Rapt: Attention and the Focused Life A revolutionary look at how what we pay attention to determines how we experience life Acclaimed behavioral science writer Winifred Gallagher's Rapt makes the radical argument that much of the quality of your life depends not on fame or fortune, beauty or brains, fate or coincidence, but on what you choose to pay attention to. Rapt introduces a diverse cast of characters, from researchers to artists to ranchers, to illustrate the art of living the interested life. As their stories show, by focusing on the most positive and productive elements of any situation, you can shape your inner experience and expand your world. By learning to focus, you can improve your concentration, broaden your inner horizons, and most important, feel what it means to be fully alive. |
Contents
| 1 | |
Your Life Depends on | 15 |
Feelings Frame Focus | 29 |
What You See Is What You | 43 |
Born to Focus | 55 |
This Is Your Brain on Attention | 67 |
Attending to Different Worlds | 81 |
Work Zone | 99 |
Focus Interruptus | 145 |
Disordered Attention | 163 |
Eyes on the Prize | 173 |
Energy Goes Where Attention Flows | 189 |
Attending to What Matters Most | 203 |
Afterword | 219 |
Acknowledgments | 221 |
Notes and Suggested Readings | 223 |
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Common terms and phrases
ability to focus activity ADHD affect American amygdala asked attention's selective attentional style awareness Barbara Fredrickson basic become behavior better bottom-up brain called capacity Castellanos choose cognitive cognitive therapy concentrate creative Csíkszentmihályi cultural daily Daniel Kahneman Davidson Despite disorder distractions Ellen Langer enjoy experience feel fMRI goal happy human important improve individuals Javier Castellanos Jon Kabat-Zinn Kabat-Zinn Kahneman kids kind Langer Laura Carstensen less likelier live look meditation memory mental Michael Posner Mihály Csíkszentmihályi mind motivation multitasking negative Neuroscience Nisbett parents particular pay rapt attention paying attention percent pleasure Posner problem psychologist reality relationships Ritalin Robert Desimone Rozin says Bradbury scientists shows situation skill social someone stay focused subjects target Tellegen tention there's things thoughts tion top-down UCLA University W. H. Auden well-being William James York