the art of focus...

EUREKA! The Art of Being (Trailer) from Quiet Center Films, LLC. on Vimeo.

This is the weekend for the premier of Eureka! The Art of Being. A number of Eureka Springs Artists and I are featured in the production. The premier showing will be in the Eureka Springs Auditorium tonight at 7 PM.

David Brooks wrote an editorial in the New York Times on the Art of Focus. There are infinite sources for distraction. And we are marginalized by our attention to them. If we look up occasionally from our iPhone as we wander, we find there is a real world out there, awaiting our attention.  And there are real things to be done that require the ability to apply our attention over a period of time much longer than a nanosecond. In fact when we apply ourselves to doing things that we've come to love and that demand our presence. Time becomes irrelevant.

I have gone from carving spheres to attempting to whittle the perfect cylinder. If you are whittling, object in one hand and knife in the other you'd best not lose your focus, or you better be ready with band aids for a quick repair to damaged skin.

Brooks concludes:

The information universe tempts you with mildly pleasant but ultimately numbing diversions. The only way to stay fully alive is to dive down to your obsessions six fathoms deep. Down there it’s possible to make progress toward fulfilling your terrifying longing, which is the experience that produces the joy.

On another subject, my Taunton book Making Small Cabinets was translated into German under the title Kleine Schränke 8 faszinierende Modelle. and I received a hardbound copy in the mail today. You can find it at Amazon in Germany. This is my second book published by HolzWerken.

Make, fix and create...