Here’s an 8 minute TED talk worth watching.

Apollo Robbins is a world famous pickpocket, and he shares in this video part of what makes him so successful. He says that it comes down to attention. Directing, misdirecting, manipulating and controlling the attention of your subject.

>When you watch the video take careful notice of what he has to say about attention, and his question at the end, “If you could control attention, what would you do with it?”

Apollo Robbins: The Art of Misdirection

After watching Apollo and thinking about how he manipulated his subject by misdirecting his attention, I thought about the ways the human mind gets misdirected, then used and abused.

For instance, have news media reports ever got your attention focused on fear of a disease, and then one day you found symptoms of that disease on your body? It’s the same effect as Apollo is talking about. When that happens, your health got “pickpocketed,” by the carnal mind. Your attention was misdirected while fear got its hand into your “pocket,” (into your thought) and robbed you of your goods (healthy thoughts).

There is a strong moral lesson in this video. Don’t let your attention get distracted by fear, disease-beliefs or sin! Keep it riveted on spiritual truth, steadfast with Christ, and stay mentally free of the mortal mind pickpocket.