CMP Review 2026-06-04

June 4, 2026

“Most important where the quality of your life is concerned, this imaginary ramble shows that by choosing to focus on something specific—birds, and certain ones at that—you had a very particular experience in the park.

“If you had paid rapt attention to flora rather than fauna, or to thinking over a personal problem or chatting with a companion, your time there would have been very different. Moreover, by attending to any of these deliberately selected targets, or even making a conscious decision to ‘veg out’ for a spell, you would have had a far better experience than many of us have much of the time, captured by whatever flotsam and jetsam happens to wash up on our mental shores.

“In short, to enjoy the kind of experience you want rather than enduring the kind that you feel stuck with, you have to take charge of your attention.”

— Winifred Gallagher, Rapt: Attention and the Focused Life

@artmiddlekauff