It's a really good idea to be as alert as you can possibly be as often as is humanly possible. That means that you need to keep checking to see how alert you are. So, throughout the day, every-so-often, stop and give yourself a twenty second check-up. Evaluate how you feel, how far your mind has wandered from its optimum clear state. Evaluate as to whether or not you're doing the right thing. Evaluate how well you're doing what you're doing.

Checking to see how alert you are makes you alert.

Having arrived back last Friday morning from a week on the road - in Dublin, Belfast and London - myself and Lisa popped into the supermarket on the way home. In reality, we should have been charged for the ensuing entertainment - because we had what could be aptly described as ring-side seats.

There were long queues at all the checkouts. A the checkout next to us, a couple of people were vying for position - inappropriately vying! At the beginning, it was just the grinding of the trollies against each other - a little subtle nudging and jostling. But, as the line advanced, shoulders became involved, grunts and mutterings... and eventually a shouting match that turned into a screaming match. As one elederly 'gentleman' struggled to put his articles on the checkout belt ahead of the other, household goods began to fly. Bottles of toilet cleaner became missiles!!

The French for supermarket trolly is chariot. We were watching chariots of fire!

This website is peppered with videos and articles on the importance of being focused. And there are many articles, videos and tips on how to develop and maintain focus. The focused state of mind is also contrasted with the normal numb state of mind - never moreso than in our Normal People stories!

Once you understand the importance of focus; once you understand how dangerous and destructive it is to allow your mind carry on in an automatic mindless way; once you understand how effortessly you can enhance the quality and balance of your life through focus - you have an obligation to yourself to do all in your power to be a better, more focused, you.

If you do not take regular steps to be focused, to be clear-minded, to do your very best to have a positive impact on those around you... shame on you. If you do not invest a few minutes every single day in developing a focused state of mind - one that will enable you to soar to places that the normal mind cannot even fathom... shame on you. If you choose, by default (because the normal mind's default setting is mindless not-too-badness), to remain numb to the aliveness of the present moment... then you will get what you deserve.

Either way, we get what we deserve. Our lives are the fruits of our labours. If there is something lacking in our lives we can be sure that there has been something lacking in our labour. What you sow, you reap. What goes around, comes around. You can effortlessly reap the benefits of what is well, carefully and diligently sown. Be careful how you use your mind - it is the most potent tool that you have in your possession.