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...mindfulness is to be present in the present moment...
Thich Nhat Hanh
Make a place for your writing, a sacred place...
Until you name yourself Writer, you will never be a writer.
How to get started writing? Write.
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Paying attention has to do with slowing down. It has to do with staying in the Now and being mindful in your daily life. The great spiritual teacher Thich Nhat Hanh said mindfulness is to be present in the present moment. And it is here, in the present moment you will find the details that will enrich your writing and your life. "There is ecstasy in paying attention," said Anne Lamott.
When you pay attention you also notice what matters to you. The way the morning light washes the walls of your room, the sounds -- not the radio giving you the news and traffic conditions. Not yet. But the ambient sounds. For me this includes a raucous blue jay claiming squatter's rights in the Clementine tree in my patio as well as airplanes taking off from the airport less than a mile away.
Pay attention to your body as you rise, its messages and sensations. Pay attention to it all day long. It will give you information about what matters to you physically and what you respond to through your senses. Paying attention and being present have everything to do with our physical sensations. It's difficult to be present to the song of the whippoorwill when your mind is reciting your "to do" list and planning what to do at that 10 o'clock meeting.
I have a friend who tends flowers. (My dictionary defines "tend" as to pay attention, to serve, to watch over… all words that have to do with being mindful.) In the morning she goes outside to her garden, shawl around her shoulders, cup of coffee in her hand and walks among her roses and dahlias. She moves close to them and whispers, sits on a wooden bench and looks at them, each and every plant, or squats in the dirt and plucks dead leaves, finished blossoms. She has a gentle air about her and she is absolutely present in her garden. I know all this because one morning when I stayed overnight, while she tended her garden I watched her through my bedroom window. Both of us, paying attention.
As you go through your day today (and every day), pay attention, notice what you notice. Take a moment several times during the day to make word sketches in your notebook. Not just of what you notice through your senses, but the interactions of people, their behavior. By paying attention to what you notice, you begin to see how the writer in you views the world and relationships. These recorded word pictures validate the world you see and experience. This is how you find your truth. Not in thinking, but in paying attention. And this is what will reveal itself in your writing.
Notes on Writing >>>
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