Noticing Notes: Opening Out

// January 10th, 2012 // 2 Comments » // process, Uncategorized, writing ideas

Noticing Notes is a weekly event on this blog where I discuss my mindful writing practice of ‘noticing’ and encourage you to join in.

What’s noticing? Well, here’s the twitter version:

Comfy? Good. Start writing whatever you’re experiencing right now: sights/sounds/feelings/thoughts/etc. Stuck? Write ‘noticing …’ continue

And this post has a slightly longer version

*****

“I have learned that what I have not drawn, I have never really seen”

(Frederick Franck)

I’ve started incorporating small sketches into my noticing. I can’t believe it’s taken me this long to get around to it. One book that influences what I’m trying to do with noticing is Frederick Frank’s ‘The Zen Of Seeing’. It’s about developing a meditative drawing practice– noticing the world through drawing.

I sometimes through the book, find an idea that resonates, then see how I can transfer that to my writing practice.

I’m always drawing, but it’s been ages since I really applied Frederick Franks ideas to my art, consciously anyway.

At the end of last year I started thinking how I was going to pull together my art and my writing, they’ve both been chugging along as mostly separate pursuits. I started doing some writing about how my focus has changed over the last 12 months. It seems I’ve stumbled into the business of noticing things, about developing creative presence and when I looked at the blog through that filter going back to drawing as seeing, as noticing seemed like the no-brainer thing to do.

So now I’m shifting between noticing as writing practice and noticing as a drawing practice and they fit nicely together and complement each other.

There’s a list of things I want to play with here, especially finding ways to do this that don’t rely so much on drawing skills. One thing I’m trying is, through the act of drawing, to see one fresh thing about the object that I’m drawing.

In the picture up top the one thing I noticed while drawing the coke can was the way the shape of it narrows when it gets near the opening at the top. There was also a bit of written noticing, that focused on the taste of the drink, how unsatisfying it gets (to me) once I’m partway through and the initial novelty has worn off.

Since starting noticing as a regular practice I’ve enjoyed the way I’ll suddenly be somewhere and just start noticing things mentally, I like the way this practice has started to open out a little and influence life outside of my notebook. Combining the writing with the drawings will hopefully encourage that to happen a little bit more.

*****

How You Can Join In:

Everyone is encouraged to join in in whatever way you like.

You could hang out in the comments section and share your own experiences and ideas.

If you have a blog, you might like to do a little noticing experiment in a post, or write about your experience with noticing, and leave a link! I’d love to go and check it out and leave a comment.

Of course, you could check-in and read the posts and never comment, just hang out and play quietly with your own noticing practice. (I’ve always been a shy commenter, and that’s my preferred way of hanging out on a lot of blogs.)

Noticing notes are posted early each week–Mondays usually–and are there to capture any noticing, or ‘noticing noticings’ that might come up for you (or me!) throughout the week!

You could also post mini noticing sessions, or noticing excerpts on twitter or google+. (Use #noticingnotes hashtag)

Paper Planes And A River Of Stones

// January 3rd, 2012 // 4 Comments » // illustration, Uncategorized, writing ideas

Here we are in the new year and I’m taking a new direction in my Ephemeral Adventurer series of paintings. I’m experimenting with larger paintings on canvas and trying a few designs without the maps.

This one is called ‘Fly With Me’ and it’s the first of the new batch. I’m going to order some wooden boards as well so I can more easily get some maps collaged in there. The canvas I used has beautiful deep sides and I painted them black which looks really great.

I’m still doing the art cards and have started getting a few custom orders through my Etsy store, so I set up a button where you can purchase a custom paper plane, paper crane or paper boat flying over a map featuring the city of your choice.

***

Another way I’m kicking off the New Year is by participating in the ‘River Of Stones’ event over at ‘the Writing Our way Home blog. The challenge, well it’s more of an invitation than a chellenge, is to write a small stone evry day for the month of January.

Fiona and Kaspa run the website and have some wonderful courses and a blog as well as a great community forum. Fiona has been writing small stones for years,  and they were a strong influence on my current writing practice.

What’s a small stone? It’s a beautiful form of writing meditation and people  are posting their examples at Fiona and Kaspa’s blog and forming a collective ‘River Of Stones’. You can check out everyone’s contributions here. Have a look, and you might want to have a go at writing Small Stones while you’re there!

I’ll be writing Small Stones this month and posting some of them on the blog.

Here is my Small Stone for today:

morning chill

the Blue Jay seated on a bare branch

springs away and up

one… two … three … four

back and forward … back and forward

the branch bobs good-bye.

Noticing Notes: Shift and Return

// December 12th, 2011 // 2 Comments » // writing ideas

Noticing Notes is a weekly event on this blog where I discuss my mindful writing practice of ‘noticing’ and encourage you to join in. (It used to be called ‘Noticing Mondays’, but maybe I want to post it on a Tuesday sometimes!)

What’s noticing? Well, here’s the twitter version:

Comfy? Good. Start writing whatever you’re experiencing right now: sights/sounds/feelings/thoughts/etc. Stuck? Write ‘noticing …’ continue

Click here for a slightly longer version.

*****

When I’m noticing, I’ll often find myself in a physical or mental state that is uncomfortable. In these situations I try a technique I call ‘Shift and Return’.

In ‘Shift and Return’ I notice an uncomfortable or otherwise interesting state, make some sort of ‘Shift’ and then ‘Return’ my attention to see if there has been any change, and notice that.

Here’s a step by step guide:

I’ll be noticing and I’ll discover a physical sensation, like tension in my back or maybe tiredness, and decide to investigate a little.

In the case of tiredness, the noticing might look like this:

“Noticing tiredness, my eyes are feeling heavy and I’m starting to collapse in my seat.”

I decide to try Shifting, so I write down the action I’m going to take:

“Standing up and stretching.”

Once I’ve written that down, I do the action, then pick up my pen again and ‘Return’ to the original sensation to notice if there has been any change:

“Noticing I’m sitting a little straighter, feeling a bit more awake. Still a bit sluggish, though.”

I’ve found this really useful for physical states like tiredness and posture related problems, both for making a shift in the moment, and also as a way of noticing patterns that I carry. This works well with some emotional and mental states too, like anxiety and anger.

I tend to slump as I write and including awareness of that in my noticing, as well as doing some shifting and returning really heps me to become more aware of that pattern and how it affects me. And when i’m actually noticing this stuff is a great time to try some experiments in addressing that pattern.

Here is an exerpt where I tried the technique out from my noticing journal:

“Out of the corner of my right eye, I’m noticing the bright lights of the Christmas tree. The lights are all white and they seem to be blazing tonight. Feeling light sensitive. Noticing how slumped over my posture is. I’m moving in my seat, sitting up. Noticing some tension across my shoulders, but sitting up straighter has made me feel more alert. Breathing into my shoulders. Moving my shoulders a little. That seems a little better. My shoulders are still tense but the tension has eased. The breathing did help to relax me a little. Noticing my breath now, in my belly, slow. “

*****

How You Can Join In:

Everyone is welcome to join in in whatever way you like.

You could hang out in the comments section and share your own experiences and ideas.

If you have a blog, you might like to do a little noticing experiment in a post, or write about your experience with noticing, and leave a link! I’d love to go and check it out and leave a comment.

Of course, you could check-in and read the posts and never comment, just hang out and play quietly with your own noticing practice. (I’ve always been a shy commenter, and that’s my preferred way of hanging out on a lot of blogs.)

Noticing notes are posted early each week–Mondays usually–and are there to capture any noticing, or ‘noticing noticings’ that might come up for you (or me!) throughout the week!

You could also post mini noticing sessions, or noticing excerpts on twitter or google+. (Use #noticingnotes hashtag)

Noticing Mondays: Peter Rabbit Tea Cup Writing

// December 5th, 2011 // 7 Comments » // writing ideas

Noticing Mondays is a weekly event on this blog where I discuss my mindful writing practice of ‘noticing’ and encourage you to join in.

*******

What’s noticing? Well, here’s the twitter version:

 
Comfy? Good. Start writing whatever you’re experiencing right now: sights/sounds/feelings/thoughts/etc. Stuck? Write ‘noticing …’ continue

 
And this post has a slightly longer version

*****

 
One of the things I enjoy about noticing practice is the way it fits into the small spaces of my life. Last week I wrote about how word counts don’t really work for me as a motivation, how they induce anxiety and make it easier to put writing off.

 
When I do noticing, any amount is enough.

 
There have been times when I’ve prepared myself to write, sat down and settled in for a few sentences, and then something has come up. With no expectations on the outcome  it’s easier to end the session and be happy with what I’ve written.

 
I like making tasks easier by breaking them down into small do-able chunks. After getting our children set up with art materials, or toys and and settling down to write for a while–the idea that I have to get down x amount of pages or words fills me with axiety. The idea of writing till I’m finished is so much less intimidating if I get do define ‘finished’ however I want.

 
The great thing is, when circumstances allow me to keep writing I’ll often hit a chunky word or page count anyway, because once I start the writing opens out and starts to flow.

 
Tiny Sips, Served Often

 
Our youngest son Fred loves to drink milk. If I give him a sippy cup filled with water he will often throw it away as soon as he realizes what it is. But we have a secret weapon in our house: A Peter Rabbit Tea Set.

 
To get Fred to drink some water I fill a Peter Rabbit Teapot up with water and pour some into a tiny Peter Rabbit teacup. Tea Party! He will drink about a dozen cups of water this way. When he asks for a refill, he doesn’t ask for water, he yells: “Tea!”

 
So when I do my noticing practice I try to keep in mind that Peter Rabbit Tea Cup sized entries are enough. I can always have more, any time, a dozen entries spaced out through a busy afternoon, if I want.

 
They can be done at whatever time I can make for myself, for as long as I want. I’m not doing morning or afternoon or evening pages, I’m not hitting wordy word counts. I’m just noticing. One tiny tea cup’s worth at a time.

*****

How You Can Join In:

 
Everyone is welcome to join in in whatever way you like.

 
You could hang out in the comments section and share your own experiences and ideas.

 
Give noticing a try! If you have a blog, you might like to do a little noticing experiment in a post, or write about your experience with noticing, and leave a link! I’d love to go and check it out and leave a comment.

 
Of course, you could check-in and read the posts and never comment, just hang out and play quietly with your own noticing practice. (I’ve always been a shy commenter, and that’s my preferred way of hanging out on a lot of blogs.)

 
Even though posts are titled ‘Noticing Mondays’ they are there to capture any noticing, or ‘noticing noticings’ that might come up for you (or me!) throughout the week!

 
You could also post mini noticing sessions, or noticing excerpts on twitter or google+. (Use #noticingnotes hashtag so I can respond!)

Noticing Mondays: The Word Count Is Not What Counts

// November 28th, 2011 // 5 Comments » // Uncategorized, writing, writing ideas

Noticing Mondays is a weekly event on this blog where I discuss my mindful writing practice of ‘noticing’ and encourage you to join in. What’s noticing? Well, here’s the twitter version:

Comfy? Good. Start writing whatever you’re experiencing right now: sights/sounds/feelings/thoughts/etc. Stuck? Write ‘noticing …’ continue

And this post has a slightly longer version

*****

I’ve tried different kinds of writing meditation practice before, and had trouble keeping them up as a regular thing. Partly because a lot of them have a goal like hitting a certain word count, or number of pages.

I decided early on with noticing that I wouldn’t do that to myself. Most of my noticings are actually quite short, a page or so in my smallish notebok, often less.

Sometimes they go on for a couple of pages, even hitting that magical three page mark recommended for morning pages. But it’s not like that days practice is any better, or deeper, for hitting that mark.

Each time I sit down and do some noticing I’m connecting with myself, through the act of writing what I’m experience in this moment. That’s what counts. When noticing where I am and what I’m feeling and thinking, the act of writing becomes the act of returning to myself.

So often, writing can be a way of shutting myself out, of ignoring my body and what I’m experiencing in order to think up and capture a stream of words from my thoughts alone.

That can be a useful way to write sometimes, but there’s a cost to it. When I write that way, the words can feel disconnected and lifeless. They count less and when it’s over, I’m glad to have finished but rarely interested in reading what I’ve just written.

When I write even a paragraph of noticing my life is there in the words as lived experience spilling onto the page, the details fresh and heightened so that when rereading it a day, a week, a month later, the warmth of the room, the feel of the carpet beneath my feet, light filtering through the room, all come back to me and I get a second, or third taste of that.

It doesn’t matter that I didn’t hit 750 or a thousand words, or use up two, three, four pages in my notebook. I have a small time capsule on the page mapping out where I was and what was going on in that moment. Through words, the world in that moment is folded up like a small origami figure, mine to unfold and refold over and over.

Here’s an excerpt from this morning’s noticing session:

“Noticing a soft, silvery light outside. From the lilac tree, colored Christmas lights glow like small specks against the mossy branches. Everything is still and wet outside. Noticing how, despite the grey and wet day, the yard seems light. The birch tree’s bark is peeling in places revealing tender pink patches of wood. Everything seems vulnerable and open.”

*****

How You Can Join In:

Everyone is welcome to join in in whatever way you like.

First of all if you haven’t done noticing, you can check out the brief instructions in this post.

Then … You could hang out in the comments section and share your own experiences and ideas.

If you have a blog, you might like to do a little noticing experiment in a post, or write about your experience with noticing, and leave a link! I’d love to go and check it out and leave a comment.

Of course, you could check-in and read the posts and never comment, just hang out and play quietly with your own noticing practice. (I’ve always been a shy commenter, and that’s my preferred way of hanging out on a lot of blogs.)

Even though posts are titled ‘Noticing Mondays’ they are there to capture any noticing, or ‘noticing noticings’ that might come up for you (or me!) throughout the week!

You could also post mini noticing sessions, or noticing exerpts on twitter or google+. (Use #noticing hashtag so I can respond!)

Noticing Mondays: Point Of Contact

// November 14th, 2011 // 7 Comments » // writing ideas

Noticing Mondays is a new weekly event on this blog where I discuss my mindful writing practice of ‘noticing’ and encourage you to join in.

*******

What’s noticing? Well, here’s the twitter version:

Comfy? Good. Start writing whatever you’re experiencing right now: sights/sounds/feelings/thoughts/etc. Stuck? Write ‘noticing …’ continue

And this post has a slightly longer version

The first thing that fascinated me about noticing when I began was the way that it seemed to ground me. I took up noticing as a way of overcoming the anxious feelings that overwhelm me when I write. All I asked of it was that I could just get some momentum going so that the anxiety wouldn’t keep me completely blocked.

What I found was that ‘noticing’ seemed to loosen the anxiety and tension I was feeling.

I would start noticing how anxious I was and move on to something else, then I would come back to the anxiety and notice that it had lessened. As I went through this process a number of times, I started to see that there was a link to noticing the physical sensations I was feeling, and that they would change as I noticed them.

This is the single biggest gift I’ve got from noticing so far.

Here’s one of the ways I’m working with that at the moment.

Points of Contact

When I’m noticing, at some point I’ll often focus my attention on the points where my body comes into contact with other things: a chair, the floor, the edge of the desk, keyboard, clothing. Simply noticing anything that is making contact with me and what my experience of that is.

What I find is that I become more aware of points of comfort and discomfort in my body, and either rest into those points, or adjust the points where I am uncomfortable.

I’ll usually do this exercise and make any adjustments I need to get more comfortable, then move on to some other kind of noticing, what’s around me, or thioughts that may come up, then after a while I will often come back and do another sweep of the points of contact to see if anything has shifted.

Here’s an exerpt from one of my noticing sessions this week where I spent a few minutes noticing while sitting on the stairs in my home:

‘noticing the hard line of pressure against my back where the step is digging in, the sensation is solid, and it feels like the step is pushing forward into me rather than me pushing into it. Like there’s movement there, or something. Now I’m shifting my back forward a little to lessen the pressure.

Noticing the warmth of the wood beneath thesoles of my feet, this step feels soft and yeilding. Another step presses lightly against the mid-point of my calves. It’s stronger against my right calf, barely noticeable against my left.

My notebook rests on the top of my thighs, it’s light except for where my hand rests as I’m writing. I can feel that pressure moving as my hand shifts across the page. noticing the thumb on my left hand pressing down on the page, holding my notebook steady, and how the opposite corner of my notebook shudders lightly as I write, I feel the stuttering contact up near my right knee.’

This went on for a while and there was a bit of shifting around to get comfortable and I noticed some subtler things (like the movement of the notebook as I was writing ) that I would normally never really be aware of.

Focusing awareness on my body has a grounding effect, and it’s something that I forget too easily when I write.
I’ve found noticing the points of contact an interesting exercise because it gets my awareness focused on my body in a way that is different each time–noticing my posture, what I’m sitting on and how I’m sitting on it, what I might be leaning against, or holding–the experience is always different.

How You Can Join In:

Everyone is welcome to join in in whatever way you like.

First of all if you haven’t done noticing, you can check out the brief instructions in this post.

Then … You could hang out in the comments section and share your own experiences and ideas.

If you have a blog, you might like to do a little noticing experiment in a post, or write about your experience with noticing, and leave a link! I’d love to go and check it out and leave a comment.

Of course, you could check-in and read the posts and never comment, just hang out and play quietly with your own noticing practice. (I’ve always been a shy commenter, and that’s my preferred way of hanging out on a lot of blogs.)

Even though posts are titled ‘Noticing Mondays’ they are there to capture any noticing, or ‘noticing noticings’ that might come up for you (or me!) throughout the week!

You could also post mini noticing sessions, or noticing exerpts on twitter or google+. (Use #noticing hashtag so I can respond!)