THE PRACTICE of ATTENTION : Day 1
That Maple Tree Is A Portal
The Practice of Attention is a 3 Day (digital) Artist Retreat. Take what is helpful. Any part of this letter can be a prompt. Leave what you don’t need right now. Here’s to bringing momentum and resonance into our creative practice.
Praying by Mary Oliver
It doesn’t have to be
the blue iris, it could be
weeds in a vacant lot, or a few
small stones; just
pay attention, then patch
a few words together and don’t try
to make them elaborate, this isn’t
a contest but the doorway
into thanks, and a silence in which
another voice may speak.
Attention is the portal and the practice.
Outside my studio window there’s a sugar maple that always turns a luminous red this time of year. We see that glorious color because the tree’s breaking down its’ chlorophyll to prepare for winter. It’s transformed into sugar, and concentrated in the living cells of the trunk, branches and roots. The concentrated sugars lower the freezing point of those cells. The leaves give their best to the parts of the tree that will live on. They turn red and fall off. And while it may not have been their intention, they end up protecting and insulating all the summer’s seeds on the ground. In a garden, we often plant seeds in the spring, but in the wild, the wind plants them in the fall, and many seeds would never sprout without a season of freezing.
PRACTICE LIKE A MAPLE IN THE FALL
How we practice changes based on what we want to make or learn. We have to let some things go, and double down on what matters. Some ideas are leaves and will fall away. Some actually need a season to freeze before they’re ready. And some are part of our roots and branches, and we fill them with sugar and bring them into the world.
What do you want to make?
I’m presenting this series as if you are working toward a project. A song. A drawing. A poem. An essay. A dance. If you have lots of ideas or projects raising their hands and asking for your attention right now, (and I would be surprised if you didn’t) let’s choose just one, and think of our maple tree.
How will you concentrate your attention toward what’s important?
What will your system be? How much time are you able to give it? What materials and space do you need? Will you share your progress?
What will fall away?
What will you let go of this week to make this happen? (I vote social media) We can’t ad without subtracting.
Which seeds will you allow to lie in the soil and wait for spring?
I think it’s good to acknowledge the ideas that you’re not working on. Tucking them in and letting them sleep is intentional, and can keep them quieter, and less likely to distract while we work to make our “SOMETHING”.
PRACTICE FIRST
I like to dedicate time every morning to writing, even when my most pressing projects are not writing projects, because I find that when I write about them first thing, I open my attention to them through the whole day. Here is a three part jumpstart that I like to use to generate ideas, images, and connections.
I start with open free writing. Take a pen, put down the number 1, and then just write what comes to you. Put that pen to paper and don’t let it stop moving. This is a practice to get you to transcribe your thoughts and feelings as you experience them the best you can, and to do it without judgement or revision. The only thing you need to be successful at this is to not stop. Lots of people swear by handwriting for this practice. The goal is to just get it all, even the “ums” and “oks” and distractions and tangents, just follow your mind where it goes. Even if it feels like you just vent or complain, let it come and just get your hands to be able to follow your mind. I like to set a 10 minute timer for this. Some people really swear by 3 pages or 750 words, and for years that was what I did, but I have found that I can get the things I need from this with a shorter goal, and that timers keep me more focused than word counts, and then I still have energy for some more focused writing to help me get into my subject a little deeper.
Set another 10 minute timer, and write the project you are working on at the top of the page. “Essay” “Poem” “Song”. Whatever it is. Not it’s title- just the general name of what you want it to be. If you still don’t know, maybe just try “Something”. Now free write again, but use what you are wanting to make as a jumping off point, and also a rock to climb on when you find yourself in open water. Why do you want to make this? Keep coming back to it. If your pen stops moving, write the project you are going to make again, and follow a new path of thoughts.
Last, I set my timer for another 10 minutes. Think of an object. Honestly, any object will work, but if you can think of one that is somehow related to any themes or content that have come up already, use that. For this essay, I was using “Portal” and “Doorway”. Take that object, and start by describing it in as much detail as you can, staying in your senses. You can let yourself follow your thoughts wherever they will go, you don’t have to stay on the object- but you do want to STAY IN YOUR SENSES. If you are writing about a salt shaker, and a memory of your grandmother pops up, go ahead and follow that, but try to stay in your senses when you describe it. Sight is usually the easiest, so try to also bring in your kinesthetic, smell, taste and hearing.
I like to do this kind of work, moving into my imagination and my senses first thing. When you practice first, you open your attention. You aren’t necessarily making the work here, but you are beginning a collection of raw materials. When you practice first, It’s like strapping a basket onto your shoulders that will automatically start collecting for you as you move through your day. You can be running errands or scrubbing a kitchen floor, but your SOMETHING stays close, and when things cross your path that give you a spark, or make you curious- into that magic basket they go.
SHARE!
Friends. Please share! Comment on this post what your SOMETHING is, How you are practicing like an autumn maple, or any insight that came up for you in this practice.
Find a friend to do these prompts together with! Get a text group going! Meet in person and write together.
Sharing feeds our devotion! Sharing builds community! Sharing gives other people inspiration! Sharing closes the circle and helps us build resonance in our work! As soon as you can stand it, share your work with someone you trust. If you would like it seen by other people doing this retreat- share it on Substack in the comments!
( This newsletter is hosted on a platform called SUBSTACK. Many of you already know that, but because I also write to folks that I know from real life, you might not have any reason to know that. In order to interact with this series of prompts in a way that everyone can see, you have to COMMENT on the post in Substack. It may prompt you to create an account or a profile in order to do that.)
If you would like more on FREE WRITING - You can read some classics like “Writing Down The Bones” by Natalie Goldberg or “The Artist’s Way” by Julia Cameron.
For a deeper dive into Object Writing try Pat Pattison’s “Writing Better Lyrics”.
I’ll leave you with one of my songs…
This 'three part jumpstart' writing practice structure is SO GOOD. These days I generally make it to my desk each morning with the intention to write, but I've been struggling to lock in and really get going. Excited to give this a try.
Thank you so much for this, Jes. I find this truly inspirational and such a great opportunity to reset and restart my practice of morning writing. I used to write every morning, religiously, and have missed the flow.
Also, it’s wild and kind of awful how often I open social media apps, even after I said I’d stop! They are such attention suckers! Just deleted them from my phone, at least for now. 💕