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"Paying Attention is Always Healing" by Kate Gavigan
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I’m starting another Artist’s Way series and the wonder and gift of paying attention has been revisiting me lately.
It happens every time I work through the Artist’s Way but every time I’m a little bit surprised.
Even a little chagrined that I’m SO surprised.
Julia notes that “the reward for attention is always healing.”
There is just somethin’ about the process of doing artists dates, writing my morning pages and going through the Artist’s Way material that conjures up the “paying attention wee spirit”.
Paying attention to what I like, what I don’t like … that I’m bored, need to laugh more, tired (My usual first line in every morning page I write “I’m tirrreeeedddd.”;), that I feel shy embracing my new love of singing soprano after having alto-ed all my life, that I’d like a pair of striped colorful knee high socks, that the mountains are taking my breath away, that I need time every day for spiritual contemplation, that sometimes I make REALLY bad jokes (insert face-planting into hand), that I need, need, NEED bright colors around me in the middle of winter, that I crave seeing more of my friends face-to-face and not just through the phone wires (they still have those, right?) or Facebooking, that I can’t watch scary movies, that my body is screaming "feed me KALE" (who’d a thunk), that “loud talkers” in public spaces test my patience, that I can be impatient, that I have amazing, supportive friends …
And so on.
And don’t get me started on the synchronicity.
Ahhh, ok, GET me started …
Just this week …
**I have a revelation about a woman I know who is doing this incredible artistic work with those most underserved individuals. In response, this warm feeling of awe and respect fills me and I think “now THAT is a woman who is practicing some grace and love”. The next day I get asked to write a letter of recommendation for her.
It wrote itself.
**I was having some challenges trying to take care of a situation in my life and a friend out of the blue (and without asking or knowing about the challenge) provided an answer to the problem.
**I struggled with feelings of competition. The next day I went to a function and heard someone give a talk on the importance of compassion over competition. Then went home and picked up a book I’m reading and read this:
"Henri Nowen has remarked: 'When we take a critical look at ourselves, we have to recognize that competition, not compassion, is our main motivation in life.' This is a provocative insight. We are caught up in the game of one-upmanship. Our sense of self-worth depends upon how favorably or unfavorable we compare with others. ..The subtle spirit of competition, which reaches into the smallest corners of our relationships, prevents us from being compassionate."
A lot to mull over.
And those are just the ones I remember.
Julia says “attention is an act of connection.”
To review … this week because of paying attention, I found myself more connected to a colleague, more compassion for myself in the competition/compassion battle, accepted a gift from a friend, smiling more as I notice the beautiful bright colors around me.
“Healing,” indeed.
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4 Comments
Deb Lund says...
Lovely, Kate! First the sunshine and now this...
SO glad you liked it, Deb! Plus we have 2 more days of sunshine coming. Yeah!!
Especially love the colors and contrast in the second picture.
Regarding competition, a few thoughts...especially as an artist and actor (and a female), and as our culture loves to promote it, it always seems to be on the forefront. But in Truth there is and can be no competition. We are each perfectly Unique and here for our own unique reasons and purposes, and so all that is ours to do is already ours and can only be matched up with us, cannot possibly go to anybody else. As is the case for absolutely everybody else.
There are two sides to this regarding "judging" work. One is that others' opinions are just that, and while objective feedback can be useful to help us see what we area doing that or not doing that we do not see, taking opinions personally serves no value. So much easier said than done. I mad the mistake of reading reviews on my work once, a something I will never again repeat regardless if they are "good" or "bad," because for me it doesn't help me and either way I feel can only serve to hinder my aim to lose the ego in my work.
The other side of this is that we often do see work that is bad and we recognize it as such and we know our personal opinion of this is true--in this case I think it's not opinion, but rather we are witnessing someone letting competition get in their way, trying to either be someone else or something else they are not or unable to release self consciousness/ego in order to let their own truth come through.
I love the quote you shared on this...because getting our heads wrapped in the idea of competition (I'm no expert on *not* doing this, regardless of revelations I've had on it...but I keep working at it) disables the ability for compassion not just for others, but also and maybe more importantly ourselves. When we have compassion for ourselves, for others comes automatically. Still working on that one, too.:)
I adore this whole theme of paying attention. Had so much to do with my knowing that releasing of FB was a healthy decision for me. It stopped a lot of the noise I let it so there could be more room for quiet attention. I think there is great love to be found in that space.
jenn h. says...
You forgot to add that you ARE an amazing and supportive friend.:)
Especially love the colors and contrast in the second picture.
Regarding competition, a few thoughts...especially as an artist and actor (and a female), and as our culture loves to promote it, it always seems to be on the forefront. But in Truth there is and can be no competition. We are each perfectly Unique and here for our own unique reasons and purposes, and so all that is ours to do is already ours and can only be matched up with us, cannot possibly go to anybody else. As is the case for absolutely everybody else.
There are two sides to this regarding "judging" work. One is that others' opinions are just that, and while objective feedback can be useful to help us see what we area doing that or not doing that we do not see, taking opinions personally serves no value. So much easier said than done. I mad the mistake of reading reviews on my work once, a something I will never again repeat regardless if they are "good" or "bad," because for me it doesn't help me and either way I feel can only serve to hinder my aim to lose the ego in my work.
The other side of this is that we often do see work that is bad and we recognize it as such and we know our personal opinion of this is true--in this case I think it's not opinion, but rather we are witnessing someone letting competition get in their way, trying to either be someone else or something else they are not or unable to release self consciousness/ego in order to let their own truth come through.
I love the quote you shared on this...because getting our heads wrapped in the idea of competition (I'm no expert on *not* doing this, regardless of revelations I've had on it...but I keep working at it) disables the ability for compassion not just for others, but also and maybe more importantly ourselves. When we have compassion for ourselves, for others comes automatically. Still working on that one, too.:)
I adore this whole theme of paying attention. Had so much to do with my knowing that releasing of FB was a healthy decision for me. It stopped a lot of the noise I let it so there could be more room for quiet attention. I think there is great love to be found in that space.
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