Philosopher Johann Wolfgang von Goethe pointed out that, “Every object, well contemplated, opens up a new organ of perception within us.”
Paying attention to our attention elicits a palette of sensory experiences. It shifts the way we perceive reality — shaping, the experiences we have and the life we live. We remember the actual qualities of life or return value — soul value, the beauty it came into the world with — to the thing we perceive and we retrieve a piece of our soul, the pure life essence that we have lost. We jumpstart our creativity, we are swept into purpose, we nurture an attitude of gratitude, and we are propelled by wonder and curiosity. With new knowledge, comes deeper, more wonderful mysteries, luring us even further into our curiosity and encouraging us to reflect on the bigger questions of life.
Our attention is a vital key to ecological consciousness. We cannot be helpful to the earth or make new discoveries when we fail to notice nature, and we can’t notice what we don’t see. Being intentional with our attention provides a much more expanded and powerful way to perceive.
Discovering where and what our thoughts are focused on requires us to shift our awareness to an expanded view. Our time, attention, and energy are cluttered with distractions as the world around us fades into a blur. We are pulled in so many directions that we become blind to meaningful participation with the creativity of our world that add so much to our lives.
Our capacity for self-awareness, recognizing where we direct our consciousness, is imperative to nature entering our body through experience and bringing the new into reality. The philosopher Goethe realized the importance of the connectedness between our inner and outer worlds.
I know, you’re going to tell me there is no time. I get it! Everyone around us demands our attention. But I can’t stress the importance of taking a moment to appreciate, connect with, and take an interest in what you are paying attention to. Choose to try it. Stay curious. I urge you to find what everyone overlooks. Then ask yourself, what is the world trying to show me? It’ll be worth your time.
For transformational change to happen, we need a deeper level of attention, one that allows us to step outside our established, habitual experience and truly feel beyond our rational mind. It is necessary that we be more intentionally active with every act of life by putting sincere, refreshed, exploratory attention on what we are perceiving—whether it’s coming from the external world, or from our internal world—so that we truly perceive the essence of experience itself, versus merely having a passive and receptive impression of what it is.
We need to give ourselves the time to notice the beauty and mysteries of the world around us: the burst of children giggling, the soft touch of a loved one’s hand, birds singing during the pre-light hours, the exploding colors of an evening sky, or the casting away of night’s shadows with the gentle glow of moonlight. Slow down, and begin to hear the soft voice of your inner wisdom. Pause and reflect on these moments. These are split-seconds that stay with you, they echo in your mind, and beg to become part of your memories.
Your life experience is directly correlated to what you choose to attend to. And, your experiences then become your life — the life you are living. Aligning active attention with deeper intention redirects our consciousness into a faculty for seeing the wholeness of our world, it’s a holistic perspective, where we discover meaning, unity and understanding—a higher level of a lived experience.
When you encourage your curiosity, the more you are likely to see. Become the navigator of your own modern world where every path becomes an adventure. Seek the richness of new discoveries. Because that’s where innovation, creativity, and transformation begins.
This is a good thing. A really good thing!
So, I ask you: What are you denying yourself when you don’t take the time for something that can open up your world?
