Paying Attention
I came across a phrase recently which has been rolling around in my head and sparking thoughts, something along the lines of “whatever you pay attention to, becomes your life”. After a little judicious googling, it seems to originate with Epicetus, a Stoic philosopher who lived over 2,000 years ago. He goes on to mention that if you don’t choose what concepts and images you engage with, someone else will choose for you. In today’s attention economy, where we can distract ourselves at any moment of the day with “content” (surely a murky word?) it feels pretty much on the nose. Last Friday I was travelling by train from Bristol to London, to visit my parents. Instead of reading or listening to a podcast, I chose instead to stare out of the window and jot down what I noticed with a notebook and pencil. Field Notes As we trundle through Somerset I see rivers high, slow and brown, threatening to overspill into surrounding fields. A sense of saturation. All around are bare branches, dry gras...