Pay Attention (Part 2 of 3)

When you were a kid sitting in class, what was the instruction you heard most? Well, maybe you didn’t hear it quite as often as I did, but during my elementary school years, I was told to pay attention many times a day. Although I had to be told more times than I can even remember, I did eventually learn the importance of paying attention.

Attention is important in all areas of life. It started in school when we needed to pay attention to learn the lesson of the day. Once we knew the lesson, we could complete assignments and take the quiz or exam. Eventually this would all cumulate and we’d get a grade for the class. If you didn’t pay attention, what kind of grade did you get?

When I see the state of health in America, I can’t help but wonder what would happen if everyone started paying attention. I’m not sure where we went wrong. I have a few theories and can walk through a few steps to show what has occurred, but that is a whole new article.

Without getting into the entire history of US health, I just want to discuss the power of attention. If nothing else changed, what would we gain by paying more attention to our health? That question has been stuck in my head for a while, so I had to share a few ideas of what I think we would gain from paying a little more attention.

Exercise

It is so simple, yet we could go on and on with the reasons we need to pay attention. It’s a shame, but exercise is something we have to watch now too. We used to be active by nature, but now we have to try and “fit it in” or “find time” to get the exercise we need. Guess what? We are not finding the time for the exercise we need. The average American is now only even active for a few minutes per day and is not exercising at all.

Why don’t we exercise? Again, I think it is because we stopped paying attention. We’ve talked about what happens when we don’t pay attention to our food. Well, it’s not any better when we stop paying attention to our exercise. In fact, I would think it was easier to be in tune with the exercise we need. After all, we know how we feel at all times (if we pay attention) so shouldn’t we know when we need something? Shouldn’t we be able to feel that our energy level is not where it should be so it is time to take a quick walk? I wish it were that simple for everyone. Unfortunately, we don’t tune into that and we assume we just need more caffeine to get through the day.

Question: How many days per week do you feel good?

With exercise, just like with nutrition, the best advice is to pay attention. We are build to move. Our bodies have evolved over the years to function better with movement. Our current health issues are testament to the affects of the sedentary lifestyle. It’s a shame that we have come so far in some areas and gone the other direction in something so important.

Maybe that’s the problem. Maybe the average American doesn’t find feeling good important. Maybe the average American doesn’t want to live a long life. Maybe they want to die young and feel like crap every day. I don’t think that is true at all. I don’t believe for a second that anyone wants to deal with any of the health issues that are now plaguing this country.

I think we all want to feel good and live healthy. We just don’t know what to do. I see commercials on TV, ads in the newspaper and links on the web promising weight loss and good health. This can’t be a coincidence. I also see that Americans spend billions of dollars on home fitness equipment every year. Not to mention what we spend on gym memberships and diet plans.

The numbers are incredible. But what is more incredible is the fact that we are still chasing our health. We spend all of this money yet we have not found the results. Why is this? I think it’s because we are trying to find the quick fix. We see something that looks like it will work (It promises to work much better than it does.) but we don’t stick with it.

Another Question: How many times have you tried the “next big fad” and been disappointed?

It all comes back to that first step. You won’t use a piece of equipment that you don’t like. You won’t go to a place that you are uncomfortable with. There are many components to a routine. If you want yours to work you have to have a plan that takes these into consideration. How do you know what you want to do or what you will stick with? Start by paying attention.

What does your body need? How do you feel when you do this or that? These questions are where we need to start. Without asking these questions we are just going to keep going along with whatever is in front of us. That is clearly not working. For the average American, the food that is in front of you and the exercise that “you have time for” are what is killing you.

I know that no one lives forever, but the current trends show us that life is not only getting shorter, but it is getting more difficult. Just like when we didn’t pay attention in class. Those exams were difficult too.

This was part 2 of 3. Next time, we will discuss another area that paying attention will bring positive results in part 3.