Art of Attention

Attention brings the world into focus. When we truly pay attention, the moment shows itself fully.

When we slow down enough to attend to our lives intimately, the moment meets us completely. Sound is sound. Light is light. All seamless.

Nothing is missing.

We often use attention as something to aim or focus. Yet attention ripens by widening. With intimate attention, ordinary life shines. A cup on the table. Breath moving through your chest. The weight of fatigue at the end of a day.

This kind of attention is the heart of my Zen practice. It is how I sit, how I walk, how I listen to another person speak.

This same attention guides my art. I don’t begin with an idea to impose on something. I begin by listening. To texture, to space, to what wants to appear. When attention is steady, the work organizes itself. A mark knows where to land. An image knows when it is complete.

Attention is a creative act because it allows life to speak in its own voice.

When we trust this, life feels less like effort and more like participation. Life then reveals its shape, just as it is.