I go through much of my day on automatic pilot. I don’t pay attention to many of the routine things I do each day. I can go through a meal without really paying attention to what I am eating. At the conclusion of a conversation I may remember very little of what was said. I have been introduced to people and within seconds forgotten their name, not because I have a bad memory, but because I wasn’t paying attention. While my body is doing one thing, my mind is somewhere else.

This is more than a malady that affects specific moments or stretches of time. Those are merely the times that get my attention because I clearly spaced out for forgot something.   This is also a malady of life in general.

distracted-walkingI have been amused at videos of people so engrossed in their smart phones that they run into poles, step off curbs, bump into walls. When I see people absorbed in their phones, I have the impulse to walk up close to them and yell, “Pay attention!” just to see how they respond. I haven’t been that brave yet.

But don’t we all do that? We don’t have to be engrossed in our smart phones to oblivious to the moment right in front of us. We could all stand to pay attention, and I think that is what Lent is about. Learning to pay attention, but not in a heightened state of vigilance. That would be exhausting.

The season of Lent is about paying attention in a quiet, reflective way, and the self-imposed disciplines are the tools that help me do that. Spiritual disciplines such as prayer and fasting, along with other such disciplines, are not simply routines to make us better people. When done with intention, they help us pay attention. The disciplines I choose for Lent prompt me to do consciously some things I might otherwise do mindlessly.

Anthony DeMello, the late Jesuit priest, used much more direct language for this. He simply said, “Wake Up!”

Lent helps me wake up to the reality that I usually live between two unhealthy extremes. I either take my life, my relationships, my experiences for granted, or I take it all too seriously. For the next few days, I will spend some time sitting still, being quiet, slowing down the incessant chatter in my head. Paying attention, being mindful of the moment.