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I was in Kings Park on the weekend. It’s a beautiful park that overlooks the city of Perth. While I was there I couldn’t help notice that there were thousands of people wandering around looking at their phones. They were all chasing strange creatures with even stranger names.
While millions around the world seem to be embracing the ‘augmented reality’ game Pokemon Go (it’s reportedly been downloaded by more than 75 million people around the world) there are many who are sounding warning bells. Some of the concerns are about people being so engrossed in the game that they seem oblivious to what’s going on around them. There have been reports of people wandering into dangerous neighbourhoods, walking across roads without checking traffic and a few people causing car accidents by playing the game while driving.
Imagine being so caught up in something that you’re totally unaware of your surroundings.
I don’t have to imagine too hard. While I have very little interest in Pokemon Go (which is not the case for others close to me) I did have a very interesting experience a couple of weeks ago. I had a couple of hours between appointments and so I sat down and started reading. I was totally engrossed in what was on the page. The thing that surprised me was that once I’d finished I looked up and I was in the middle of a very noisy shopping centre, surrounded by other people going about their business. It took me a few seconds to adjust to these ‘new’ surroundings.
No, I wasn’t suddenly transported there. I had been there all along. Before I started reading I was in a noisy shopping centre surrounded by people. Once I finished reading I was in a shopping centre surrounded by people. But while I was reading, I was in a very different world. I was on my own and it was quiet. I had tuned out everything around me.
I think that being able to restrict our attention and concentrate on matters at hand is part of being human.
Our ability to restrict our focus not only helps us attend to what’s important but I think it stops us being overwhelmed. It’s easy to start drowning in the deluge of information that comes our way every day in our technological age. It would be absolutely crippling if we had to engage with every piece of information that came our way.
We all choose where we place our focus. For some that focus is larger or narrower than for others but we all make decisions about what becomes part of our lives and what we ignore or leave out. The world is too big to take it all in so we make decisions that mean that even though there are events happening all around us, we don’t see them or engage with them all.
I guess our challenge is that decision of where we will put our focus and what we choose to block out.
Do we focus only on our own lives and those close to us and fail to see what’s happening around the rest of the world? Do we miss seeing those in need? Do we become deaf to the cries around us because we’re not sure how to deal with others who need our help?
The bigger question is, has our focus become so narrow that we’re unaware of something or someone bigger than ourselves?
Have we become so busy and focused on our own lives that we’re unaware that if we just looked up from what has captured our attention we might be surprised to find that God has been there all along?
Where do you choose to place your focus?
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