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The quiet art of attention

billwear.github.io

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Re: The quiet art of attention

#181

Post by PaulRobinson »

Separo wrote: post #172

I know some people may find the introduction engaging, but any article that begins: "There comes a moment in life..." you just know that the author is going to lay out some pretentious self-scripture.

I'm sad that you've never had singular moments in life that have caused fundamental reflection and re-evaluation of things you took for granted. I've had many. They're delightful, terrifying, hilarious, sombre, banal and life-changing, sometimes several of these at the same time.

I didn't find the article particularly pretentious, or "self-scripture", whatever that may be.

Perhaps dive in, reflect, and then ask after you've read the whole article whether it was pretentious "self-scripture" before assuming it is. As a heuristic, your current method seems a bit over-fitted to a false premise.

Re: The quiet art of attention

#182

Post by mattgreenrocks »

kukkeliskuu wrote: post #133
mzajc wrote: post #9

Well written! I can relate to most of the article. However, I find that > To focus on one thing deeply, to give it your full attention, is to experience it fully. And when we do this, something remarkable happens. Time, which so often feels like it is slipping through our fingers, begins to slow. doesn't really apply to me, or to many people I know and have worked with - it is when I focus on one task that "time flie…

I do improvized couples dancing, and have experienced time slowing down. It is an unique kind of experience, not just a different conceptualization of an everyday experience. Buddhists say that you are where your attention is. So if a sound captures 100% of my attention, I am that sound. This feels strange on the surface, but when you look deeper into it, it reveals deep wisdom about the human experience. In my under…

Good write-up. IME, you can meditate enough that you can sometimes consciously choose to slow time down to devote more and more attention to something.

The key advantage of this is you can jumpstart a flywheel: attention -> unmediated effort -> attention. I say unmediated because your talking mind gets out of the way or helps you (versus never shutting up). I have used this during guitar practice sessions and found them both very enjoyable and helpful in the learning process.

Re: The quiet art of attention

#183

Post by mattgreenrocks »

Arch-TK wrote: post #93
mzajc wrote: post #9

Well written! I can relate to most of the article. However, I find that > To focus on one thing deeply, to give it your full attention, is to experience it fully. And when we do this, something remarkable happens. Time, which so often feels like it is slipping through our fingers, begins to slow. doesn't really apply to me, or to many people I know and have worked with - it is when I focus on one task that "time flie…

It is my experience that "flow" is not the same as "mindfulness" or "attention".

Flow can deplete you because of the singular focus. Mindfulness refreshes you because you simply are - there’s no motive for it.

Re: The quiet art of attention

#184

Post by mattgreenrocks »

kukkeliskuu wrote: post #139
yapyap wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What I think he meant is that time slows down for him in the way that time around him speeds up while he can stay focused on one thing. Now of course I’m not the author so I’m not sure but yeah the way you’re describing it (real time flying when you’re locked in on something) is how I feel it goes for most people

I have experienced slowing of time in improvised couples dancing. I may have to react to very complex situations in a time frame that feels impossible. For example, at the same time my follower can be so tense that she cannot feel leading/following signals as well as if she was relaxed, and she mis-interprets my lead and goes where I was not expecting her to go, her clothing gets stuck, another couple comes into the…

It might be that programming and other office jobs simply overtrain the analytical mind to the point that we mistakenly think that it is the best tool to ascertain reality with.

Re: The quiet art of attention

#185

Post by peepee1982 »

mzajc wrote: post #9

Well written! I can relate to most of the article. However, I find that > To focus on one thing deeply, to give it your full attention, is to experience it fully. And when we do this, something remarkable happens. Time, which so often feels like it is slipping through our fingers, begins to slow. doesn't really apply to me, or to many people I know and have worked with - it is when I focus on one task that "time flie…

I believe the original author referred to the importance of intentionally focusing on something that isn't stimulating enough to create a sense of flow. It requires mindful effort to truly pay attention.

In essence, it's about being present without an occupied mind. In my experience, this can make time seem to pass more slowly, but in a pleasant way, even if it's somewhat subdued compared to a state of flow.

Re: The quiet art of attention

#186

Post by mattgreenrocks »

parthianshotgun wrote: post #175
thewanderer1983 wrote: post #100

Stoicism explores these ideas. One of the basic premises is that all external events are out of our control and to focus on what is, basically what is in our mind and our actions. Then we should try to discipline our ideas around virtues which are always good instead of outcomes and externals. That summary doesn't do it justice, if interested in exploring further. There are some good books on amazon or check out dail…

Wouldn't stoicism be at odds with political action? Why protest if it's all out of our hands?

Stoicism is not resigned helplessness. It is a realization that you can do what you feel you need to do (vote/protest/influence) while also realizing that the outcome is not under your control.

Re: The quiet art of attention

#187

Post by utkarsh858 »

Nice article, deep introspection and attention to moment have helped me a lot in experiencing life fully. Somehow I remembered this line from Gita: "For him who has conquered the mind, the mind is the best of friends; but for one who has failed to do so, his mind will remain the greatest enemy."

Re: The quiet art of attention

#188

Post by desertraven »

In regard to watching the mind, one thing I’ve observed is a little strange, and I was hoping to get other’s experiences.

I like to watch the movement of my attention. Nothing abstract, just to observe where attention is aimed - it takes a mere 30 seconds of watching.

What I’ve noticed, is it moves around, seemingly without my input, and lacking any conscious intent (a concept the blog post makes a point to reclaim).

The light of attention shines throughout the physical scene, but it is sensorily multidimensional. It might move to the pain in my back, or the sound of the frogs, or the mug on my desk, a random memory, or more relevant to the article, the latest arising thought.

I am watching this movement of ‘my’ attention, and yet I seem to be playing no part in the neither the objects of attention, or the movement of attention itself.

This isn’t to say I cannot decide right now to move my hand in front of my face and observe it, but this arising of intention is itself mysterious too.

Re: The quiet art of attention

#189

Post by Yawrehto »

I don't know if it's just me, but it feels like a very deliberate choice that this wasn't written in the easy-to-comprehend, easy-to-grasp style that's so prevalent online. It's harder. It requires, to some degree, even slightly, conscious effort to parse.

It feels like the perfect union of form and content, at least given the constraints of it being online, which by its very nature encourages distractions, flitting from one thing to another, reading many things, comprehending none, constantly switching what we're doing. (I noticed this while reading that - the urge to read something easier, simpler, with more shiny attention-grabbing things. It's the first time I've seriously experimented with Google's reading mode.) But, of course, a print publication, better-suited to the form, would get much less traction.

Re: The quiet art of attention

#190

Post by keybored »

hu3 wrote: post #108
keybored wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

People have already responded with their reasons. You can try to hammer on with further digressions from what the submission is about (not even wrong), complete with that inflamed/emotionally charged interpretation, but what’s the point in spilling more bytes on this.

Please refrain from gatekeeping or trying to limit what I, or anyone else, can or cannot do. The world isn't limited by your imagination. I don't even understand what your point is.

How fragile are you? My comment is about why I don’t think spilling bytes on this question of yours is worth—it was already answered before you posted the comment.

Which is my opinion. Which doesn’t silence anyone.

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