For the next few weeks, I’ll be travelling. While I’m gone, I’ll share excerpts from the three major sections of the upcoming Adventures in Seeing book, to pause, focus, and connect.
Excerpt – Section 2, Focus
During College, my best friend Carolyn and I were joined at the hip. We were exact opposites in every possible way. Carolyn was, and still is, a red-headed, freckle-faced, ball of energy, short in stature and always on the go. She is the most extroverted person I know. I am taller with brown hair, mostly calm and reserved, someone who needs her solitude. It was a challenge for her to bring me out of my shell, and I needed her nudge, but she learned from me as well. She still tells the story of one day when she was running around like a whirlwind. I grabbed her, placed my hands firmly on her shoulders and said, “Stop and pay attention. I’m trying to tell you something.”
To this day, I feel as if this is my mission in life, to say, “Life is short, people. Pay attention.”
We live in a world where our attention is pulled this way and that, almost constantly. This is why it is so important to pick and choose where we place our attention. Doing so with intention is one of the keys to living a contemplative life.
It’s also where our best photographs come from because our attention connects us to the only life we have. With close attention, there is less thought and more experience. It is possible to fine-tune your focus like adjusting the lens of a camera. In so doing, you just might discover that you experience life a little more richly. Again, that camera can enact a little magic on your life lens.
10 Tips for Better Focus
1. Closely observe details during your pauses.
2. Write down what you see and feel.
3. Sketch what you see before you photograph.
4. Write from the senses. What do you see, hear, smell, taste, and touch? Here’s an example.
5. Change your vantage point, looking from different distances, angles, and perspectives.
6. Get curious. Ask questions. Do some research.
7. Feel what you feel. Let your feelings flow through you.
8. Let the body lead. Notice resonance.
9. Identify the essential qualities of a scene. Try Keeping it Simple.
10.Always take a long, loving look.
Section 2 of the Adventures in Seeing book (coming in October) presents 15 exercises to help you focus by paying close attention, getting curious, and experiencing wonder.
How do you stay focused?
Next Week: Section 3 – Connect