Reclaim your Starlight Attention
More Thoughts on Purpose (08)
HI FRIENDS
The word vocation comes from the Latin word for voice. It’s about our calling. We are being called to something higher, bigger and beyond ourselves. This is why Robert Greene says we need to ‘listen to the voice of our lives’ as the first step toward discovering our vocation. We have our own unique inclinations and interests that we should listen to.
I’m writing this because I noticed, after some lengthy reflection, that I am deeply interested in purpose - what drives people and motivates them. And it led to this newsletter.
But there’s a problem, because our world is so distracting. Before we can hope to hear the “voice of our own life”, it’s likely we will need to recover a kind of attention that is often being stolen from us.
In his book Stolen Focus Johann Hari describes different types of attention. Beginning with the most focussed and broadening out; we have our spotlight, daylight and then starlight attention.
This starlight attention could be described as our awareness of the broad, overarching aims we have for our lives. What are we moving towards? Where are we headed? Without it, the quality of attention that we bring to all our other tasks is altered: either becoming more frantic and desperate and confused, or simply listless and passive.
But there are things we can do to cultivate and protect our starlight attention and it’s key for our journey to find a fulfilling vocation.
Some things that I find have worked for me are:
Seasonal journalling: using the Christmas holidays to process the year passed and then creating a set of big picture focusses for the next year.
Yearly spiritual retreats which feature times of worship, silence and reflection.
Solitude which provides a break from the expectations of others to think about my own needs and thoughts.
And finally, Conversations with inspiring, wise or creative people.
What about you? When do you feel most drawn into this kind of big-picture reflection? I am keen to hear what kinds of things help you, so please consider leaving a comment or reply, I need your help on this one.
Godspeed,
T Mo
EXERCISE:
SPARKETYPES EXPRESSIONS INVENTORY
This is a short journalling exercise based on the Sparketypes model of personality, taken from the book Sparked by Jonathan Fields. I will be trying it this week to see if it illuminates anything for me. I’d be overjoyed if you tried it too and let me know how it goes - even if it’s not very useful for you.
Basically it’s a writing prompt that helps you to record what kind of work energises and engages you most. Here’s a writing template from Notion which will hopefully make it easier for you.
NEWS & LINKS
The power of unwavering focus
Really enjoyed this discussion from Hindu monk Dandapani on focus. He speaks about how life is short so we should be purposeful with our attention, but no one really gets taught how to focus.
An interesting album intro from Ayra Starr
“Life is not problematical, we make it problematical because we are all listening to someone else, to something, without listening to ourselves. We clutter up our lives with insignificant things that have no value”
—Eartha Kitt
YOUR RESPONSES
A great summary from one of our readers last week in response to this post:
I feel like it can feel overwhelming to think that it’s your task/responsibility, but ultimately it can also feel really freeing and exciting to think that there might be a bigger plan and it’s your responsibility to figure out what shape that takes :)