Foreground vs. Background

What is the focus of our attention? Is it the foreground or the background? Or are all the layers of life merged into one and we can’t discern foreground from background?

As I was dutifully adding to my to-do list last week, I quickly found myself overwhelmed with the number of tasks on the list without lines through them. I also felt like I was swirling in fast-approaching deadlines. I remember thinking to myself, “how can it only be the third week of classes, yet I’m feeling like everything is due TOMORROW!?!?”

I am grateful that after only a few days of feeling this swirling and overwhelm, I was able to get a handle on my thoughts and feelings. I was able to “catch myself” and recognize that I was clearly operating from a place of merged foreground and background. Somehow, I lost sight of prioritizing and sorting out what currently lies in the foreground, needing my focus now, and what can stay in the background until its appropriate time comes. In glimpsing these merged layers and feeling the negative effects, I got the opportunity to refocus my attention. As I move through this week, and all the rest of those in this semester and beyond, I’m aiming to focus on the foreground and allow the background to stay where it belongs.

Where is your focus?