Episode 61: The Currency of Your Attention - How Paying Attention Can Change Everything with Kathy Washburn
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Your attention is your most valuable currency and much of it is being spent for you. Kathy shows how daily attention is the real engine of love, integrity, and connection, drawing on Iris Murdoch, Mary Pipher, and the modern attention economy to reveal why scattered focus breeds shame and disconnection. You will learn a five day Values Discovery practice so your time, energy, money, and attention align with what matters most, plus simple ways to give undivided presence that transforms relationships.
In this episode, Kathy discusses:
Attention is love. What you choose to notice and nourish becomes your life
The world is engineered to steal your focus. Reclaim your attention to reclaim your values
We are what we pay attention to. Alignment starts with naming what you truly stand for
Presence beats performance. Fifteen minutes of undivided attention can transform a relationship
Values direct the spend. Time, energy, money, and attention flow where values are clear
Timestamps:
00:00:36 Welcome and today’s question about attention
00:01:03 Why attention is the most practical moral act
00:02:15 On the bus with David Brooks and Iris Murdoch
00:03:23 Morality as how we pay attention to others
00:04:28 How do I attend to people and to myself
00:05:31 The overwhelmed mother at 33 and the squeeze
00:07:18 Sick day crisis and a forced pause at home
00:08:21 Fifteen minutes of undivided attention that changed everything
00:09:27 Peace after presence and what it revealed
00:10:52 Regret and the cost of divided attention
00:11:27 Mary Pipher and why paying attention is pure love
00:12:27 The economy of attention and why you feel scattered
00:13:11 Algorithms compete for your limited focus
00:14:14 Eight seconds and the modern attention tax
00:15:00 We are what we pay attention to
00:16:04 Values misalignment and living on borrowed priorities
00:17:12 Five day Values Discovery practice overview
00:18:32 Sense drench to anchor presence in the body
00:19:32 Day by day culling to your true five values
00:21:35 Tune language and synonyms until it lights you up
00:22:24 Hold your values sacred and spend attention there
00:22:34 Reflection questions to realign choices
00:24:19 Attention as the gateway to flow and joy
00:25:18 Brene Brown on the cost of not paying attention
00:26:50 Disengagement, shame, and invisible betrayals
00:27:26 Engage with yourself and invest your attention
00:28:20 Invitation to practice and make tiny aligned choices
00:29:12 Every choice is a vote for who you are becoming
00:29:38 Gratitude and close
Resources mentioned in this episode
Connect with Kathy Washburn
Sign up for Kathy’s Sense of Peace Substack
To learn more about Kathy and her coaching services, head over to https://kathywashburn.net/
To schedule a free consultation with Kathy visit https://kathywashburn.net/contact
Follow Kathy on Instagram @kathywashburndotnet
Sign Up for Kathy’s On Demand Anchored Hope Course https://kathy-washburn.teachable.com/p/anchored-hope