She stretches several times, paws the carpet, circles once or twice, then settles back in to her tranquil, peaceful state. Now think of this story in terms of attention. Before the cat is awakened, her attention to her surroundings is diffuse. She is aware of her environment, although not honing in on any one thing to the exclusion of any other. Then the mouse arrives and all that changes.
Physiological reactions occur.
Through her autonomic nervous system, every cell of her body is made alert to this stress response. Then the mouse escapes and after a few stretches and yawns, she returns to her diffuse state. In this simple story, our cat is employing a simple wisdom that many of us seem to have lost. That is attentional flexibility. Due to the fact that our autonomic nervous systems alert every cell of every organ of our bodies to be in this state, our bodies and minds begin to suffer the effects of accumulated stress and physical and emotional symptoms begin to appear.