I am currently reading a book called On Looking by Alexandra Horowitz.
The author poses a question I had never considered before:
What is attention?
We’ve all heard, “Pay attention!” but what about the difference between multitasking and backtalking and daydreaming?
What about the different types of attention that Horowitz highlights, depending on our life experiences and purpose at any given moment?
It’s pretty fascinating.
Like the author, I think I’m pretty good at paying attention to things around me when I go on a walk. As a creative worker, I think I’m also better than average when it comes to ‘child-mind’ which considers things as equally deserving of attention, without as much of an incoming filter (although there are broad swaths I ignore given my own background and experiences).
Have you been on an exploratory walk lately?
What did you see?
Can you think of things, looking back, that you did not actually see?
