Distraction can be a momentary thing, a glitch in our concentration, an external interference that grabs our attention until we pull it back to what we were doing before. Such a distraction is merely a practical obstacle to the achievement of our goals.
Distraction also has a more pervasive form, however, in which the mind remains apt to wander away from the direction we have chosen for it. Like a stubborn horse that has its own destination in mind, our distracted mind keeps veering to the side, forcing us to pull hard on the reins over and over again. Such a lingering distraction cannot be plausibly blamed on the mosquito buzzing in the ear, or the phone call from a friend, or the little messes that we need to tidy up. There is a deeper distraction at work, beneath these little interruptions.
There is something else going on when we are in a distracted mood. Each individual distraction is an excuse to turn our minds away. The underlying yearning to look at anything, think of anything other than what we are supposed to be doing is the emotion of distraction.
To be distracted is to be taken off track. It’s a problem of orientation in which we find ourselves unable to obey our internal navigator. We are pulled off course, straying away the line we have drawn on our mental maps.
Distraction is a persistent emotion that returns to us over and over with the same whispered question: If the thing we believe we ought to focus on is so important, why do we keep turning our attention elsewhere?
What would happen if we took the time to listen to distraction, and consider its message seriously? Distraction is a reminder that what we think of as the center stage of our life may be just a sideshow.
Distraction is relative. Who is to say that the path we keep forcing ourselves to return to is not itself a distraction from another journey that beckons us no matter how often we reuse its call?
