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Conscious Ground

Where Is Your Attention?

Published 3 months ago • 3 min read

MAY 2026, EDITION 3

May: The Importance of Attention

In the last decade, our attention has been pushed and pulled in too many directions to count, by forces that don't have our highest good as their priority. This month, we're looking at how we can redirect and protect our attention.

QUICK SUMMARY

In a rush? We get it. Here's the highlights. But there's much more below if you have a few minutes. We think you'll be glad you stayed.

  • Our Next Event: Join us for our second free workshop of the year - Stolen Attention, Lost Connection: How We Get It Back - on May 28th. Register here.
  • View the recording from our April event Reclaiming Connection. We loved this one.
  • Just launched: our free June workshop - Human Skills for the Future: Practices for better life, work, and the world. Register here.​
  • Human Skills Practice - Switch up your everyday hello's and see what happens. Scroll to the bottom of this message to see the challenge
  • We're celebrating being invited to Human+Tech Week in San Francisco as an innovator. We've got lots of thoughts and questions that we'll share next month
  • Enter our Monthly 1:1 Mentoring Session raffle: Enter here to win.

Our theme this month is Attention

Attention is so much more important than our "attention span". Without our attention, life doesn't happen. If we don't pay attention, whatever is outside of our attention withers. Attention is linked appreciation because when we PAY attention, what we focus on appreciates, or gets bigger and more valuable. When life moved more slowly, when corporations hadn't cornered the market on taking our attention for their financial gain, we had more time and space in which to choose on what we placed our attention. Now, it seems life is a rapid flurry of responsibilities, distractions and annoying minutiae vying for our attention.

We dive much deeper on how incredibly important attention is, review how it is being hijacked, and provide some practices and actions we can bring to ourselves and others in our April event. Details just below. We hope to see you there.

Upcoming Events

Our Next Free Virtual Workshop

Join us for our second workshop of 2026 - Stolen Attention, Lost Connection: How We Get It Back.

What exactly is attention? How important is it in our daily lives? We've been made aware that our attention is being hijacked by devices and social media, but are we losing more than just time?

We'll explore this in depth in a few weeks. You get 3 core things with all of our events: you'll learn something, you'll practice a skill, and you'll get to experience connection with other people .

Just announced: Human Skills for the Future.

What exactly makes us human? What traits separate us from machines? Now, and possibly forever? And how do we make sure we don't let those skills wither in a world where the lines between AI skills and human skills are blurring (or at least that's what we're being told).

Join us as we review some of the most important things that make us human and some suggestions on how to work these "muscles".

Bonus: delivered from someone who works close to AI and knows it quite well.

~Matty

April Event Recording

video preview​

We had a lot of fun at this event. You can learn about the biggest indicator or health and happiness based on one of the longest running scientific studies in history and feel some inspiration in knowledge and a basic practice

Offerings

In addition to our primary offerings, we always have our monthly raffle on offer for working through a connection, leadership, or collaboration challenge.

Mentoring Session Monthly Raffle

Have a particular issue in a personal or work relationship that is hard for you? Sign up here to be entered into a drawing for a FREE 1:1 mentoring session with Matty!

Practicing Human Skills

At what point did we start saying "How are you?" for almost all of our initial interactions with people throughout the day?

It's not our fault. We've been conditioned into connection shortcuts. Fast exchanges that feel social but leave us no less alone.

This month's practice is a small rebellion against that.

The one-week challenge:

When meeting people this week, replace "How are you?" with "What's been on your mind lately?". It will likely feel weird since we are so automatic with our defaults. You an name it if you like, saying something like: "I'm trying to break out of the default hello if thats ok..."

The most important part is the next step, actually listening and feeling what the person tells you. Then take a moment to notice how it feels compared to a regular hello.

Give it a try and let us know what you think.

“Life is a series of moments. The quality of attention and action that we bring to each moment determines the quality of our lives.”

– Dan Millman

Thanks for reading! Don't hesitate to reply directly to this email with thoughts or questions. We respond to them all.

MATTY STEVENSON

Founder & Lead Facilitator, Conscious Ground
​c​onsciousground.net​

We teach human skills for the future.

​

Shared with intention from Ventura, CA.

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675 E. Santa Clara St. Unit 23405, Ventura, CA 93002
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Conscious Ground

Feel more connected. Create positive change.

We live in a world that is designed to keep us divided and disconnected. Conscious Ground exists to provide an alternative. Here, you’ll find practical tools for authentic connection, conscious leadership, and collaborative action rooted in our shared humanity. Join us to receive actionable practices and resources you can use immediately in your relationships, your workplace, or your community to create positive impact wherever you go.

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