The Jolt of Thought - #35

Monday night my interior landscape was tumultuous.

This confused and disorderly mental state was triggered by re-reading post #34.

What had appeared an elegant essay a few days before, now sounded like a mishmash of ideas. Each week there has been at least one email, usually two emails from people responding; the fun part is that each week different readers respond.  This particular week there weren't any emails - not even from Bob Klein! Maybe the post didn't make sense to anyone.

David Bayles and Ted Orland write in their book, Art & Fear* that virtually all artists encounter moments when quitting is contemplated. Writers even have a phrase for it -"the pen has run dry."  Bayles and Orland make a distinction between quitting and stopping with the former happening only once and the latter all the time. 

It was comforting to know that my discouragement wasn't unique. With a conviction to stop, not quit, I went to bed.

Twenty-four hours later this showed up in my inbox:

Dear Nicky,

I see that you are trying to relate what I wrote to anxiety and you are coming from a psychoanalytical perspective.  I admit I am a bit confused by this blog and so rather than commenting on it, I would suggest an exercise.  It is called the "jolt of thought".  When a thought is about to pop up inside your mind, choose not to figure out what it is and pay attention instead to the feeling of the thought entering you.  Don't say it to yourself in words.  Purposefully choose to not know what the thought is, even though you know that one has popped into you.  (Don't do this while driving).  I think this experience, if practiced on a steady basis, will explain a lot.

Sincerely,

Bob

 

What a gentle way for Bob Klein to give feedback; my conviction that he is a skillful teacher was affirmed.  As often happens when  one works with a master teacher, I wasn't certain what he meant or how to do what he suggested. 

While I'm working on this challenge ----------- here's where you as readers come in. You probably have ideas about the exercise Bob prescribed for me and I would guess for my readers. Or do you have thoughts about attention - how has paying attention to attention changed your life?

exploring the mystery is almost nine months old! WE are going to birth something new!

Beginning with this Post - #35, you are invited to make comments right here on the blog. Tell me what you think, pose questions you may have, or state how you disagree. At the bottom of each post there will be the word Comments. Click on the word Comments. A box will pop up for you to write in. This first time it would be fun  for me if you would send me a greeting - it doesn't have to be profound but it certainly can be! Just say hi! Your comments will be seen by others and you can see what other people say.  Together we can learn more than we can separately.

Note:You may have to visit the blog in order for this to work - we don't know yet if it will work from your Saturday morning email or not. To visit blog just click on this link: www.NickyMendenhall.blogspot.com

*Art & Fear, Observations On The Perils (and Rewards) of ARTMAKING by David Bayles & Ted Orland (1993).

Thank you for being willing to explore the mystery. 
                                                                -  Nicky Mendenhall