Devotion: Focusing on What's Important and Letting Go of What's Not

My 94-year-old mother has a life-long habit that works very well.  She pays attention to what she focuses on and lets into her consciousness, chosing to focus on what's important and letting go of what isn't important.  We watch a lot of romantic comedies on Turner Classic Movies and skip lots of news programs and the horror and reality shows.  Mom enjoys National Geographic, The Smithsonian, Reader's Digest, and reads some articles in Time.  She had developed age-related macular degeneration in both eyes and we recently subscribed to the National Library Service and receives these magazines in an audio format.

Last Sunday, in a meeting with some friends focused on making a positive difference in the world and in our lives, the idea came up that it is sometimes good to go on a "media fast"--doing without news programs and focusing on what is really important in our lives.  I am reminded that "news" was originally the compass points--North, East, West, and South--and referred to collecting information from all points of the compass so that readers would be well informed--at least as far as the people writing the information were concerned.

With the Internet and the advent of social networking sites like Twitter, FaceBook, LinkedIn, and others. News can be more personal, immediate, and even intimate--family members keeping each other posted about where they are to meet.  We do not have to read all the e-mails we receive or newspapers or TV programs, etc. 

Another word surfaced on Sunday, the word "devotion."  One way to look at the word is to break it out.  "De" often comes from the Latin word de which means from.  "Vot" comes from votary which refers to choose toward something.  Devotion is often connected with a spiritual significance.  The ion turns the word into a noun--a person, place, or thing.  Devotion can mean to turn away from distraction and to turn toward something else--a positive focus and direction (often spiritually inspired).

Focusing on what is important is a form of devotion.  Letting go of that is not important is the letting go of distraction concept associated with devotion.