# Pay attention
Amy Krouse Rosenthal says, "For anyone trying to discern what to do with their life: pay attention to what you pay attention to. That's pretty much all the info you need." Psychologist William James says, "My experience is what I agree to attend to. Only those items which I notice shape my mind."[^1] Jessa Crispin says, "We give things meaning by paying attention to them."[^2]
![[Attention, taken to its highest degree —Simone Weil]]
"When people look slowly ... they make discoveries," is the motto of the Slow Art movement.[^3] Austin Kleon says, "The ordinary plus extra attention equals the extraordinary."[^4] René Magritte said his goal was "to breath new life into the way we look at the ordinary things around us."[^5] [[Observe the little things]].
Anna Tivel says she's always trying to "move around in a writer's mind." From there, she feels inspired to create.[^6] [[Creativity is not all output—it's input too]].
![[Make art out of the everyday and ordinary]]
![[Our sense of enchantment is not triggered only by grand things —Katherine May]]
One way to pay attention is by [[Drawing]]. Another is through journaling and rereading entries.[^7] The [[Lynda Barry journal method]] is helpful.
![[To pay attention, this is our endless and proper work —Mary Oliver]]
![[Attention is the most basic form of love]]
![[For the sake of a few lines one must see many cities —Rainer Maria Rilke]]
![[No, it does not take much, but it takes a sure eye —Mary Oliver]]
![[A writer's task is to steal from life]]
![[All the technique in the world doesn't compensate for the inability to notice]]
[^1]: [[Keep Going]] pg. 114-115
[^2]: [[Keep Going]] pg. 118
[^3]: [[Keep Going]] pg. 107
[^4]: [[Keep Going]] pg. 98
[^5]: [[Keep Going]] pg. 105
[^6]: [The Working Songwriter: Anna Tivel](https://theworkingsongwriter.libsyn.com/anna-tivel)
[^7]: [[Keep Going]] pg. 116