Ann Daly Arts Consulting LLC:
"The Successful Artist E-letter"
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Paying Attention
I pressed a sign onto my refrigerator door a number of years ago. It’s a slim horizontal magnet that simply reads: “It comes from taking notice.”
For me, as a journalist and critic, taking notice has been my professional stock-in-trade for decades.
Lately I have been thinking about how powerful that skill is for anyone in the process of moving forward in her/his life — no matter what kind of change, and no matter how large or small the shift.
Simply taking notice of our own behavioral habits, thinking patterns, and emotional predispositions brings us a long way toward better understanding how we are and how we could be.
I’ve experienced this with client after client. Just being able to see clearly what they are doing is often enough of an “aha” moment for them to initiate positive movement. To say, “I got scared,” and then move past the fear. To say, “I spend so little time on my art,” and then plan an effective schedule.
Being clear about how you are and what you do is the better part of action.
There is a catch, however. You need to be able to observe yourself dispassionately, to turn off the wagging finger in your head. To suspend judgement.
To focus simply on noticing what’s happening.
This week, in the lull before New Year’s Day, try taking 15 minutes a day to do nothing but take notice. If you can develop that skill into a life-long practice, you’ll find yourself greeting each new year feeling so successful that you won’t need to make any resolutions.
Happy New Year,
Ann
December 2005