If what we pay attention to grows, what do you want to pay attention to and grow over these next 12 weeks? Add your thoughts to the discussion below.
adrienne maree brown writes about “attention liberation”: a practice of intentionally removing our attention from things we cannot shape, and placing our intention on people, practices, and concepts that advance the way we wish things to be. From what (or whom, or where) do you wish to liberate your attention? Where do you wish to bestow it?
A few first thoughts—and an invitation, if you're thinking to post but hesitant, to speak in "first drafts." (That's the phrase my friend and colleague Nicki Pombier uses, and I always exhale a sigh of relief when she says it.)
Where I will direct my attention:
+ relationships with the community I have, that I sometimes forget but that is always there
+ my intellect, meaning my capacity to put the pieces together in ways that make meaning right and real
+ pleasure
+ taking music ever more seriously for its aesthetic and extra-aesthetic functions* (e.g. all the ways in which music is more than "music itself"; the way songs carry stories and lessons, the way songs connect us to place; songs as teachers and friends; songs as survival manuals; songs as histories and primary text)
+ things I can change
I'll remove my attention from:
- right now I'm feeling overwhelmed, confused, and scared about the trucker convoy movement, which is well-coordinated and funded from outside Canada; the fear and fear-mongering is something I want to protect my attention from
- on another level, gossipy grudges, the ones that seem to feel satisfying when you're gnawing away at them, but that offer no way out or through or away
- perfectionism, poverty, imposterism
- the feeling that I can't speak / write in first drafts
* c.f. Dylan Robinson, "To All Who Should Be Concerned," Intersections, Volume 39, Issue 1, 2019, p. 137–144.
A few first thoughts—and an invitation, if you're thinking to post but hesitant, to speak in "first drafts." (That's the phrase my friend and colleague Nicki Pombier uses, and I always exhale a sigh of relief when she says it.)
Where I will direct my attention:
+ relationships with the community I have, that I sometimes forget but that is always there
+ my intellect, meaning my capacity to put the pieces together in ways that make meaning right and real
+ pleasure
+ taking music ever more seriously for its aesthetic and extra-aesthetic functions* (e.g. all the ways in which music is more than "music itself"; the way songs carry stories and lessons, the way songs connect us to place; songs as teachers and friends; songs as survival manuals; songs as histories and primary text)
+ things I can change
I'll remove my attention from:
- right now I'm feeling overwhelmed, confused, and scared about the trucker convoy movement, which is well-coordinated and funded from outside Canada; the fear and fear-mongering is something I want to protect my attention from
- on another level, gossipy grudges, the ones that seem to feel satisfying when you're gnawing away at them, but that offer no way out or through or away
- perfectionism, poverty, imposterism
- the feeling that I can't speak / write in first drafts
* c.f. Dylan Robinson, "To All Who Should Be Concerned," Intersections, Volume 39, Issue 1, 2019, p. 137–144.
https://www.dylanrobinson.ca/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/2021-To-All-Who-Should-Be-Concerned.pdf.
I'm loving this idea - attention is not an unlimited supply, after all.