Intention + Attention = Creative Tension
Attention brings whatever it encounters into creation.
Creation requires a state of tension.
By setting our minds on an intention (mental goal), and then aligning our bodies with attention (physical work), we create a dynamic state of creative tension.
Within this state, a field of creation opens to attract ideas to be realized. The important part is holding the creative tension gently, thus becoming a channel for ideas to flow into this world.
Intention is a mental process; we intend to do something. It’s only potential, like a plan for taking action. Intention leads attention to ensure we create what we want to create; it’s where the channel is pointed.
Attention is a physical process; we take action based on where we focus attention. As we stay focused, we hold open the channel and become creation itself.
When playing guitar, the left hand forms chords on the fretboard (intention), while the right hand strums or plucks the strings (attention). Within the space between, vibrations arise that create music.
The tension arising between intention and attention can feel discomforting, so there is desire to resolve it.
How the tension is resolved will determine what is created:
Do we look away to dissipate the creative tension?
or
Do we hold the creative tension long enough for creation to occur?
We simply move into this internal state of creative tension by setting a conceptual intention, and then connecting our physical attention to create it.
Creative tension is a portal for potential to become actual, for ideas to become realized.
There is a sweet spot for the tension formed by connecting our intention with our attention; too tight or too loose prevents the tension from vibrating. The tension stretches us, but shouldn’t break us.
My intention is to write, and the writing gets done by keeping my attention aligned. I can feel the tension. The internal resistance I’m feeling could be relieved by checking my phone (pain avoidance), and receiving some dopamine (pleasure seeking).
Or I can sit with the tension and allow it to pull through ideas. It’s sitting in a chair with my fingers dancing on the keyboard that makes the words appear on the page. The right words appear at the right time. I don’t know where they come from, but I know that I just need to create the right conditions for them to come through me.
It takes effort to hold this state of creative tension within our minds and bodies. Stephen King says that writers can only go to their “far-seeing place” for about four hours per day, and that’s with consistent practice.
As long as we can hold this space between intention and attention, a vibrational field appears for spontaneous creation.
When alignment is lost, attention loses traction with intention.
The result is distraction.
But creation still happens in distraction. We are creating all the time, whether or not we choose to recognize it.
Attention brings whatever it encounters into creation.
Attention needs some resistance for traction, but too much resistance results in distraction. It can be hard to return to intention, but attention will find traction wherever our attention goes.
Resistance is internal. Disruption is external.
When internal resistance and/or external disruption cuts the connection between intention and attention, attention wanders away from intention. The channel is still open, so attention connects to something else. When this happens, our attention will still create something, but not what we intended to create.
My mental intention is to write this piece. If I keep physical attention on this intention, I can listen to the information coming through the channel; the article gets written. If my attention strays, it creates whatever distraction it encounters.
Procrastination is when attention diverges from intention, and intention tries to get in front of wherever attention is headed. This is why procrastinators are usually very busy. I have experienced this.
We create not just physical things, but emotions too. If we don’t allow creation to flow through the channel, we still create many different emotions such as frustration and sadness. Each emotion can become a new distraction.
We make things real by focusing attention, like a magnifying glass focusing the sunlight into starting a fire. Quantum mechanics suggests that observing something affects it; attention creates reality.
Creation seems like magic because it is magic. We still cannot explain where ideas come from, but they come. We don’t need to understand how it works; it doesn’t matter. We benefited from the sun long before we understood what it is.
We know the right conditions for creation to occur.
We know we are doing it all the time.
What are we creating right now? Maybe it’s something meaningful; maybe it’s frustration and sadness; but we are always creating something.
We always have the chance to change our intention and re-align our attention.
Intention that feels meaningful comes from the soul; from consciousness beyond the self. Attention comes from the self; using the mind and body assigned to us for this human experience.
To create with meaning, re-align your self with the soul.
Like a needle pulling a thread, intention leads the way while attention weaves the work. In a flow state, it does not take much effort for attention to follow intention because internal resistance is low and external interruption is avoided.
Creation is universal, it just requires the right conditions to appear, like electricity or gravity. Luckily, we contain the right conditions to create. Holding the tension between intention and attention allows ideas to be realized. The ideas that come to us are not ours alone; they will flow to other people too, becoming inspiration for others to create.
Those who allow themselves to be portals of creation will continue to receive more ideas to create.
The space between our intention and attention is where we create our most incredible creation; our life. We have intentions for our life; what to do with the human experience.
Where attention goes determines the life we create.
Maybe it doesn’t follow exactly as intended. Maybe we got distracted by shiny things, and then intention started following attention. Then we created stories in this space about our self, to make sense of the life we created.
Sometimes we seek to avoid this tension, looking for ways to distract ourselves.
I spent years allowing my attention to wander, while my intention followed sheepishly. To temporarily resolve the dissonance, I created stories about myself too. Then I started to create myself instead of just creating stories about me.
The only real way to solve the self-dissonance problem is to align our attention with our intention for ourselves.
If we don’t create the life we intend to live, someone or something else will create a life for us. Instead of creating our life experience, we create a longing for a different life experience; then our life becomes about experiencing this longing.
Learning to sit with creative tension allows us to live a creative life with intention.
We are always creating with our attention. When we lead with intention, we can be who we want to be.