Offerings, Gifts & Invitations
Exploring some tributaries with attention on the river
I don't think you can have one without the other, he said.
To be that open and receptive will also bring protection and tension.
I thought about his words. There was tension in the lead-up.
At first, it took a lot of effort to stay focused. Distractions kept coming in, and I needed to redirect my attention back to what I was trying to do. Then there was a shift. The effort it took to focus subsided, and my attention softened, and, with it, the edges of my identity.
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Before we experience a shift into something we view as desirable, we may feel more of the thing we are ready to leave behind.
Yesterday, we crossed the threshold of the solstice.
Depending on the hemisphere you live in, it was either the peak of the longest day or the valley of the longest night.
At this time of year, we experience an ascent or descent toward the full expression of the two most essential polarities: night and day, darkness and light.
In the descent down toward the winter solstice, I felt a sense of tension building within me. It felt as though the year was catching up with me, and all the moments I hadn't attended to or fully felt were arriving in the here and now to be experienced, processed, and digested.
Whether we're scaling down toward the depths of winter or climbing up to the longest day, at this time of year, different faculties within us will get activated, and parts of our life that are seeking attention will come to the surface, which brings me here to this space and to all of you.
Over the past few months, you may have noticed that it's been quiet here
Not because I haven't wanted to write something here and share what I'm learning with you. Rather, it's because I've been engaged in other endeavours or conversations that have been asking for more of my attention.
One is with my PhD, and the other is with my marriage (yes, I am married!). I call them conversations because they are dynamic, evolving, and based on a continual exchange of attention and learning.
Each day I am learning how it feels to show up in spaces I have chosen to actively cultivate and co-create, to engage in an inquiry I have dedicated my heart and mind to, and to love from all dimensions of myself, even when I feel stretched to the edges of my capacity.
I've also been experimenting with my attention. I've been noticing how much I can attend to from the fullness of my presence without feeling stretched to the extent that my ability to care for what I am involved in gets diluted.
Reading work by Simone Weil, Iris Murdoch, and Silvia Caprioglio Panizza has played a role in forming these thoughts and experiments. Each of their writing emphasises the role attention plays in our ability to connect with the truth and to aspire toward something greater than ourselves.
Weil speaks about our attention as a vehicle that can help us move beyond the constraints of our identity to meet the world more fully. Murdoch proposes that our attention is how we put our consciousness to good use, and CaprioglioPanizza, argues that reality has value in its very existence and that we can learn to see this dimension by giving up parts of ourselves. For each of these women, our attention is a force, the way we care, and ultimately the means through which we love.
Attention is our means of liberation, and one of the greatest sources of tension, especially when it is being stretchedtoward things we did not choose to pay attention to, be that social media or something else.
Sitting with the writings of Weil, Murdoch, and Caprioglio Panizza, I was left with the question, how can I channel my attention more intentionally?
With the intention of pouring my focus into my studies, I took a break from writing OGI. This decision was based on the idea that by stopping some of the conversations I was having, like OGI, I could focus more fully on my PhD.
While this newsletter was one of the conversations I thought I stopped, it continued within me. Even though I 'stopped' writing OGI, my attention kept moving back to this space and to all of you.
During this period, I learned that as much as I can choose what I want to attend to, there are also times when something else is asking for my attention. Rather than adhering to how I think I should be spending my attention, it can be more supportive and fruitful to follow the invitation and attend to something else.
Returning to the idea of any creative endeavour being a conversation, following this invitation involves stepping away from the conversation I am most dedicated to, and engaging in another conversation can help me rediscover the path I am on in a new light.
These 'side' conversations can take the form of writing something unrelated to my research, going for a walk with a friend or cooking a new recipe. Even though these side conversations can look like detours, I've learned that they can also help fortify my energy and resolve to stay on the path and renew my inspiration.
At this stage, the main conversation is my PhD; however, it may be something different at other stages. Whatever the focus may be, the main conversation is the one that invites dedication and asks for most of our time and attention.
Perhaps another way to think of it is as a river. While a dominant pull may lead your life, attention, and energy to flow in a specific direction, this flow is fed in part by tributaries, small offshoots that move through parts of the landscape the river cannot reach.
However, as the tributaries flow into the river, its currents become nourished by waters from other parts of the land. In this way, the tributaries help the river draw upon more terrain than it ever could alone.
In the context of our lives, we may have one dominant focus. However, this focus can also be nourished by 'smaller' paths of exploration, even if they appear as detours from the overall journey. So, over the holiday and solstice time, I am wishing you lots of flow and some fruitful detours that help reconnect you with a sense of spark and vitality.
What I’m Reading…
Social sensitivity and the ethics of attention, by Elisa Magri
This article explores the notion of social sensitivity as an aspect of any interpersonal relationship. Magri describes social sensitivity as being intrinsic to our understanding of others as selves situated in a social world. With this awareness, we can navigate any relationship with greater care.
This article examines the relationship between habit, attention, and critical thinking and how these form the nexus of self-awareness that lies at the core of social sensitivity.
What I’m Listening to…
Alive & Learning Podcast Global Stories: Local Action: Episode 6
This podcast offers a glimpse into my other life as a facilitator and consultant focused on multi-stakeholder collaborations and network practice. You'll also get a sense of the incredible people I work with.
In the final episode of season 1, Carri, Nzwaki and I lift up common threads arising across the conversations in this series, especially how our relationships allow us to navigate during times of uncertainty and change. Together, we highlight the importance of activating our collective imagination and advocate for storytelling to shift mindsets and connect global ideas to local action.
We speak to how joyful approaches to change, undertaken with humility and trust, can become contagious interactions that scale out into movements that ultimately reshape larger systems. Finally, we wrap up the series with gratitude for the relationships that have brought these stories to life and made the podcast possible.
January 29th, 1:00-3:00pm PST
January 30th, 8:00-10:00 am AEDT
This is a group supervision session, that is based on a process-oriented approach to working others. Each session will run for a total of two hours, with five slots to present topics of individual development, client, or organizational cases. Each case will be a doorway to exploring frameworks to deepen our awareness, see beneath the surface, and gather useful insights for our clients and ourselves. Learn more here