Welcome to MyAttention! My name is Sasha Granovsky and I’m the author of the attention development method.
In today’s world, countless institutions and tools are designed to capture your attention—political technologies, media, entertainment, social media—all vying for your attention.
And I don’t know any other way that would allow you to develop your attention, to understand what attention is and how to use your attention.
Why develop your attention? To stop suffering. How is suffering and attention related to each other? Many people experience suffering due to their thoughts, which lead to stress, worries, fears, resentments, addictions, and more. However, the root of the problem isn’t the thoughts themselves.
The issue lies in the automatic way our attention is drawn to these thoughts. From an early age, we’ve been conditioned to give 100% of our attention to our thoughts. When we’re living with these thoughts, when we begin to live in this mental chaos of thoughts, we begin to suffer.
To break free from this cycle of suffering, while controlling your Life and using your thoughts, we need to:
– Develop your attention;
– It is necessary to understand what thoughts are, what mind is;
– Understand what your attention is;
– Learn how to use your attention.
Thoughts are wonderful tools. But to use them properly, you need to develop your attention skills. Fortunately, this is simple to achieve with my exercises.
My method is not associated with any spiritual, esoteric, religious, or any other movements. These are pure training of attention. It is really hard exercises. For some, it may be the hardest training in their life, for some, It may feel like lifting the heaviest barbell. But it’s only through heavy loads we can develop our attention. It’s like developing the muscles of our attention.
This is the most direct path I know to stop suffering and feel good all the time, just good.
Everyone strives to feel good. You might call it happiness or peace, but it all comes down to a simple state of “YES”.
And for this all you need to do is to develop your attention, to understand what attention is, to understand what thoughts truly are and to use your attention.
What can this method give?
– You’ll experience a deeper insight into your mind and thoughts
– You’ll experience a deeper insight into your attention
– You’ll get tools and skills to use your mind and thoughts that you already have or that have not yet come to you
– You’ll develop your attention
– You’ll gain the skills and tools to use your attention
– Of course you’ll get the tools to be happy
– You’ll learn how not to lose your happiness
– You’ll learn how to stop suffering
– You’ll learn how to stop getting stuck in thoughts
– You’ll learn how to stop getting stuck in emotions
– Perhaps you’ll experience a deeper insight into your being
– Perhaps you’ll find the meaning of your life.
And, of course, the result depends on your choice to either stop suffering or not.
I am here to give you the tools and explain the conclusions you can draw from your own research during the exercises we will do together. This doesn’t mean you should blindly follow my advice or words. No. I encourage you to doubt everything, and believe nothing. Don’t believe my words, don’t believe doctrines, don’t believe books and so on.
Your experience and research come first, and then we will discuss them together.
Your attention is the most valuable resource you have. It’s more valuable than your life itself. Everyone wants your attention— politicians, the entertainment industry, media, advertisers, marketers, your wifes, husbands, kids, parents and even your pets – everyone wants your attention
Do you understand what I mean? Your attention is the most precious resource you have.
If you can control your attention, you can control your thoughts, it means you can control your life completely. That’s the point. When we start to control our lives, we stop suffering, we become absolutely free and independent, and only we decide who and what influences us, rather than being influenced from the outside.
The goal isn’t to retreat to the mountains, a monastery, or caves—that’s not life. The aim is to live in the ordinary world, but at the same time live fully while controlling your attention, controlling your life.
Regardless of what is happening around us, we can feel good. No matter our circumstances—where we are, how much money we have, our power or strength—we can always feel good. We might feel discomfort, but we can maintain a state of feeling good if we understand what thoughts and attention are, we use our attention and thoughts, and we know how to divide our attention into different parts.
80% of the people who completed all the classes achieved the results they were looking for. They learned how to use their attention and found their state of “good”.
For some, simply hearing the principles of the method is enough. Understanding that it is possible to explore thoughts, observe the mind, use attention, and understand what attention is enough. And then a person will begin to use their attention and begin to control their life.
For others, doing all the exercises, with or without repetitions, is enough. However, some may find it difficult and need support, encouragement, or further explanation. This is where attention coaches come in.
Now, let’s move on to the exercise.
We have completed the first exercise. For most of you, this was the first time in your life when you truly observed your thoughts. How did it go for you?
Please, tell me, whether you were able to catch and recognize the moment when one thought replaced another, at least once or twice. For example, “I was thinking about an apple, and suddenly I’m thinking about a job,” or “I was thinking about food, and now I’m thinking about a girl.” Did you manage it? If you did, great—that’s exactly what we were looking for: to recognize the fact that thoughts are changing, the fact that one thought replaces another
That was all you needed to do in this exercise.
Of course, some of you may have tried to catch the moment itself, which is quite challenging and not the purpose of this exercise.
The point was to capture the fact that one thought replaces another and to observe how these thoughts change. How one thought replaces another. One thought replaced another.
Thus, we tried to understand the nature of thoughts. Some thoughts were connected, one leading naturally into another. One thought unfolds and another appears from it, and so on.
Other times, thoughts can appear completely unrelated to each other. This is where the essence of thoughts is revealed, this is where the nature of thoughts is revealed – as chaos, the chaotic nature of these thoughts.
And so when we give power to this chaos, when we give all our attention to these thoughts, that’s when these thoughts, this chaos begins to control our lives. That’s when suffering comes.
So, if you were able to recognize the fact of a thought changing, it means that you experienced insight into this fact. Then you have successfully completed this exercise.
Yes, we only did the first exercise, and we tried to understand the nature of thoughts. The nature of thoughts is chaos, the chaotic nature of these thoughts.
Some thoughts flow from one to another, revealing and unfolding naturally. However, other thoughts appear unrelated to those that came before.
The essence of thoughts themselves is chaos. Imagine the consequences when we give permission for this chaos to rule our existence. This happens when we allow thoughts to control our lives without using our attention. Hence, comes the suffering.
It’s not that thoughts themselves are negative—they can be about anything—but rather, our attention is automatically directed to them. When our attention is automatically directed towards these thoughts, they begin to take control over our lives automatically. This automated cycle of chaos then leads to suffering.
(When we break free from automatically giving our attention to thoughts, we regain control over our lives.) When we break free from automatically giving our attention to thoughts, when we remove this automatism of our attention in thoughts, we regain control over our lives. Thoughts stop controlling us; instead, they become tools that can assist us.
Thoughts are a wonderful tool. There are no bad or good thoughts. It’s our perception and attitude towards them that assigns value. Moreover, our attitude towards thoughts is also a thought that is often influenced by societal norms, cultural beliefs, and religions. In society, the same thought can hold both positive and negative meanings.
Do you understand what I mean?
Let’s use “murder” as an example. In most societies, it’s bad. However, in the context of war or in a movie, it may not carry the same moral weight. A person who kills in combat can become a hero. Do you see what I’m illustrating here?
(You have to realize thoughts are just thoughts. And when you realize what thoughts are, when you experience this understanding of thoughts, and when you learn to control your thoughts and attention, you will be able to easily use any thoughts you have.)
You have to realize that these are just thoughts. Any thoughts are just thoughts. And when you realize what thoughts are, when you experience this understanding of thoughts, when you learn to control your thoughts and learn to control your attention, you will be able to easily use any thoughts that exist. (you have.)
We’ve explored the nature of thoughts together. Whether you choose to believe me or not. I encourage you not to believe. All the thoughts you have, they aren’t truly yours. Yes, they are thoughts you use—your ideals, principles, and understanding of world order, of what’s right and wrong—but these were acquired from somewhere. Did you understand how you got them? If you lived in a different society, your thoughts would probably be different too. Therefore, all the thoughts you experience, including fears, resentments, and addictions, are not inherently yours. You can be free from them.)
Now we’ve explored the nature of thoughts together. You can believe me or not. I encourage you not to believe. But all the thoughts you have, they are not truly yours. Yes, they are thoughts you use. They are your ideals, principles, your understanding of the world order, of what is good and bad. But you got them from somewhere. Do you understand how you got them? If you lived in a different society, your thoughts would probably be different too. That is, all the thoughts you have, they are not yours. You can be free from them, free from fears, resentment, harmful addictions, and so on.
Of course, some thoughts are useful—that’s perfectly fine. Most of the thoughts that come to me are useful. Of course, there are times when unwanted thoughts arise, and they can be removed but this is another topic for discussion. Firstly, it is important to simply understand the nature of thoughts.
The next exercise we’ll do together is kind of a test to understand the level of your attention. It will allow you to compare your initial abilities with your progress after completing 20 or 30 exercises. This exercise will help you track your development over time. Even if you are not able to complete this exercise by 100%, that’s okay—what’s important is to keep practicing. It’s the attempts that matter.
This is the end of our first exercise. See you for the next exercise. Goodbye for now!