The Role Attention Plays in Shaping Mental Health
Mental Health Awareness Month – Part 1
Estimated read time: 3 minutes
Our mental health shapes how we see and experience the world. It influences our perceptions, emotions, and reactions, coloring everything from our relationships to our work to how we handle challenges. When our mental health is strong, we’re more likely to view situations with clarity, hope, and resilience. When it’s struggling, even small obstacles can feel overwhelming.
Something we don’t always talk about when it comes to cultivating a healthy mind is the role of attention — our ability to direct and sustain focus.
Developing the capability to move our attention more deliberately gives us access to a wider range of feelings, perspectives, and solutions. It allows us to pivot, adapt, and choose where to place our energy — even when things feel difficult.
When attention gets stuck — cycling through the same worries, frustrations, or limiting beliefs — it can feel almost impossible to find a way forward. We become trapped in the repetitive loops of the mind, and emotional pain can deepen.
Strengthening Mental Health Means Strengthening Attention
It means noticing where our attention lands and practicing the art of shifting it toward more constructive, nourishing places.
By strengthening attention, I mean two things:
The ability to shift attention — to deliberately move focus from one thought, feeling, or sensation to another, so that the first can naturally recede and the new one come into focus.
The ability to sustain attention — to stay with a chosen point of focus, even in the presence of distraction or discomfort.
These abilities allow us to step out of repetitive, limited thought loops and into a broader, more grounded perspective.
Strengthening attention ultimately gives us more choice in how we relate to our experience.
It’s not that a single redirection of attention will always solve things — but the deliberate act of choosing where to place your focus, again and again, is what creates the spaciousness and clarity that supports mental well-being.
It’s also important to acknowledge that for those living with more serious mental health conditions, the ability to guide or shift attention can be significantly impacted — not because of a lack of effort or desire, but because symptoms may make it extremely difficult.
Still, for many of us, beginning to notice where our attention tends to land — and using that moment as an opportunity to gently practice shifting our focus deliberately — can be a powerful way to start to strengthen that muscle of attention.
Stay tuned for Part 2, where we’ll explore how yoga strengthens attention and helps us return to the present moment — even when things feel overwhelming.