Morning Walk (or, Paying Attention)

Elegant Frost

A friend reminded me of this one recently, and it has been following me around ever since:

“You can observe a lot just by watching.” ~Yogi Berra

Then, while reading, I stumbled across this gem:

“I was starting to behave as if the present were only a preparation for the future.” ~Barry Lopez

Gypsy the Wonder Dog

I practice a small, informal version of this idea close to home: on my morning walks, I try to stay open to whatever scenes might be waiting for me. I have an energetic dog, so we cover a lot of ground, EVERY day. By now, I think she understands my stops to take photographs as equivalent to her stops to sniff. We are both gathering information; I’m simply more visual about it.

Winter frosting

That practice changes an ordinary walk. A slant of morning light, a shadow on a wall, the geometry of branches, or a scrap of color at the edge of the road can become the whole event. The photograph may or may not amount to much, but the act of seeing already has. It brings me fully into the place where I am.

“Tell me what you pay attention to, and I’ll tell you who you are.” ~José Ortega y Gasset

Backlight

This subject has fascinated me for as long as I can remember focus, mindfulness, attention. I’m always working on noticing what is around me, and still, I’m sure I miss a great deal. That’s part of the appeal. Attention is not a skill we finish learning; it is a lifelong practice in curiosity and humility. I’m urged on—and humbled—by these familiar words:

“If you want to make more interesting pictures, become a more interesting person.” ~Jay Maisel

After the Yarnell Hill Fire. I thought this was beautiful, but one touch and it crumbled

There is a fascinating corollary to all of this. Especially in the age of smartphones, we have developed very little tolerance for boredom. The moment a line moves slowly, a conversation pauses, or we find ourselves with a few unclaimed minutes, we reach for a screen. We fill the empty space before it has a chance to reveal anything.

Stunning Blue

Yet many thinkers on creativity argue that if we stay with tedium a little longer, the mind begins to wander in useful ways. Associations surface. Questions sharpen. What first felt empty becomes spacious. Boredom, approached with attention instead of escape, can be less a dead end than a doorway.

“When you pay attention to boredom, it gets unbelievably interesting.”  ~Jon Kabat-Zinn

Sister Rose, a plywood turkey vulture (Yarnell's mascots)

These ideas can feel intimidating to me when I turn them into lofty goals: be mindful, be creative, become more interesting. It helps to make the assignment smaller. I can begin with one thing—the quality of light, an unfamiliar sound, the way my dog pauses at a particular patch of ground.

My favorite Yarnell Tree

“I’m pretty much done with mindfulness.  I’m just going to start paying attention.” ~Gina Barreca

Sego Lily

Maybe that is the real lesson running through all these quotations: attention does not require a grand philosophy or a perfectly disciplined mind. It requires a willingness to pause, look again, and let the present be more than a waiting room for whatever comes next.

“To pay attention, this is our endless and proper work.” ~Mary Oliver

Backyard hummer nest

Thanks for playing along with my musings today. I hope you notice something on your next walk that you might have missed. See you out there.

LOST
Stand still. The trees ahead and bushes beside you Are not lost. Wherever you are is called Here, and you must treat it as a powerful stranger, must ask permission to know it and be known.
The forest breathes. Listen. It answers, I have made this place around you.
If you leave it, you may come back again, saying Here.
No two trees are the same to Raven.
No two branches are the same to Wren.
If what a tree or a bush does is lost on you, you are surely lost. Stand still. The forest knows Where you are. You must let it find you.
-David Wagoner