Attention is a form of devotion
What a postpartum core workout taught me about focus, faith, and finding stillness when life feels busy
I almost didn’t post this photo I took today.
It’s just a gym ceiling with fluorescent light and a speaker
Why share something so plain, so unremarkable.
But to me, that tiny dot represented everything at the gym today.
I’m on a journey to restrengthen my core after carrying and birthing two babies. That dot was what I fixed my eyes on during some post partum core workouts. I didn’t focus on the people walking by or the mirrors or the tv flashing music videos or notice what anyone else was doing.
I focused on that dot.
The more I focused on that single, unmoving point, the quieter everything else became. The room didn’t change but my experience of it did.
I gave the mind something to focus on so any distraction lost its power. The noise fades. The body settles into the rhythm. The more I zoned into my core, the more I focused on every inhale and exhale.
Without a focal point, the mind does what an untrained mind will do.
Panic a little.
It scans the room. It paces back and forth. It compares, judges and critiques.
It either runs wild or shuts down completely. Working out feels longer, heavier and harder than they need to be. The work becomes overwhelming because our attention is scattered.
But when you give your attention to a focal point, you can move through the workout with clarity. One breath, one rep, one moment at a time. You can stay present and engaged with the moment you’re in.
Life works the same way.
When we don’t know what we’re aiming at, everything competes for our attention. Opinions get louder. Fear rises. Doubt gets stronger. We adopt what other people think/feel. We exhaust ourselves trying to hold it all at once.
For me, that focal point in life is God.
He is the stillness when everything else is moving.
The fixed place when the world won’t stop spinning.
The quiet unassuming dot on the ceiling when the thoughts are running at 95 mph. When I give my focus to Him, everything else falls into its proper place and the noise disappears. It no longer leads, it dissolves.
I don’t need to control the whole room. I don’t need to figure out everything at once. I just need one place to rest my eyes, my gaze, my mind, body and spirit.
Our focus shapes what we perceive and experience. What we give our attention to is what shapes our inner world.
Attention is a form of devotion.
And sometimes, the most powerful thing you can do— especially in a season of rebuilding is choose where you look..
… and keep looking there.
After all, doesn’t He tell us—
“Be still, and know that I am God.” -Psalm 46:10
🍵
Warmly,
Sandy, this is beautiful and grounding. The way you connect a single point of focus in your body to faith and stillness in life is so quietly powerful, and “attention is a form of devotion” really stayed with me.