We think we can observe and pay attention, these are just normal tasks any human being can perform. Nothing is more incorrect!. Recent research has shown that observing and playing attention, are rare skills just as playing tennis or piano. We can look and see but few can really observe the details and to fully pay attention

To observe we rely on our brains, particularly on our frontal lobe. The frontal lobe is like the CEO of a company. He decides, plans, invents and takes care of all the possibilities of the company. The frontal lobe does the same for us, this is where we keep our vision. For some religions it is the third eye

Why is it so important to observe and pay attention?

Science is beginning to know that in the process of paying attention we make new neural connections. Any form of learning involves new connections, sustaining those connections is what we call memory. Remembering something is activating those connections. Like a lighted path in a plane indicating the exit, those neural paths take us where the information is

Let’s think of a “catador”, catadores are capable of observing characteristics of wine and paying attention to the details of each wine. They can see and taste what the majority of us simply cannot. Catadores can tell you years, ingredients, colours, percentages with amazing precision. The reason is they have stored incredible amounts of information in their brains. Also they have the ability to access that info when needed because they decided to do so

Now, let’s think of people who have survived the unthinkable. I am sure you know or at least have heard about people who: survived war, kidnapping, bankruptcy and other extreme situations and they not just survived but became very successful and happy

What do these successful and happy people have in common with catadores?

It seems both catadores and successful people are very similar in one thing, both master the ability to observe and pay attention.

Catadores observe the details of wine to a microscopic level and successful people observe with the same precision a positive vision for their lives. They were able to observe a new outcome for their lives, to hold to that ideal and to make it happen. Both catadores and successful people are telling us that your reality is based on your brain wiring, which is a result of what you decide to observe and pay attention to

By paying attention to a different thing, a different purpose, a different vision, a different knowledge or point of view, you can change the wiring of your brain and therefore your reality. In other words, to improve your life you need to start observing and paying attention