How to start paying attention to your attention

Sometimes all you need is a good metaphor (or three)

Mar 24, 2026

I’ve always loved and lived by this notion, paraphrased from philosopher, Hannah Arendt:

“Metaphors are the means by which the otherwise invisible is made visible.”

The right metaphor cuts right to the heart of something, revealing meaning in a way that is clear to one’s mind, heart and senses—and all in a way that is deeply memorable. Metaphors give us a grasp on what would otherwise feel abstract and unreachable.

Our attention system is just one of those abstract and seemingly unreachable things. And, it’s not just one single thing. Rather, it’s several systems that interact with one another, serving complimentary purposes. These work together in order to manage, navigate, and effectively respond to the overwhelming amount of information in our dynamic world. Together, these attentional sub-systems enable us to direct, shift and sustain our focus in the service of things we value and seek to do.

Enough already…what’s the metaphor?

It’s actually a trio of metaphors I’ve found can really help kids better understand how their attention system operates and how to take control of it. One metaphor for each of three sub-systems that work together when we attend–your flashlight, your floodlight, and your juggler.

I first heard Amishi Jha, dynamic attention expert and neuroscience researcher at University of Miami, describe these three in an interview. I promptly obtained and inhaled her book, Peak Mind. And, after encountering piles more research, I continue to find the three about as helpful as any description, especially when working with young people.

First, there’s our flashlight. This is the part of our attention system that we use to select, prioritize and focus on certain information over other information. Researchers refer to this as our orienting system. You can think of it as shining a bright light or directing a narrow channel of attention onto a certain thing. That object of your focus becomes brighter and more salient, while other information fades and becomes dimmer.

We may shine our flashlight on something going on in the present moment. Or, quite often, we shine our flashlight back onto memories of the past, or ahead onto wonderings about the future.

I find helping kids notice their flashlight helps them notice things like when they are able to direct their focus on something, when they focus too much on one thing, and what types of things capture their flashlight, the helpful and the harmful.

Then, you have your floodlight, which is a softer, wider light. It is the open awareness we cast all around us, like a floodlight illuminates a baseball game at night. This is referred to as our alerting system. This part of our attention system allows us to be open to what is happening and stay alert to how the information and situation is shifting in the current moment.

I find that kids often forget about their floodlight, especially when they are hyper focused on something that they find engaging. Remembering to open up the floodlight and notice what is happening around you seems to help kids be more in the moment. It also seems to make them feel more balanced, since the flashlight’s directed attention can easily get overused and drain kids of their attentional energy.

Finally, there’s the juggler, or what researchers refer to as our central executive—part of a suite of capacities called executive function. The juggler is always balancing and trading off between new inputs of information (floodlight) and how or what we are prioritizing (flashlight). This is the part that enables us to shift or sustain attention and behave as needed, both in response to a dynamic world and in the service of our goals or wishes.

I find the juggler a bit harder for kids to envision and notice–somethign I’ve found true for executive function skills in general. But, I still find it really useful to have a visual that reminds kids that switching and balancing is a huge part of attention–not just “staying on task.”

How these metaphors can help kids

Human attention is a complex and deeply nuanced human capacity. Breaking down complex skill sets like attention into more discrete subsystems can make it easier for kids (really, anyone) to notice, understand and even control how their own attention operates.

Once we give each subset a metaphor, we provide language and a mental model through which to understand not only how that aspect of attention works, but also how it is both powerful and vulnerable. It also becomes easier to identify concrete ways to strengthen each component and, in turn, feel in more control of the whole of attention.

Introduce the three subsystems

Even just realizing that you can think about your attention as the interplay between your flashlight, floodlight and juggler gives kids a new way to notice their attention at work and think about how attention operates.

I’ve written two posts with young people (~10-15) in mind. Together, they lay out some basic definitions of attention and introduce this trio of metaphors. Read or listen to the first post with kids, or have them check it out on their own.