Pay Attention
PAY ATTENTION = active direction of the mind upon some object or topic; the meaning "to pay attention" is from early 15c
Image: Heather Williams, H.W., M.
QUESTION: Can drawing help you pay attention?
STORY: Few people take the time to sit quietly and pay attention to the world before them. Typically we glance over here or there noticing the chair or a table or the wall or the lamp and we pretty quickly turn and glance at something else. It’s an endless kind of empty experience of naming and labeling what we see. BUT, when we relax and pay attention to the world before us - and just BE with what we see - we see so much more! One activity that helps me to PAY ATTENTION is drawing! Sitting quietly with pencil and paper and drawing the edges and directions that I observe is really valuable in helping me pay attention to what is before me. When you look at this drawing, do you feel the flow of energy in the young man seated on the chair? Do you feel his energy as he looks back at you? Do you feel the weight of his one hand holding his arm? Do you feel the weight of his hips and legs resting on the chair seat? Come to my online drawing class and learn to use drawing to pay attention: https://www.drawingtogether.com/drawing-classes
QUOTES
"In drawing, one must look for or suspect that there is more than is casually seen." ~ George Bridgman
"Learning to draw rewires us to see the world differently, to love it more intimately by attending to and coming to cherish its previously invisible details." ~ Maria Popova
"How you draw is a reflection of how you feel about the world. You're not capturing it, you're interpreting it." ~ Juliette Aristides
"Photography is an immediate reaction while drawing is a meditation." ~ Henri Cartier-Bresson
EXERCISE
STOP.
Sit quietly. Assume an erect posture.
Sense the breath.
Sit calmly and feel the power of life flowing through your body.
Get your pen and paper and write words or draw lines expressing the power of your ability to direct your attention and to draw what you see.
Move forward into your day paying attention to what is before you.