The Church of Attention

The Church of ATTENTION

I have three stories of remarkable speakers.

I visited a church this week. Members of the congregation want me to help the ministers speak louder. He’s a hand talker, a look down talker and punchline softener. He had a great message and I look forward to coaching him.

The minister talked about two types of Christian churches, those that know the answer and are adamant in varying degrees about sharing their findings. And those churches that like to ask the big questions-Who Am I, Why are we here, what’s for lunch?

I enjoy watching the big show of heaven and hell fire, damnation and sweet choruses of angels, but for the manna from heaven that feeds the hungry flock it’s the questions we ask that control our devil mind and lead us in directions toward spirit, success, and serenity.

Our public school system has education backwards; life is not true false questions, multiple choices or even graded essays. It’s not the answers but the questions that keep us interested in what’s happening. Its questions that fuel curiosity into opening doors to the unknown, taking risks, and keeping our egos in check. It’s questions that keep us open to other people, new ideas, and the possibilities of spirit. It’s the questions that keep our attention free. This church asked good questions.

I visited a ‘service organization’ that had a presentation on ‘Social Media’, the cyber world of Facebook, Linkedin, and Twitter. Twitter is the cyberspace that links the other areas. What’s it about? It’s about connecting with people, being personable, sharing wisdom not related to your business, being active and showing up. The speaker was dynamic, no down talker her. She left me with questions about my staying connected to people. Reminds me of the church, and fulfilled the organization motto ‘service not self.’

The third speaker was a senior from Acalane High School in a speech contest before a service group. Contestants were to speak on the clubs attributes of truth, fairness, goodwill, friendship and benefits to all. She walked to the podium looking shy and scared. She set down her notes, looked down for a moment and BOOM an extraordinary speaker took over.

She was with the audience, animated, vocally in control and presented a magic speech on her lover, a black and white messenger to her door every morning. She loved the newspaper and evolved the sad changing of the newspaper world into a love of journalism. A love of sharing the truth, voicing fairness, and the benefits and goodwill of communicating as a journalist, she too asked questions that involved the audience in the message.

So I have a simple question, useful each week, each day, each hour, each moment.

If your not appreciating this moment, what are you doing?

Who R U?