Rapping about RAPT (A brief discussion of Winifred Gallagher's work on Attention)

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Lately Audible.com books have been the focus of my rapt attention. This is a topic which, from my own experience with the hyper-focus trait of ADD; a characteristic that enabled me to design this and other blogs 16-18 hours a day (nearly without breaking) for the last four days. In fact, I thank my blog presence entirely as courtesy of hyper-focus.  And it's my recent awareness of such hard-wired, long-termed traits in myself that have compelled me to look more into attention, memory and self-regulation. This book goes a great distance in all the aforementioned areas.

Rapt is one of the best audio reads (and hardbacks I'm sure) I've ever had the pleasure of experiencing. Rapt is cerebral yet refreshingly without pretense. It covers many aspects of life through the lens of human attention. Rapt discusses the gamut from relationships to work, pleasure, satisfaction, anger, attention deficits (including ADD), meditation and mindfulness, conscious creation of experience, and more. The reader's female voice is well-paced, nice-to listen to vocally, and the audio is good quality. Lots of quotes from the psychologist and philosopher William James, who I found I quite liked. WJ says, "Wisdom is the art of knowing what to overlook," and "I sing not because I'm happy, but am happy because I sing." The truth in these statements and the profound affect of the ability to shape our own worlds of experience through perception and intention is one of the most motivating truths I can think of. I was glad to be reminded of this divine fact of life. Thanks, Winnifred.

I plan to listen to Rapt again, and probably again after that. It's one of those rare reads from which you can get immeasurable benefit--and I intend to. Upon my next listen, I will update this post with specific topics discussed in RAPT, why they drew my attention and how I personally have internalized the message.

So, enough about Winnie and me...tell us what gets your rapt attention?