Feast - Famine - Focus

Feast or Famine. Why do we describe a situation with that phrase? It depicts such an extreme and yet we believe it to be applicable to events and times in our experience. It occurred to me recently, while in the midst of a feast of negativity, that I don’t typically note when I’m facing a banquet of goodness, or at least I’m less likely to dwell on the fortuitous availability of that banquet. Likewise, when I’m experiencing a lack of discomfort, it really doesn’t even register. I just tool along feeling my version of “normal.” But when a bounty of turmoil presents itself – that I notice.

Clearly, the pleasure/pain receptors are not equally sensitive. When I wake up feeling fine, I simply get up and continue with my routine. When I wake up with a twinge somewhere, I’m immediately on high alert. When things are great, I may momentarily savor a morsel of gratitude and gratification, but when they’re not good, I pour my focus all over it like marinara sauce over a pile of pasta. Anyone with even a cursory understanding of the Law of Attraction recognizes the “shooting oneself in the footness” of that, yet it’s a reality. And, I’m pretty sure I’m not the only one who’s living this inequitable response phenomenon.

Famine focus is partly a result of how we’re hard-wired, but I’m convinced shifts can occur. After over-indulging in negativity of late, shifting is my goal. I’m not going to graze along a table of goodness giving no regard to the sweetness it offers. Rather, I’m going to gobble it up with gusto, indulging excessively in all the sensations it elicits. And when the dusty scent of famine comes wafting toward me, I’m going to hold my nose, duck my head, and keep going, saving my appetite for the sweet feasts of life.