Where you focus your attention
is where you find the magic
Where you focus your attention is where the magic lies.
I’ve heard variations of this sentiment applied to improving your business strategy, as a mantra from psychology gurus, or even applied to muscle groups when exercising.
I absolutely believe it and it has worked for me in all of the above arenas. In these situations I think of attention as using your mind to tell you where to focus your energy and actions to be most effective. And if you really focus on the thing you want to see change, it will.
I’ve also recently learned that focussing your attention applies to what you actually SEE right there, in real life, in front of you.
One example:
Walking through a botanical gardens, I pointed out a lovely large bush with delicate flowers fanning out of the top that was directly in our line of sight. As I exclaimed how beautiful and interesting it was, Pete said, “Oh yes, you’re right; I hadn’t seen it.” We are in a botanical garden: plants are what I am focusing on. But if you are a geomorphologist as Pete is—someone who studies and focuses their attention on rivers and the physical processes of landscapes—your attention is on the physical layout of natural space and how it might have come to look that way. First glimpses are not of the plants that lie on the surface.
Another example:
On our daily walk, we were passing a row of seafront houses that cling to the steep cliff face. There had been ongoing work to the front of one of them for months, and a new balcony had appeared while we were away. Just beyond, there was an explosion of vividly coloured blue, violet and pink hydrangea blossoms in the front gardens of every home.
In this instance, Pete commented first on the shiny black RSJs (rolled steel joists) that had been installed to support the new balcony. Of course I hadn’t noticed the joists at all, since my eyes were diverted by the colourful blooms we were about to walk next to.
In both cases, even though we are walking through the same space at the same time, we are seeing completely different places. Fascinating!
We are both geographers, but we are trained in different aspects of geography: he studies the physical landscape (including an interest in the built environment), whereas my training and focus has been on the people-side of landscapes and behaviour. Plus, I am a gardener and have a life-long interest in plants. As a result, the two of us focus our attention on very different things as we travel, sometimes resulting in surprisingly divergent experiences of the same place.
Where we focus our attention, conscious or not, curates the experiences we have. Although obvious, it can be quite surprising to see how it manifests in such simple ways: rocks vs trees; RSJs versus blossoms. It’s yet another of the little insights that seem to pop up when we are in that travel-induced “heightened state of awareness.”1
For me, THAT is the magic part.
Finally, I’ll leave you with these:
Happy mid-July everyone! And welcome to a few new subscribers who came in this week! Yay! I am so happy to find you ALL here.
Let me know what YOU saw when you looked at that photo of the street leading down to the sea front. And ask your partner or child or coworker or anyone else what they see next time you walk down the street together. I really am curious!
Meantime, many thanks as always for reading! See you next week.
xo Sabrina
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I agree about the biased aspect of our perceptions. When I looked at the photograph, I immediately saw 1) the "truffula" trees, which I think are cabbage trees—exotic to UK, but a common site in New Zealand; and 2) the estuary in the background. Like Peter, I am an earth scientist so the landscape is generally a preeminent feature to me. Also, I "gravitate" to the ocean whenever it heaves into view. Thanks for your piece.
Oh, this is wonderful - and something which I've been thinking a lot about recently. I've been paying attention to 'small things' in a way that I never have before - my perspective seems to have shifted. That's a good thing, I think!
I love that you and Pete zoom in on different aspects of what you're passing - I bet you're never short of a conversation starter!