drowning in thoughts of what priorities I would try to attack today, I realized that I had many choices, far too many choices, and I needed to select only the best ones. On a broad, philosophical level, the best choice in any given situation is to give your full attention to the moment, to be fully alert and attentive. So, that's my focus for today - be attentive.
Let's see if this works.
