How do we improve our focus?

This Thursday at 8:20 am eastern I will be on Morning Air to talk about focus. Specifically, how we can improve our focus so that our prayer is more fruitful.

I’ll talk about just two things I recommend: one is removing your phone from your bedroom at night so you’re not looking at it first thing in the morning and last thing at night. This serves two purposes: one, when we’re constantly looking at our phone it destroys our ability to focus. Attention spans are very short right now, due to all our instant, constant distractions. The other purpose is that it then clears the way for you to use that early morning and before bed time to pray, instead.

Second: practice focusing by paying attention to something beautiful. Sit and look at a stained glass window in church, a patch of sun on the trees in your backyard, a wonderful painting, and do nothing else. I believe if we practice focusing - like developing a “focus muscle” - it will become more second nature.

Find out where you can listen here.

Are there spiritual benefits of boredom?

On Thursday I spoke on Morning Air about the spiritual possibilities of boredom. It’s good stuff! Listen here, starting at about 18:20. Notes:

Boredom happens! It’s natural, any time of year or life, and our natural tendency is to avoid it. It’s time to deprogram from seeking constant distractions and consumption and instead embrace that opportunity for silence and creativity.

We also talked about the habitual - addictive - way we reach for our phones and don’t even allow boredom to happen. Instead, we do mindless things. My favorite part of this interview was talking about remembering what we used to do in the evenings. before phones and social media - play a game, read a newspaper, play outside, call your Grandma.

We also discussed the role of imaginative contemplative prayer, how the use of your own imagination in the perfect antidote to boredom and the tendency to mindlessly scroll and consume.

Bottom line: don’t be afraid of boredom, it can’t hurt you, and God has given us the gift ourselves - so be with yourself!

Tomorrow on the radio: the spiritual possibilities within boredom

I once again am on Morning Air tomorrow at 8:20 am eastern, this time to discuss just what to do about boredom. Spoiler alert: I want to talk about how boredom is not something to be feared or avoided, but used to help oneself (or, say, one’s child) to embrace silence and one’s own creativity and imagination.

What made me think of this topic is the somewhat depressing thought that summer is, I guess, halfway over. Why count, right? But anyway, with much of the height of summer passed - or we’re just about right in it, now - boredom could be on the horizon. All the vacations are done, the bathing suits are uncomfortable, the snacks are no longer interesting, camp finished weeks ago - and so on. The opportunity for boredom to creep in could be upon us.

But again, don’t worry about it or avoid it. Look at it as an opportunity for spiritual growth. That’s pretty much the theme in everything I write.

Find out where and how to listen here.