Shifting Focus

Cadence change

This week’s mind fitness training was about focus. By using a simple meditation technique that shifts your awareness back and forth between what you hear and what you see behind closed eyes, you can better understand what focus feels like physically. The more attuned you become to this sensation, the more easily you can notice when you lose it.

Performing this exercise also highlights that anything perceived by our eyes or ears is nothing more than a stream of information. If we treat our thoughts as a similar data source, we can also choose to pay attention to or ignore them. That ability is fundamental to mind fitness. It gives you the freedom to not identify with thoughts and, instead, objectively observe them without ownership.

Of course, maintaining focus on anything has become an increasing challenge for most of us because of all the shiny balls at our disposal. Whether turning on the television during work or surfing multiple internet tabs while writing emails, we constantly assault our attention with distractions. The primary culprit is a diversion and amusement machine called a smartphone, which we carry 24/7. Whenever faced with an inkling of idle time, we compulsively pull this thing out and ensure our ability to focus remains thwarted.

But focus is more than our current center of interest. It’s also our overall direction or primary goal in life. It’s how we try to spend much of our time supporting a larger purpose. For me, outside of full-time work and family, that’s been RARE SENSE content for roughly the last two years.

I started making it in August of 2021 on a flight coinciding with the end of our twenty-year war in Afghanistan. While watching the X-Men movie Logan about the final exploits of the Wolverine character, played by Hugh Jackman, I became utterly engrossed in his story. It was like viewing a pseudo-autobiography of my time since leaving active duty as a Navy SEAL. Logan reminded me of myself as a veteran—an old, broken version of a superhero whose body is falling apart and whose mind sometimes fails him.

Having that epiphany, I felt compelled to write something about it. So, I opened a Word document on my laptop and began hammering away on the keyboard. Before the film ended, I drafted an article about the juxtaposition between this fictional person and me and other veterans, which I eventually published here on Substack.

The good news was that I had fared better than Logan. Thanks to a decade of extensive self-exploration and experimentation, I realized that I didn’t need to be a victim of my state of mind. I could work towards better mental health independently with practice and discipline. The results of that journey formed the foundation of RARE SENSE and mind fitness in general—the idea that mental health isn’t a pathology to treat but a discipline to train.

From that point on, I began releasing monthly articles on various related topics. I then added a monthly book recommendation, podcast episodes, and weekly programming. By placing my focus on Substack, I had hoped I could reach the most amount of people and grow RARE SENSE into a viable business model.

To date, nearly 500 of you have subscribed to this content, and a few dozen have chosen to pay for it. I’m deeply grateful to all of you. However, from a purely financial standpoint, it’s not even enough to cover the costs I currently put into the brand. If I’m going to sustain it, I must shift a large portion of my time and energy to efforts to make that possible.

To that end, I’ve been working on additional materials that create other entry points into RARE SENSE while better codifying its concepts. These include a book, a keynote talk, and an online course. But because of my self-imposed Substack publishing schedule, I don’t have time to work on these. I’ve tried for nearly a year to no avail. I’m now faced with the reality that I must sacrifice much of the attention I’ve given here so that I may make progress elsewhere. Ultimately, I hope this will result in more comprehensive content anyone can use.

What this means in practice is that I will no longer publish anything on a set schedule. I do anticipate recording at least one podcast a month and recommending books as I finish them personally, which may even be more frequent. However, I’m going to place my writing focus on the book manuscript instead of on articles, then release sneak peek cutdown versions of drafted chapters to subscribers here. It just won’t be done with any specified timing. The most significant change is that training will no longer occur weekly either. Instead, it will become an adjunct to other content published as needed. Note that despite these changes, the difference in access afforded to paid subscribers remains the same.

As I said at the beginning of this article, the subject of focus has been on my mind as of late. When I looked hard at mine, I realized it must change. Coming to that decision wasn’t easy, but I do feel it’s necessary. And in many ways, I believe it will allow me to emphasize content quality over quantity. That should be better for everyone involved. As always, thank you for your support and for allowing me to be part of your mind fitness journey. If you have any questions or concerns, please reach out at raresense@substack.com. I’d love to hear from you.

Level up your mental health:

• Subscribe to the RARE SENSE Substack.

• Subscribe to the RARE SENSE podcast on any central streaming platform and leave a five-star review if you love it.

• Subscribe to the RARE SENSE YouTube channel.

• Take the RARE SENSE Challenge.

• Connect with me on all major social media platforms @thischrisirwin.

• Invite me to speak about mind fitness to your organization by filling out the RARE SENSE contact form.

You can also support my work by purchasing RARE SENSE gear or sharing my content with others.

DISCLAIMER: RARE SENSE content is not medical advice. Nor does it represent the official position or opinions of any other organization or person. If you require diagnosis or treatment for a mental or physical issue or illness, please seek it from a licensed professional.