Greetings to our Beat writers, readers, and community members. We’re thrilled as always to bring you our latest publication of The Beat Within. Every other week when our issue goes to print, we’re in awe of the writing and testimony that comes forth from each person we have the privilege to publish. This issue brings lots of great writing on tough times, dealing with stress, how we define justice, finding hope, and honoring the special women in our lives. Our editorial note for this issue comes from our Managing Editor, Simone Zapata, who has been connected with The Beat for 11 years now. She started out as a volunteer with the REACH program in San Bernardino, and has facilitated workshops in many juvenile halls across the Bay Area over the years. Please join us in welcoming Simone!
Welcome, our Beat community, to issue 28.19/20. For this issue, a solid handful of you wrote powerful pieces on the topic of paying attention, based off of the Keanu Reeves quote, “The simple act of paying attention can take you a long way.” What does it mean to truly pay attention to something? Exactly how far can paying attention take you?
On a biological basis, our prefrontal cortex – the part of our brains responsible for planning, prioritizing, and critical thinking – aren’t fully developed until we’re about 26 years old. For this reason, young people are more inclined to act on impulse and make quick decisions without considering the lasting repercussions. It can be difficult then, as a young person, to truly pay attention to the world around us. Even as adults though, paying attention takes practice, and like with anything, the more you practice it, the better you become at it.
Paying attention requires a pause to process. If we’re constantly moving from one thing to the next, or letting our feelings in the moment dictate our decisions, there isn’t a space to pay attention. In the few meditation courses I’ve taken, I learned that empowered decision making comes from building the space between stimulus and response, and that space takes practice to build. When we’re triggered and respond too quickly to the thing that’s triggering us, more often than not, we’ll respond negatively with violence, hurtful language, substance abuse, and other self-destructive actions.
To build that space between stimulus and response, meditation teaches us to practice paying attention to our bodies. When we’re triggered, what’s going on internally? Is it anger? Is it hurt? Is it fear? Where do we feel these emotions most? Is it in our chest? Our stomach? Our throats? Noticing our bodies’ physiological responses to our triggers is the first step towards building the space to pay attention.
This initial step puts us back into our bodies. It’s also useful here to get in touch with the five senses – focusing on the texture of our clothing, the colors of our surroundings, or even the rhythm of our breath. Breath is the single most useful tool that every one of us have to pay attention with. Once we’re in touch with our bodies, we are better positioned to consider how we would like to respond to our trigger. This space we build by paying attention to ourselves in a triggering moment gives us the choice of how to respond. Having this choice, and creating the space to recognize the choices we have, will always put us in a more empowered position to move forward in our lives.
Paying attention to ourselves is also about treating our emotions as visitors. When we pay attention to our anger and can recognize the way it fills our body, it’s less likely to overtake us. When we pay attention to our fear, we’re better able to identify the root of it, and can better handle the things we name. These emotions that flood us are totally normal, yet it takes practice to handle our emotions with grace. The difference between an empowered response and impulsive response can mean the difference between life and death.
When we begin paying attention to ourselves in this way, we also open up to the greater forces in life that are shaping our trajectory. We begin to ask questions of our world and of ourselves, and see the connections between who we are and how we got here. The closer we pay attention, the more questions we ask. I’ve always been of the mindset that a great question doesn’t inspire a great answer; a great question inspires more great questions. In this sense, paying attention is also about recognizing the bounty in our lives, and building from the questions and observations that motivate us to strive.
Paying attention allows us to reflect and to plan, which ultimately leads to our growth. If we move through the world without paying attention to our triggers and our patterns, then we miss the valuable lessons that are always pushing us to be our best selves. If we keep getting caught up in the same mistakes, then we’re not paying attention to our responses, and we’re not paying attention to the greater forces that are trying to teach us something. When we pay attention, we create options for ourselves, and with options, we reclaim our agency.
Having agency means that we have control over our actions and consequences, that we’re in the driver’s seat of our own lives. There are times when we may feel that we don’t have agency, but that feeling is literally only that: a feeling. And if we are to treat our feelings/emotions as visitors, and allow them the space to pass through us, we are able to recognize the reality of choice in every situation. My hope for us all, and my hope for myself, is to practice paying attention to ourselves, to the way we respond to the events in our lives, and to the many lessons that become available to us when we pause to ask questions.
We appreciate Simone’s take on paying attention, and the ways that we can create more room for paying attention in all of our lives. We want to also express appreciation for our writers, who commit to their truths and self-advocacy every week. We stand by you, and we stand because of you. It takes an incredible amount of courage to speak confidently about our experiences and opinions, and these efforts deserve celebration all of the time. We’re proud of each and every one of you, and are humbled to publish your voice in our pages.
As we enter the summer season, we’re imagining all of us on a tropical beach, with a cold non-alcoholic beverage in hand, enjoying this latest issue of The Beat, reading, and enjoying the various submissions from each of our thoughtful writers. We also hope when you have completed this latest issue you will share this copy, (or a copy of The Beat Within) with a loved one who is in need or simply will find inspiration and hope, through the various writings. You never know how one will respond after reviewing this amazing one of a kind issue, as this issue for many of us is truly an anchor and lifeline. Reach out any time too, you know our address! We’re here for you and would love to hear from you. Until next time, The Beat goes on!