Learning to pay attention and knowing what to pay attention to is a key discipline for leaders but one that rarely comes naturally to those of us who are barreling through life with our eyes fixed on a goal. Ruth Haley Barton (from the book Strengthening the Soul of your Leadership)
This book is written for leaders but I think it can easily be for artists.
Learning to pay attention and knowing what to pay attention to is a key discipline for artists...
The practice of paying attention isn't talked about too much. We're taught how to do more with less time, how to be super-productive and achieve all the goals we want to. We're taught to dream big and shoot for the stars.
This isn't bad , but as artists, it can be problematic.
As artists we can become so focused on our goals: get the book out, finish the series of paintings, learn this skill or that skill, take this marketing course, read this blog or that tutorial, write out a business plan- that we lose sight of the present moment. We fill our days with so much busyness that we have no margin to take time to pay attention.
The irony is this: learning to pay attention can birth the very inspiration and ideas that us creatives long for and need. Learning to pay attention can be the difference maker for so-so art and art from the heart.
Creativity is like the elusive deer in the forest at times- it doesn't always come out into the open when we want it too. Many times it waits, longer than we are willing to, to make an appearance.
Yet we need those appearances. We need the pauses in life to create the beautiful pieces of music.
The second part of the statement: learning what to pay attention to is another discipline altogether. There are hundreds of helpful blogs to read, magazines to subscribe to, events to attend and videos to watch. However time and resources are finite.
Often time the truly valuable things we need are not what is exactly in front of us. It takes some searching and discernment to divide the good from the best.
My hope for you in 2014 is that you would not only have a productive year, but that it would be a year of being fully alive and engaged. It's one thing to say that, it's another thing to try to describe a way to move towards full artistic engagement.
Here are some practical ways to help you identify if you are developing the discipline of learning to pay attention and to pay attention to the right things. Remember, it's not about doing one more thing for the sake of learning a skill. We want to learn to pay attention (and pay attention to the right things) in order to become more alive, more engaged, more aware all for the sake of creating and becoming the artists we are meant to become.
We will not grow as artists if we allow ourselves to be super-saturated by the intense stimulation of the present culture.
1. Begin to incorporate small times of silence into your day.
Is your day one activity and to-do after another? Maybe it's time to start incorporating margin into your life to breathe, sip a cup of tea, and not do anything except pay attention.
Pay attention to your posture, your breathing, what your body is telling you.
Sit outside and pay attention to the birds, the sky, the kids laughing (or screaming) down the street.
Close your eyes and simply listen. As one sense is closed off, the other senses kick in to be more aware.
1. Pay attention to what you are paying attention to right now.
Is it hard for you to stay focused? Do you find yourself going from blog to blog, Twitter to facebook, one project to another project- without finishing or feeling like you're really giving your entire being to something? Simply identifying an area of lack is the first step in changing.
This isn't a time for beating up on yourself for what you're not doing. This is a time to consider what healthful ways you can grow as an artist and a creative.
3. Are you, as Ruth puts it, "barreling so hard" towards a goal that the present moments of beauty, wonder, inspiration, lack, and even pain, are being ignored?
Are you so busy that loved ones, ordinary gifts, and small moments of splendor appear to be annoyances rather than gifts?
When I start becoming annoyed with the people in my life, when it's been days since I appreciated the sunset or the sunrise, when I find myself easily annoyed and impatient instead of appreciative and thankful...something needs a check.
And, by the way, artists are leaders. Artists influence, introduce, and shape ideas. Ideas shape culture. As artists, we are in the process of engaging culture and influencing them with our ideas, gifts...and art. If you are an artist, by default, you are a leader.
Your thoughts? Do you incorporate time to pay attention to a) your own heart and soul? and b) the life around you?
Are you so goal-focused that some of life's treasures are passing you by? Is it important to learn to pay attention?
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