Why you must learn to notice truths
On paying attention to inner and outer worlds
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In 2023, I attended a 10 day Vipassana meditation course. The course teaches the basics of Vipassana, and requires practicing what is called the ‘noble silence’. This means not speaking to, looking at, gesturing toward, or writing to any other person at the course, with the exception of your teacher. The idea is to get intensely attuned to your own internal sensations. It was a difficult, rewarding, and unforgettable experience.
Of the many lessons that stuck with me, the most resonant came from line repeated often by the course founder S.N. Goenka:
‘be in reality as it is, not as you wish it to be’
As a chronic daydreamer, this hits so hard. Often, the world in my head is as alive and real as the material world. It’s a habit which when unchecked clouds my ability to notice the truth—in others and in myself.
To be clear, I am not saying there’s anything wrong with daydreaming. Imagining what could be but currently is not is a vital human activity. It is good to be clear on what’s what though.
In songwriting (as in all expressive art forms), imagination and truth-telling coalesce. We dream up new melodies, new worlds, new sounds and attempt to pull familiar human experience into them.
Doing this requires a well-honed ability to dip into oneself—feelings, thoughts, sensations—or the world, and notice in precise, loving detail what is there.
This Midnight, I’m sharing two ways to do that.
With love,
Lucy
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Dreaming
What ideas are you ignoring?
Sometimes when I don’t have any ideas it is actually because I have ideas I’ve just decided those ideas aren’t ‘good enough’. Inspiration is blocked because I’m spending a not insignificant amount of energy somewhere in the back of my brain saying to some new, young, just born idea ‘No you are not welcome here. Please fuck off.’
Oof! How cruel, honestly. Just like difficult emotions, “bad” ideas need to be welcomed and expressed before the good can come.
If and when you catch yourself feeling stuck, try asking yourself the question ‘What ideas am I willfully ignoring?’ and allow whatever arises to make its way out.
Doing
Follow a different sight line.
One thing I noticed when I was quite young is that I always looked at the same spots on whatever streets and paths I regularly walked. So, I started deliberately following different sight lines whenever I remembered.
This did two things:
i) jolted me out of whatever automatic thinking I was doing about the world around me
ii) helped me notice new, rich details about the world around—which is always helpful for songwriting.
The instruction is in the headline. All you gotta do is run your eyes over a different part of your physical environment whenever you catch yourself looking at something very familiar.