Focusing on focus
And the illusion of what you think you're focusing on...
Your eyes only see a small amount of the world around you, far less that you’d think. Hold out your arm with your thumb up and look at your thumbnail.
If you’re someone with typical vision, whenever you’re looking at anything, that small thumbnail sized area is about all that your eyes are able to focus clearly on at any one time. This small but detailed view comes from the part of the eye called the fovea.
It’s the only area where 20/20 vision is possible and where you can accurately distinguish colours and fine detail. The rest of your vision outside of this thumbnail sized scope, is far less detailed. So the brain cleverly fills in all the gaps so you feel like you have a perfectly clear view of everything else in front of you.
Check out the video below, and focus your attention on the cross in the middle of the screen.
For many, the faces start to distort after a while.
None of the images have been tampered with, but your mind can get confused when it’s trying to create your reality, and so there is the illusion that some of the faces are not as they seem.
It’s a useful example of how we think we’re able to take in everything that’s happening around us, and what’s also going on in our minds - but really we can only focus on a fraction of it in any great detail.
So if you don’t focus on what’s happening around you, your mind can wander off and get distracted. As we saw in the video, when the mind strays away from what we’re focusing on, it’s not necessarily even getting it right.
When you’re not focused on what’s happening in front of you, and are instead getting distracted by peripheral thoughts, it can create a disconnect between you and what’s going on around you. You won’t be as engaged with the people who are talking to you, they may even feel like you’re not paying any attention to them. In a work situation this can have dire consequences - at best you’re not making the most of an opportunity, or far worse, people think you’re rude and don’t want to work with you.
It can also add to stress, if your mind drifts away from what you were meant to be focusing on, and rather than engaging with what’s happening now, you’re suddenly dealing with thoughts of the past, or worrying about the future.
Instead of stressing about these worries, do yourself a favour and focus on what’s going on right in front of you, and try to ignore those thoughts that are coming in and trying to distract you.
This isn’t always easy though, and I’ll discuss how to let thoughts go in upcoming posts (there’s also more on this at www.stresslessness.me). But for now, start with focusing on what’s going on around you - right now.