{"id":1936,"date":"2012-10-09T03:00:39","date_gmt":"2012-10-09T07:00:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/lettinggo\/?p=1936"},"modified":"2012-10-07T23:11:03","modified_gmt":"2012-10-08T03:11:03","slug":"reclaim-your-attention","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lettinggo\/2012\/10\/reclaim-your-attention.html","title":{"rendered":"Reclaim Your Attention"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Question:<\/strong> I have read in your works, with regards to various thoughts and feelings, that we should do the interior work of learning to look at \u201cwhat is talking to us, and not where it is pointing.\u201d But when I try to look at some painful thought, it forces me to look at what it wants me to see! Then I lose myself again&#8230; only to find myself distracted by this. Please help!<\/p>\n<p><strong>Answer:<\/strong> Ponder this truth until its power becomes your own: Nothing in the universe can force a person to place his or her attention where they don&#8217;t want it to be placed. Yes, your attention will be stolen from time to time, and more often than one would wish; but when your attention gets stolen, and you begin to suffer from identifying with some corresponding negative state, simply see the truth of your situation, reclaim your mind, and start over&#8230; and over and over. Eventually, as you come to realize the unattended mind breeds the very defeat it decries, a new need will be born in you to remain watchful of yourself wherever you are, and whatever you may be doing.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Question: I have read in your works, with regards to various thoughts and feelings, that we should do the interior work of learning to look at \u201cwhat is talking to us, and not where it is pointing.\u201d But when I try to look at some painful thought, it forces me to look at what it&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":232,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[69,7],"tags":[19,1369,1370,99,1371,296,1372],"class_list":["post-1936","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sadness-depression","category-self-remembering-awareness","tag-attention","tag-overcoming-depression","tag-painful-thoughts","tag-starting-over","tag-stealing-attention","tag-suffering","tag-unattended-mind"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Reclaim Your Attention - Letting Go with Guy Finley<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lettinggo\/2012\/10\/reclaim-your-attention.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Reclaim Your Attention - Letting Go with Guy Finley\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Question: I have read in your works, with regards to various thoughts and feelings, that we should do the interior work of learning to look at \u201cwhat is talking to us, and not where it is pointing.\u201d But when I try to look at some painful thought, it forces me to look at what it&hellip;\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lettinggo\/2012\/10\/reclaim-your-attention.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Letting Go with Guy Finley\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Guy-Finley-260924340633\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2012-10-09T07:00:39+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2012-10-08T03:11:03+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Guy Finley\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@guy_finley\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Reclaim Your Attention - Letting Go with Guy Finley","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lettinggo\/2012\/10\/reclaim-your-attention.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Reclaim Your Attention - Letting Go with Guy Finley","og_description":"Question: I have read in your works, with regards to various thoughts and feelings, that we should do the interior work of learning to look at \u201cwhat is talking to us, and not where it is pointing.\u201d But when I try to look at some painful thought, it forces me to look at what it&hellip;","og_url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lettinggo\/2012\/10\/reclaim-your-attention.html","og_site_name":"Letting Go with Guy Finley","article_author":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Guy-Finley-260924340633\/","article_published_time":"2012-10-09T07:00:39+00:00","article_modified_time":"2012-10-08T03:11:03+00:00","author":"Guy Finley","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@guy_finley","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lettinggo\/2012\/10\/reclaim-your-attention.html","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lettinggo\/2012\/10\/reclaim-your-attention.html","name":"Reclaim Your Attention - 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His ideas cut straight to the heart of our most important personal and social issues - relationships, success, addiction, stress, peace, happiness, freedom - and lead the way to a higher life. Finley is the Founder and Director of Life of Learning Foundation, a nonprofit Center for Spiritual Discovery. He is the acclaimed author of \"The Secret of Letting Go\" and more than 45 other books and audio programs that have sold over two million copies in 26 languages worldwide. His work is widely endorsed by doctors, business professionals, celebrities, and religious leaders of all denominations. Through Life of Learning Foundation, Guy has presented over 5,000 unique self-realization seminars to thousands of grateful students throughout North America and Europe over the past 20 years and has been a guest on over 700 television and radio shows, including national appearances on ABC, NBC, CBS, CNN, and NPR. The Foundation's popular Key Lesson e-mails featuring inspirational quotes by Guy are read each week by a hundred thousand subscribers in 142 countries. Guy speaks four times each week on inner-life principles at Life of Learning Foundation's home in Merlin, Oregon. These meetings are ongoing and open to the public. 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