What we pay attention to grows.

I know that I quote this all the time, but this line that adrienne maree brown often quotes is perhaps the crux of the point of spiritual practice. Think about that for a moment. What you pay attention to grows. Which begs the question: where am I, where are you putting your attention?

Try this for the next week. Or even just for the next day. Track where you place your attention. Yes, I’m saying pay attention to where you pay attention – but really! Try this. What do you do when you wake up? Reach for your phone? Check the news or social media? What does that grow in your soul?

That’s the thing about paying attention. When we do, it can uncover some uncomfortable truths about where we’re really paying attention, what we’re really, actually placing at the center of our lives (or congregation) versus what we think or wish or hope we’re placing at the center. And let me be clear – I know a bunch of you are living incredibly purposeful lives where you’re placing your attention exactly where you want to be placing it.

And. . .  For many of us, it is also so incredibly easy to get swept up in the swirl of social media, calendar busy-ness, and the consumerism machine particularly in this season that wants our attention on the things it wants to sell us.

The good news is that we can always, always start again. We can notice when our attention isn’t where we want it to be, and we can direct it back to where we do want it to be, where we want our selves, our souls, our families, our communities to grow. Try this too. Take a moment to connect in to yourself, your breath, your body and listen for a moment to what you want more of in your life. When you find that your attention isn’t where you want it to be, bring it back to what your embodied knowing longs for.

Give it a try. Let me know how it goes. See you at church.

— Arif

Each week (starting again in August), the interim ministry team will share a reflection on the Soul Matters monthly theme, the state of the church, or the state of the world. Meg, Terri and Arif will alternate writing this “In the Interim” post. We encourage your comments.