Practice

In nature, ani­mals must focus intent­ly to meet their basic needs: food, shel­ter, avoid­ing preda­tors, and pro­cre­ation. How­ev­er, for artists, such a nar­row focus can be lim­it­ing. Instead, expand­ing one’s aware­ness can enrich their pool of inspi­ra­tion, gath­er­ing diverse expe­ri­ences to lat­er draw from. This chap­ter explores the con­cept of prac­tice as a delib­er­ate approach to broad­en­ing per­cep­tion, advo­cat­ing for a lifestyle where increased sen­si­tiv­i­ty to our sur­round­ings becomes sec­ond nature. By repeat­ed­ly engag­ing with the world open­ly, we cul­ti­vate a habit of expand­ed con­scious­ness.

Deep­en­ing this prac­tice con­nects us more inti­mate­ly with the Source, strip­ping away fil­ters that obscure the intri­cate pat­terns and rhythms of life. Acknowl­edg­ing and align­ing with the earth­’s cycles fos­ters a remark­able sense of uni­ty with the greater ongo­ing cycle of regen­er­a­tion. Such con­nec­tion enables us to har­ness this dynam­ic cre­ative force seam­less­ly into our lives.

To nur­ture this prac­tice, estab­lish­ing a rou­tine filled with sim­ple, mind­ful rit­u­als is sug­gest­ed. Whether it’s tak­ing a moment each morn­ing for deep, con­tem­pla­tive breath­ing, eat­ing meals with full appre­ci­a­tion for each fla­vor, immers­ing one­self in nature’s beau­ty, or paus­ing to observe the mir­a­cle of one’s heart­beat, these acts, though small, pur­pose­ful­ly steer us towards a more con­scious and present state of being. These rit­u­als are less about the activ­i­ties them­selves and more about hon­ing our abil­i­ty to per­ceive the world with renewed clar­i­ty and sen­si­tiv­i­ty when not active­ly engaged in them.

The essence of this prac­tice is in its poten­tial to shift how we inter­act with the world, aim­ing to main­tain a per­pet­u­al state of open­ness to expe­ri­ence. It’s a process that requires con­tin­u­ous refresh­ment and recom­mit­ment. Over time, the goal is for aware­ness to become a con­stant, effort­less­ly inte­grat­ed into every aspect of life, trans­form­ing our exis­tence into an unin­ter­rupt­ed flow of atten­tive­ness to the vibran­cy around us. Such a prac­tice does­n’t just change our approach to art or cre­ativ­i­ty but rede­fines our entire way of engag­ing with life, invit­ing a cease­less­ly regen­er­at­ing aware­ness that con­nects us deeply to every facet of our exis­tence.