Free Your Mind from Anxiety #2 — Sam Perli
Attention span is on the decline over the years. "Attention is the taking possession by the mind in clear and vivid form of one out of what seems several simultaneously possible objects or trains of thought.” Of course, everyone knows what attention is. We all believe we know what attention is, but it's more complicated than that.
Multi-tasking is a myth. Why is all of this a problem? After all, it’s called multitasking, thought by many to be a highly prized skill for coping with the demands of the information age. “With the exception of a few rare individuals, there is no such thing as multitasking.” “Unless one of the tasks is automatic, like chewing gum or walking, you cannot do two effortful things at the same time.
Blood pressure rises. Heart rate speeds up. Psychological measures of stress also show negative outcomes, such as more fatigue, more mistakes and less productivity: “The more people multitask, the more errors they make.” So, why do we do this? Why multi-task, why get overwhelmed by so many things that are craving for our attention? Let’s read the following story of Jesus to understand why –
John 2:12-17 (ESV)
When it was almost time for the Jewish Passover, Jesus went up to Jerusalem. In the temple courts he found people selling cattle, sheep and doves, and others sitting at tables exchanging money. So he made a whip out of cords, and drove all from the temple courts, both sheep and cattle; he scattered the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables. To those who sold doves he said, “Get these out of here! Stop turning my Father’s house into a market!” His disciples remembered that it is written: “Zeal for your house will consume me.”
Jesus was enraged. Why was Jesus angry? Well, we must understand a few things that were happening here.
Isn’t it like this with religion today friends? People come to worship and connect with God but religion makes them go in circles. Religion robs people of their money. Religion robs people of their sanity and at the end, they don’t even get to meet God. Jesus hates religion. Jesus hates this superfluous, unnecessary business going around.
Does more means more happy?
Not necessarily, after a little while, once the basic needs of a person are taking care of, increased personal wealth will not result in increased happiness for anyone!
More doesn’t mean more happy friends, more means more anxiety. More means more worry, more means more fears! More is more anxiety!
