Focus, But How?

Where does everything else go when one focuses on one thing alone? Is there some place to tuck the myriad voices that cry out for attention? I suppose if one is absorbed enough in one thing, there is no room for anything else.
So is the task of focus becoming completely filled or becoming completely empty? I imagine some of each depending on how your mind works.
In either case, there is not much practical assistance out there except for stating the obvious. "Be more focused!"

Subtly Persuasive

Suggestions linger, if not haunt; while assertions are discarded before they are even discredited. The ability to catch someone's attention while looking the other way and leave them wondering whether or not you were flirting—to the extent that they then initiate conversation with you to find resolution—is the goal of persuasive communication.
I do not try to overcome your resistance. I arouse your curiosity. I do not try to reassure your reluctance. I enhance my own mystery. I respect and therefore tap into your own desire to learn and need to change, not my own need for you to agree with or be like me.
It's a matter of on whom I choose to focus. If I am doing something for myself, then I need to compel, force, command, assert, dominate my way upon you, and the risk of your rejection, difference or indifference cannot be permitted. If you are my focus, then I tickle, poke at, accentuate your own learning edges so that you want to take action and pursue new possibilities.

I Don't Know

I don't know.
Not so much a confession as a statement of fact.
If I moved from not knowing I don't know to knowing I don't know, that would be a confession. I can now acknowledge what previously eluded my awareness. There is no shame in the confession. How certain realities remain hidden or cleverly camouflaged is complex and different for each of us. That we should be blessed enough or open enough to learn along the way is cause for exuberant expressions of gratitude. Never shame.
As a statement of fact, I merely reveal autobiographical information. Today, I would like you to know that I don't know.

Clouds of Ambiguity

The approaching storm clouds bear portents of ambiguity. Destructive downpour or replenishing bounty. Too much or not enough. All at once or in measured portion. Feeding floods or flowers. The dark skies thunder in their absolute power and make neither promise nor threat. And yet.
It has been said, "Expect the best. Prepare for the worst." It is a fine line, though, between pragmatism and paranoia. Whether we are grounded in hope in a broken world, or operate out of fear in a world full of possibilities. We can look into the turbulent skies and say, "Thank you," or "Why me?"
It's worth a moment of reflection. It will make a world of difference when you are either digging yourself out of the mud or arranging a gorgeous bouquet of fresh cut flowers. While either scenario may be your tomorrow, neither resolves the ambiguity within which we either hope or despair.

Dancing at Work

Dancing has been a on-going metaphor of life and work for me. There's an element of technique, but it's the passion invested that gives it its power and joy. I can't help smiling from ear to ear when I dance. I'm engaged, I'm free, I'm expressive, I'm fully myself.
And so it is when working at what one loves. The joy is in the exertion. To hold back is to miss out. Trying to fit in is not to fit at all. It's when everyone stops wondering what the others are thinking about our "moves", that the dance floor comes alive, and the whole is more vibrant and impact-full that the sum of the parts.
I'm going to "work" now. Beware of getting in my way. You might find yourself drawn into the dance!

Habit Forming

Establishing new habits seems to require an odd combination of desire, will, practice, will, need, will, determination, and, yes, will. In instances where the will is weak, any new practice feels like a herculean task, a overwhelming burden, or some dreaded form of self-torture.
The method where the will is expected to dominate and subject all other needs, feelings and desires to it's strict rule, doesn't work very well. I suspect that if there were a way to structure a conversation (yes, within myself), where my needs, fears, desires and will could all take turns listening to each other, I'd be more successful navigating change. Instead of my needs feeling voiceless or maybe even never fully articulated and consequently fighting for attention or exploding unexpected at the most inconvenient moment, they could be acknowledged as real and honored as significant even if not deferred to as controlling.
The task of my will is then no longer to battle in order to win a war, but to coordinate in order to execute a decision.

Competing Priorities

Valuing multiple priorities while trying to focus on a particular course of action can be crazy-making. No matter how resolutely my eyes fix their gaze on a chosen course of action, my ears hear nothing but the shouts of the outranked priorities. I am continually justifying to myself the merits of my most recent use-of-time decision. Such constant mental gymnastics is exhausting, not to mention distracting and time consuming. What to do with the voices, though? That's the problem. They are persuasive and relentless.

With "Pen" In Hand

It feels good to press the "Create New Post" button again after a distracted week away. I am somehow most at home when I can sit down with my words. It doesn't matter how freely they flow. They are infinite, and these are mine.
I am working on ways to write more, write more often, and write on more of the subjects about which I am passionate. Discipline and inspiration make strange bedfellows, though. I would like to develop the discipline to write regularly whether or not inspired. I would also like, when inspiration hits, to be able to stop everything and go at it for as long as I need to.
I'm excited. I'm planning a great year for me and my words.