Attention Hijacking

If an individual makes an effort, you can have an opinion about the enthusiasm behind the effort, but you cannot judge the act itself. It is common to create a narrative in our minds of what the effort should look like and feel like. The amount of emotion and enthusiasm we expect it to possess. Our stories can be quite descriptive and, at times, far fetched. Our minds create a delusion that when the effort falls below our expectations, which fairly often does, we completely miss out on the appreciation of the effort itself. Our attention is focused on our narrative not being fulfilled. It makes one question how often the effort to make something better, in turn, actually makes something worse.

When we let our emotions control our attention and create complicated abstract narratives we are experiencing Attention Hijacking.

Our attention can be either controlled by our mind or by our emotions. When our attention is controlled by our emotions, we are vulnerable to poor decisions and there is a reduction of available information. We have blinders on. When our attention is controlled by our minds, we are only limited by our biology. Wisdom and knowledge can be acquired. The difference is for the former we are part of someone's game, the latter we are playing our own game. This is not about degrees of control but about being in control. Our emotions are easily manipulated, our minds not so much.

The evaluation of someone's effort is merely an example of attention hijacking. In some areas, we are more robust than others. However, part of attention robustness is a by-product of life. Anyone over time will learn how to train their mind to avoid the trap of attention hijacking in some areas. Usually, the ones they are most exposed to and have the most experience. However, if we can naturally gain attention robustness, then with practice, we can become influential in our attention. We can begin to influence our attention and control what the noise/signals sound like.

If ones apologies our attention limits the hijacking of our mind's narrative (emotion) and acknowledges the act (mind). The action in itself. If someone apologizes but lacks the enthusiasm expected, maybe the enthusiasm expected wasn't in that person's nature. Appreciate the apology, without judgment. With time it will become evident if it was sincere or not. Our emotions make our judgment clouded in these situations.

If possible, avoid creating a narrative at all. Save the mind's energy. If we continue to create these narratives of what effort should look and feel like we will miss out on the action itself. We are emotional, and our emotions sometimes influence our narrative to become unnecessarily complicated. However, if we are going to create a narrative keep it simple, limit the influence of emotion, or attention hijacking is inevitable.