Unfocusing

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   [NOTE: 10-19-2020 4:51 AM - This is the 3rd attempt at this post.  I felt like I needed to hurry and write it before but that was a mistake.  The posts write themselves when the time is right.]

   [NOTE:  The original publish date was 10-10-2020 11:11 AM.]

   Don't let the title of this post fool you.  It's actually about ADHD.  Since that has its basis in the unconscious mind you can already guess something backward is involved.

   One characteristic of ADHD (which by now may no longer be considered true) is limited attention.  There are ways to address helping those with "limited attention".  When someone uses a computer program the user interface can compensate for that type of thing.  Have you ever noticed that menus tend to have no more than 7 menu items in a group or list.  A complicated user interface (like Microsoft Word or Excel) will have more but that's difficult to avoid.

   Dry reading link: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Magical_Number_Seven,_Plus_or_Minus_Two

   So I over simplified a little... its technically 7 give or take 1 or 2   It's the 7 that makes it magic somehow.  Not a very large number.

   You might be wondering what's so magic about 7.

   I'm taking somewhat of a guess on this but 7 of something on our mind (say to choose from or think about) is more than enough.  There's no real reason we to have 20 or 30 items at a time (if there was we'd probably have that ability).  It actually makes solving problems and making choices A LOT harder because of the combinations to process.

   In the real world that would mean each thing on our mind getting proportionately less attention.

   Attention = awareness.

   By rewording the statement about attention we might say:

   The average person can be consciously aware of up to 7 things (give or take a couple) at one time effectively.

Here's a quick list things related to awareness:

• Conscious awareness is maintained in short term/working memory.
• The maximum amount of conscious awareness can be shifted to only 1 thing.
• Maintaining awareness of 2 or more things results in awareness being divided.
• Constantly shifting awareness to and from things in a mind is normal.
• Dissociation can halt that shifting and create a void that can be perceived as a mental block until it's resolved or worked around.

   Those probably seem like common sense things.  They're easy to mentally verify by anyone.

   Here's something more difficult to verify...  the unconscious part of the mind stores knowledge as facts (let's call them answers instead).  And that's why it works back to questions.

   A better example could be any hobby we invest time to learn.  Or even someone we had a crush on in high school.  Every single relevant answer about that person was gathered and stored in your mind.  All it takes to access those answers is the right question.

    So a mind diagnosed with ADHD doesn't need to put more effort into focusing.

   That would be backwards.

   It's the mind maintaining awareness of too many things at once that needs addressed.

   Putting effort into completely unfocusing can free up awareness instead. 

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