I have a shed in the garden with a typewriter in it & a normal clock alarm timer. It’s always a bit hard to make myself go out there but a few steps from the back door and I’m flying
ah, I love how truly analogue that is! I was using my typewriter for a while to revise poems--it was so slow and so physical, it really helped me to think about the music of lines differently. your shed sounds like such a wonderful space to write!
I love all of this, Nancy! To launch 2024, I created a small space in my office - my “project desk” that is away from my computer (& phone) where I can journal, plan, dream. So far...it’s a nice space & even its presence in my home office space is a reminder to sit over there more often!
What an incredible gift you have given your students with this course! I love that you are sharing it with us. To really dig into a text and turn it into a practice is an amazing feat.
At dinner there are no devices and we eat at the table. The universe let me know this was the correct course of action because last week we tried to have a "snow day" dinner in front of the fireplace and tv and we all spilled things...including the cat!
it really is a special class, and because it's a general studies class, it attracts a total range of students from all over the university, which I love. I'm so glad you're excited about it!
no-device dinner is really important at our house, too--and any time we eat in front of the TV, I'm inevitably the one who spills!
I've opened my sketchbook for the first time this year. Thanks for inspiring me Nancy. I have 3 dogs who love their walks and everything goes much more smoothly when I am phone free. They're very sensitive to where my attention goes and like little kids (and my mate, at times) act out by tugging and pulling. Of course, I'm speaking metaphorically regarding my mate.
yay for opening your sketchbook! I was so excited about Wendy MacNaughton's drawing challenge, but I've gotten very far behind. I'll pick it up again.
dogs and kids are both so good for changing your attention on walks! I got home today and my younger kid asked me to come look at some "very interesting icicles" with him--he's so often such a good reminder to look more carefully, or to look differently.
I love all of this, Nancy. I love the guiding questions for the course, and these first few practices you shared. I love this idea of not only practicing attention, but also caring for it. Makes me think about what our attention is and I’m really interested in your choice of the word “caring,” esp in light of your other writing about care work. Sometimes they want to care better for my attention but I’m too depleted to care for it anymore in a particular day or week....I also love your son’s artwork. That named so perfectly how depleted I felt last night after a long day of work and bedtime dramas
thanks, Emily, and thanks especially for that connection between caring for your attention and carework more broadly--I think you're really right. I just listened to this great Ezra Klein interview with Gloria Mark, whose new book Attention Span sounds really interesting: https://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/05/opinion/ezra-klein-podcast-gloria-mark.html?unlocked_article_code=1.Ok0.DcEr.F0x_xBMBHgwh&smid=url-share And he makes the point in several places that you do--that when we're worn out, when we've "spent" our attention for the day, that's when it's so much harder to resist exactly the kind of activity (mindless scrolling etc) that makes us feel even more fried.
I think connecting caring for your attention with carework also helps me think about the collective nature of all of this--so many of us are really fried because of the conditions of our workplaces/culture/politics/etc--it's not a bunch of individual people making stupid or undisciplined choices, though I think that's often how it's framed. so, as with anything, the only way to really enact meaningful change is through collective attention. I need to think more about that! xo
i've been listening to that interview and just a little way in—good to know I should keep going with it! I like what you say here about the collective nature of this -- yes to this. i want to think more about this, too xoxo
I’m going to try leaving my phone at home for the walk to and from daycare. It’s only 10 minutes but baby steps, right?
a 10 minute walk sounds like the perfect amount of brain clearing!
I have a shed in the garden with a typewriter in it & a normal clock alarm timer. It’s always a bit hard to make myself go out there but a few steps from the back door and I’m flying
ah, I love how truly analogue that is! I was using my typewriter for a while to revise poems--it was so slow and so physical, it really helped me to think about the music of lines differently. your shed sounds like such a wonderful space to write!
it'd be better if it was insulated in fairness
Ha, fair enough 😅🥶
I love all of this, Nancy! To launch 2024, I created a small space in my office - my “project desk” that is away from my computer (& phone) where I can journal, plan, dream. So far...it’s a nice space & even its presence in my home office space is a reminder to sit over there more often!
That's so great, Robin! A "project desk" sounds so special!
What an incredible gift you have given your students with this course! I love that you are sharing it with us. To really dig into a text and turn it into a practice is an amazing feat.
At dinner there are no devices and we eat at the table. The universe let me know this was the correct course of action because last week we tried to have a "snow day" dinner in front of the fireplace and tv and we all spilled things...including the cat!
Looking forward to more updates with your course!
it really is a special class, and because it's a general studies class, it attracts a total range of students from all over the university, which I love. I'm so glad you're excited about it!
no-device dinner is really important at our house, too--and any time we eat in front of the TV, I'm inevitably the one who spills!
I've opened my sketchbook for the first time this year. Thanks for inspiring me Nancy. I have 3 dogs who love their walks and everything goes much more smoothly when I am phone free. They're very sensitive to where my attention goes and like little kids (and my mate, at times) act out by tugging and pulling. Of course, I'm speaking metaphorically regarding my mate.
yay for opening your sketchbook! I was so excited about Wendy MacNaughton's drawing challenge, but I've gotten very far behind. I'll pick it up again.
dogs and kids are both so good for changing your attention on walks! I got home today and my younger kid asked me to come look at some "very interesting icicles" with him--he's so often such a good reminder to look more carefully, or to look differently.
I love all of this, Nancy. I love the guiding questions for the course, and these first few practices you shared. I love this idea of not only practicing attention, but also caring for it. Makes me think about what our attention is and I’m really interested in your choice of the word “caring,” esp in light of your other writing about care work. Sometimes they want to care better for my attention but I’m too depleted to care for it anymore in a particular day or week....I also love your son’s artwork. That named so perfectly how depleted I felt last night after a long day of work and bedtime dramas
Meant to say “I” want to care for it and that auto corrected to “they” somehow… I do wish more people wanted to care for my attention, too 😂
thanks, Emily, and thanks especially for that connection between caring for your attention and carework more broadly--I think you're really right. I just listened to this great Ezra Klein interview with Gloria Mark, whose new book Attention Span sounds really interesting: https://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/05/opinion/ezra-klein-podcast-gloria-mark.html?unlocked_article_code=1.Ok0.DcEr.F0x_xBMBHgwh&smid=url-share And he makes the point in several places that you do--that when we're worn out, when we've "spent" our attention for the day, that's when it's so much harder to resist exactly the kind of activity (mindless scrolling etc) that makes us feel even more fried.
I think connecting caring for your attention with carework also helps me think about the collective nature of all of this--so many of us are really fried because of the conditions of our workplaces/culture/politics/etc--it's not a bunch of individual people making stupid or undisciplined choices, though I think that's often how it's framed. so, as with anything, the only way to really enact meaningful change is through collective attention. I need to think more about that! xo
i've been listening to that interview and just a little way in—good to know I should keep going with it! I like what you say here about the collective nature of this -- yes to this. i want to think more about this, too xoxo
Love love (love love love)
Thank you for all of these ideas. 🙏🏻😍