Pay Attention!

Personally, I believe I am a terrible writer. My topics are lame, my grammar is bad and overall my work is not appealing for individuals to read. This is normally due to the fact I either wait until the last minute to write (which is ionic since this very blog is late) or I do not go into any depth. These both create unclear and uninteresting writings. The problem is also I just try and sit in my room staring at my computer just hoping something with pop into my head. Occasionally I will look around the room for inspiration but other then clothing and a chip bag there is not much to work with. However while I was reading Murry's text the section on "Pay Attention" really struck me. I never thought of the simple idea to just use my everyday surroundings to help me stimulate the mind. If you pay close attention to detail it is amazing to what you can actually get out of it which makes for much more interesting writing. In the chapter Murry mentioned that a man told him to 'Look' at the water, so he did and saw water. Then the man said, 'Look again,' which he did again and saw oil on the water and the city reflected in the puddle. Murry did the exact same thing twice, but yet two completely different outcomes resulted by him simply paying more attention. It is so true that we are trapped in the commonplace, accepting the familiar and the examining it or looking beyond it at all. This was just an enlightenment for me, I decided to try it out myself.

"Looking at my clothes in my room"

First look: There is a lot of dirty clothes in my room, lying every where.

Second look: My shirts and pants are tangled in a particularly abstract shape creating a mountain leaning against my wall. Any moment now it could collapse and creating for complete destruction.

I know I obviously fabricated the second sentences, however the message still stands. The second look I intentionally looked past the blob of clothes on my floor and tried to really see what It looked like. One thing stimulated another and I felt like I could just keep writing because ideas were flowing from just really observing it.

- Paul. L