{"id":386,"date":"2004-05-05T00:03:24","date_gmt":"2004-05-05T08:03:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.kathrynpetroharper.com\/mindfullife\/2004\/05\/05\/paying-attention\/"},"modified":"2026-01-21T16:19:12","modified_gmt":"2026-01-22T00:19:12","slug":"paying-attention","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.kathrynpetroharper.com\/mindfullife\/2004\/05\/05\/paying-attention\/","title":{"rendered":"Paying Attention"},"content":{"rendered":"

Today, like every other day,
\nWe wake up empty and frightened.
\nDon’t open the door to the study and begin reading.
\nTake down a musical instrument.
\nLet the beauty we love be what we do.
\nThere are hundreds of ways to kneel and kiss the ground.<\/p>\n

— Rumi <\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Novelist Marcel Proust wrote, “The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes.”<\/p>\n

Our senses are bombarded by stimuli every day. Attending to all of them would overwhelm us. What this means, for me, is that now and then I happen to notice something that has existed in that place for quite some time. It could be driving past a landmark daily, or walking past a fixture on the wall–one day, I happen to notice it, and then I wonder if it’s been there all along. Another habit is to handle objects inattentively–preparing and eating food, using tools, and so on. We often live in a state of dissociated trance<\/a>, which is very useful in managing our complex lives. However, if you want to get the most out of being alive, conscious use of your senses is vital.<\/p>\n

The suggestion for this week is to practice awareness. For example, when preparing a meal, notice the color of the ingredients, the heft of the chopping knife in your hand, the scent of spices, the taste of the food. Consider how many hands exerted effort regarding this food–those that handled the seeds or animals, planted and harvested, butchered and cleaned, packed and shipped them. <\/p>\n

Or take one ordinary object and notice it. Pick it up and feel the texture. Is it cold or warm to the touch? What colors do you notice? Does it have a scent? Is it edible? What does it taste like? If it’s not edible but also non-toxic, lick it and notice what, if anything, it tastes like.<\/p>\n

At some point, spend time reflecting on what you noticed and write about it. Use whatever form you like: one paragraph, a poem, a list of adjectives. Push your thinking beyond your normal vocabulary repertoire. Try to avoid use of the passive verb “to be”–is, are, was, were. Be descriptive. <\/p>\n

Caveat: If you can find just one activity, or a small period of time, to focus your awareness, that’s enough. My intent was not for anyone to strive for and achieve perpetual present-mindedness. <\/p>\n

Think of it more like an English class exercise. Once I was assigned to describe the experience of eating an orange as creatively as possible; it made me pay attention to details more. <\/p>\n

This exploration is all about your experience, your relationship with the world. There is no right way. There is only your own way.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Today, like every other day, We wake up empty and frightened. Don’t open the door to the study and begin reading. Take down a musical instrument. Let the beauty we love be what we do. There are hundreds of ways to kneel and kiss the ground. — Rumi Novelist Marcel Proust wrote, “The real voyage […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,30],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-386","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-arts","category-quotes"],"post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kathrynpetroharper.com\/mindfullife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/386","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kathrynpetroharper.com\/mindfullife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kathrynpetroharper.com\/mindfullife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kathrynpetroharper.com\/mindfullife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kathrynpetroharper.com\/mindfullife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=386"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.kathrynpetroharper.com\/mindfullife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/386\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12968,"href":"https:\/\/www.kathrynpetroharper.com\/mindfullife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/386\/revisions\/12968"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kathrynpetroharper.com\/mindfullife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=386"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kathrynpetroharper.com\/mindfullife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=386"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kathrynpetroharper.com\/mindfullife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=386"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}