Getting Attention vs. Paying Attention

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I stumbled on this TED Talk by Joseph Gordon-Levitt last week, as I started a 12-week group tour of The Artist’s Way. Given my own personal desire to share more on social media, it really grabbed my attention, haha. It’s a great reminder to keep chasing the focus that comes with paying attention, and to share on social media, but to not let getting attention change the focus and the creation and the output. Quite a few good thoughts in this very short, under-14-minute TED Talk. If you watch, LMK what you think.

Modern Love Podcast

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My "learning style," if you believe in those, is primarily visual. Which makes podcasts, heaven for auditory learners, really tough for me. I fall asleep! I tune out! It can be a mess. 

I've been trying out different types of podcasts, at different times of the day, to see what sticks. At the moment, listening to a short podcast during my morning writing time has worked well, and when I saw that The New York Times' Modern Love column was getting its own podcast, I was elated. Modern Love has been proof of the power of a well-crafted essay, for all the naysayers who criticize essays for gratuitous navel-gazing. I've been challenged to think differently after reading some of these essays.

The essay featured during this week's podcast, called "Open Adoption: Not So Simple Math," written by Amy Seek, is poignant, and even more powerful as read by the actor Sarah Paulson.