Observing is Learning

Anne Lamott, author of Bird by Bird , says, "Writing is about learning to pay attention and to communicate what is going on."

In a school sense, learning never came easy to me.  The effort put forth to obtain grades above passing was Amazonian.  Like an Olympic weightlifter about to go for a clean and jerk record, I would muster up all of my concentration, I would frown, I would grunt, I would hunker my eyebrows on down, I would let out a mighty yell and then I would explode in an attempt to capture some understanding.  Later, I would sometimes explode on the test.

Many years after school and when I took to writing short essays on the Internet, an author friend lent advice.  He said to fold up a sheet of paper and carry it in my pocket along with a pencil.  This way it would be easy to jot down ideas and stuff to later write about.  I took to this mission like I took to school and weightlifting.  In school though, at least you knew what you had to study from.  Life has no such textbooks.  So there I am, stressing and straining to write everything down.  I can't say for sure, but I think when Rosemary and the ten reams of paper could no longer fit in the Radio Flyer - I might have been trying to record too much.  That in and of itself was a lesson in learning...and to think I almost got Rosemary a Captain's Chair for the Flyer.

I am much calmer these days.  I am not out there grunting and straining, trying to take in everything.  Instead, I just try to pay attention and let whatever it is come to me. 

For instance, in the old days, if a young family were to walk by me, I would write down as much detail as I could.  Because I wasn't clothes savvy, I'd have to run after them and get real close to read a designer tag - like Jordache.  Then I'd have to jog along side of them with pencil and paper for a couple hundred yards to get the rest.  I think it was also about this time when Rosemary figured out how to motorize the Radio Flyer.  Today, when a young family walks by, I might just note the chemistry of their interaction. 

Observing and paying attention need not be arduous.  The ability to create and sustain awareness not only becomes easier, if you let it, it becomes more focused.  The process of observing and noting is learning.  When you pull this information out of your brain's file and run it through your brain's filter the result can be a Radio Flyer full of fun.

Rosa Say's topic this month at Talking Story is on Lifelong Learning.   I threw these few dry logs on to keep the fires burning.

 

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