How paying attention awakens your soul
Paying attention is an invitation to our soul
I called it the bugaboo, a section of a song that was tricky, the place where a piano student might stumble. I had all sorts of practice techniques to conquer this part. They played the section in many different ways - backing up a note, playing in the dark, using the different voices of the digital piano and playing with different dynamics. It worked, but often, during a recital performance, something interesting would happen. Not during the actual section, though. As they approached the tricky section, their focus sharpened and they’d sail right through, playing it perfectly.
And then they’d make a mistake on the easy part.
Why? Because in the rush of success, they let go of their focus. It’s the same for us in life. Too often, we allow distractions to pull us away from the present moment. And that’s when stumbles slip us up.
The poet, Mary Oliver writes in her “Instruction for Living a Life,” about three things you must do to have a life filled with purpose and meaning.
Pay Attention
Be Astonished
Tell About it
This week, we’re highlighting the first part - learning how to pay attention. Paying attention to the wonders all around us opens the door to deeper understanding, appreciation and connection to both our outer and inner worlds.
Here are a few ways you can slow down and learn how to pay attention.
Mindfulness - practice mindfulness meditation to cultivate awareness of the present moment and learn how to calm your mind’s chatter. When you notice something that seems to shimmer like the hazy glow around a moon or the smell of coffee dripping into a mug - stop for a few moments and try to focus only on that present moment.
Embrace Silence - allow yourself moments of quiet contemplation - without music or tv or the phone. Take a few minutes of silence to tune into your inner thoughts and the world around you. When you stop to pay attention, you learn to listen to the whispers of your soul.
Slow Motion - Imagine yourself moving in slow motion, almost as if you’re wading through water, feeling your arms and legs float. The other day I noticed the knob on my light and how the ridges reflected rays of light and sparkled like stars. When we hurry, we often rush past the little things that feed your soul.
Breath - when you notice something - whether it’s the colors of a sunset painting the sky or the way dandelions shiver in the wind or the beginning of a tree bud unfurlings its leaves. It helps to close your eyes. Slow down your breath, inhale to the count of 5, exhale to the count of 5. Imagine yourself breathing in and breathing out what you’ve noticed.
Draw -We often do this in my classes and I make it very clear that I’m not an artist. But I often sketch something that has snagged my attention. I’ll take a picture of it, and then zoom in and draw the lines and shapes and shadows. I’ll notice details, like the rust bleeding on a door hinge or the way the front of a car looks like a face with its headlights as eyes. My drawings rarely look like the picture, but slowing down to put it on paper allows me to notice tiny details I might have missed.
Think of paying attention as in invitation - a call to awaken to the fullness of life and all of its mysteries and marvels. When we pay attention we discover not only the world around us, but the depths of our own hearts.