What are you paying attention to?

I noticed a commuter waiting to cross the street so engrossed with the contents of his phone that he missed most of the walk signal to cross.

By the time he looked up, it was too late.

This incident struck me as a cautionary metaphor for how we can end up missing out on the most important parts of life if we’re not careful.

Life is laden with distractions: it’s the device in our pockets, thoughts about things we cannot control, ruminations about past transgressions, or worries about the infinite ways in which the future may unfold.

There are a lot of meaningful, useful things that we can pay attention to; there are a lot of compelling yet meaningless, unhelpful things we can pay attention to.

The quality of our lives depends on which category we lean into.