By: Harshika Gidwani
OPM - Being present and giving others my attention The early light poured through my bedroom window and hit my face. I pulled my blanket up to my forehead to block it, but then the hot air started suffocating me, so I had to pull it down again. I groaned. Now that I had woken up, hundreds of thoughts swirled around in my head. I need to get new blinds, I have three assignments due today, I have to clean my room, my mom will be coming in– “Noah! Wake up!” My mom yelled, pulling my blanket away from me, “You’re late for school!” School. Why was school so early in the morning? Why couldn’t school start in the afternoon, when everyone had already finished their breakfast, eaten their lunches, and had enough time to open their eyes? “Did you hear me?” My mom shrieked, pulling me out of bed. I groaned. The overload of thoughts again came again. What am I going to wear? What am I going to get for lunch? Is Mom still taking me to Jacob’s house today–? “Go get ready. I'll see you downstairs.” My mom let go of my hand and stomped downstairs. I had ADHD, so it was kind of hard for me to focus sometimes. Distracting thoughts constantly occupied my mind, and I barely had enough time to think about the present. Anyway, I was already late for school, and I didn’t want to have to do the “late kid walk” where everyone stares at you like you’re an alien as you keep your head down and walk shamefully into your class. I quickly dressed myself, flung my books and lunch bag into my backpack, and trudged off. *** I wonder what book I’m going to get this time. Will the library be packed? I want an adventure book . . . and a STEM kit. I hope they have Ozo-bots– “Noah!” My best friend, Jacob, whisper-yelled at me. I shook my head and then looked at him. Jacob pointed at our teacher, Mr. Lee, who was staring at me expectantly. “Noah, did you hear the question?” Mr. Lee asked. I could practically hear him grumbling internally about me. “No, sorry,” I said, my face burning hot. Mr. Lee sighed, “We just watched a video about staying in the present, and that whole time you weren’t in the present?!” I kept my mouth shut. “You kids always give me a headache,” he muttered before shaking his head and saying, “Forget it. Free time!” The kids whooped and bolted over to the game cabinet while I stayed in my seat and waited for Jacob to grab UNO so that we could play.Things were not looking good for me today. *** Did I remember to put my name on the assignments? Oh, no, I forgot to turn one in. It's fine, I’ll turn it in before I go home. Ugh, why does the cafeteria smell like cabbages– “Earth to Noah!” Jacob waved his hand in front of my face, snapping me out of my thoughts, “Do you remember? We’re going to have someone talk to us today on the stage.” I nodded. Almost immediately, someone stepped out of the curtain folds and a spotlight swiveled onto him. He looked very professional: he was wearing glasses, a suit, and generally looking like a Harvard professor. He tapped his very professional-looking shoe on the stage and said, “Good afternoon, students. I’m sure your teachers have explained to you why I’m here,” he nodded at the teachers then continued, “So, let’s get started. I’m Harris D. Fowler. I’m here to talk to all of you about staying in the present.” I groaned internally. Mr. Lee probably ranted about me to this guy. Why else would Mr. Fowler be staring at me pointedly? “You there, young man!” he yelled, pointing at me, “I can see that you are not thinking about the present moment right now, are you? Well, come up here!” I could feel my ears burning as I trudged up next to Mr. Fowler and plopped down on the chair he asked me to sit on. “A group of researchers from Harvard did an experiment on people,” he boomed so that the entire cafeteria could hear him, “They found out that our minds are wandering about 47% of the time. A reason for that may be that every single second, our sensory neurons send about 11 million bits of information to our brain, and our conscious attention can only handle 60 bits. The others go to your subconscious. That’s why it's crucial to be paying attention to what's happening around you; it can help you grow as a person. How? Well, when you pay attention and stay in the present moment, you can be happier, smarter, and more vigilant. Your brain needs to grasp information in the present, and when you overflow it with information that is not relevant, like stuff that is not in the present,” he paused and gave everyone pointed looks before continuing, but I thought I deserved to slip out of the present moment to think one quick thing: Huh. I’m glad I stayed in the present and listened to Mr. Fowler. Open-mindedness is the willingness to actively search for evidence that goes against one’s favored beliefs, plans, or goals. Those demonstrating open-mindedness see the other side and fight the tendency to have a bias for their own views. And, rather than favoring the socially dominant views, they give attention to those that are less dominant. – Positivity P2 Sources:
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