Attention/0 = Error!

Undivided attention.

Do I have yours right now? Or are you reading this while “working”? Watching TV? Holding a conversation*? Can we ever really have anyone’s undivided attention? A better question is would we really want it?

Would we really want someone to be totally focused solely on us? Imagine what would happen when the words run out. They’d just stare at you anticipating. That or they’d ask you every possible question about your day or you life. It would be mentally excruciating.

But what about those times when we need a little attention? When we want to be more important than what’s on TV or who’s on the phone or who just sent the funniest e-mail ever? When we want to be the center of the universe, if only for a minute or two…? 

It happens to the best of us. Even those who consider ourselves to be emotionally healthy. Sometimes you just need to be acknowledged. Sometimes you need to feel like you’re important to someone other than yourself. For example, if I’m the only one who thinks I’m awesome, it could just be that I’m conceited. But because you also think I’m awesome, it’s reaffirms my awesomeness and once again all is right in my world.

And when we are that someone, shouldn’t we feel honored that our attention, our opinion, our presence means that much to someone else, thereby reaffirming our own awesomeness?

So the next time someone asks for some of your time and attention, give it to them; knowing that they’re really asking for affirmation of their importance in your life and acknowledging your importance in theirs.

* “Holding a conversation” sounds like something that Milo would have been questioned about in The Phantom Tollbooth. Or the punch line of a bad joke: “Can a man with no arms, hold a conversation?”

~ by Deviant on October 13, 2008.