The Quality of Attention

How we hold our pick is how we live our lives.
~Fripp

These words have been with me these past couple of days to serve as a reminder to slow down, consider my actions and generally to think through things as I do them. When I was a young lad, I did everything in haste. I lived as a "spaz" with a touch of geek. Quick! Quick! The rabbit ran around in circles. Today, age has slowed me down enough so that I can see this folly.

There is no quality to what we do when we do it in haste. We are merely firing brain cells for the sake of virtuosity, moving limbs about recklessly. Me, usually bashing a finger or two in the process.

How we hold our pick is determined by what our guitar goals might be, but I find myself saying:
"How I do this [insert mundane activity here] is how I live my life." I find even the most trivial activities are better when I consider these words.

The morning sitting.

A few weeks ago, I started doing the morning sitting as decribed to us by Fripp back in the wintry Guitar Craft course in '08. It's basically about finding some quiet time for yourself and learning to relax the body. It involves doing nothing but sitting in a chair. Sounds idiotic, I know. You systematically go through every part of your body and relax it. It's simple and brilliant. There are no spiritual or religious connotations to it. It's bio-feedback on a basic level.

A lot of this is based on this man. I am suspicious of the whole smells like a cult thing, but the man had his followers and detractors. I dont want to follow anyone. Learning is the goal, not worship.

I am just getting started, but can tell it has affected me. One thing's for sure, the world tries to steal this away from you. Oh yeah. The int eruptions started very soon after a week or so. It's as if the universe sensed this peace and wants to snatch it away. Typical.

I am no mellow dude nor shall I ever be. I always have the wheels turning in my head despite my big grin and happy demeanor.

I highly recommend some quiet time for you. Try to set aside ten minutes a day.The results may not come right away. It may feel silly, but something starts to happen.

The Key To it All:

The quality of our attention.
~Fripp

All my life it seems people have been telling me to pay attention. Trouble is, I find very few practical things that interesting. Certainly mundane tasks were a huge issue for my fidgety self as a teen. Nothing really changed in my twenties. I daydream all the time.

We are our attention as attention is a division of consciousness. I think defining consciousness is like counting the grains of sand on a beach.

But, each day, I try to focus my full attention on something as a way of increasing it.