Distraction Loops
“Sometimes the mind would rather spin than stop.”
If control anxiety is the ego’s attempt to grip reality too tightly, distraction loops are its way of scattering attention so reality never comes into focus.
A distraction loop is any repetitive cycle that hijacks attention, drains energy, and prevents clarity. They feel urgent, but they rarely resolve anything.
Psychological Level: Attention Hijacks
At this level, distraction loops look like everyday habits:
Doomscrolling news or social media.
Replaying the same argument in your head.
Constantly checking notifications.
Obsessing over “what if” scenarios.
Each distraction keeps attention bouncing in circles. It feels busy, but it’s unproductive — the system is stuck in a spin.
Debugging here means noticing: “Am I giving attention to what matters, or just feeding a loop?”
Systemic Level: Energy Drain and Reinforcement
At the systemic level, distraction loops feed ego’s story.
If you believe “I’m not enough,” you may distract yourself with overwork, entertainment, or fantasy.
If you fear rejection, you may distract yourself with endless preparation rather than connection.
These distractions don’t solve the problem — they reinforce it. Each loop keeps the underlying belief hidden and unchallenged, siphoning energy away from sovereignty.
Debugging here means surfacing the belief under the distraction and re-aligning attention.
Nondual Level: The Play of Distraction
From the deepest view, distraction loops are simply movements in consciousness. Nothing is actually lost — awareness remains untouched.
But when identification fuses with the loop, distraction feels like separation from presence. Debugging here means relaxing identification: seeing that even distraction arises within awareness, which is never distracted.
Debugging Distraction Loops
At the psychological level, name the loop and pause it.
At the systemic level, trace the loop back to the hidden belief it protects.
At the nondual level, rest in awareness that is never caught.
Distraction loops are not dangerous in themselves. Their danger is in how they consume attention without resolution. The moment you notice the loop, you step outside it — and attention becomes free again.