- Topics: [[Perspective]], [[Communication]] - People: [[Wendy MacNaughton]] - Source: https://www.ted.com/talks/wendy_macnaughton_the_art_of_paying_attention --- ## Summary - Visual shortcuts (patterns) form **biases**, which prevent us from seeing things for what they actually are. We are not truly open to them. - Stop looking for the **expected story**. Allow for **richer truth** to reveal itself. - Drawing is self expression. It is processing. It helps us understand what we see and ultimately, ourselves. - [[Drawing is looking. Looking is loving]]. ## Notes - A grown up's interpretation of a drawing of a face is an icon – **visual shorthand**. - We have so much information flooding us that we need shorthands in order to focus. - We no longer see things for what they are. Instead, we only see **patterns** – our preferred method to process incoming information. - Start "looking" again. - "[[The moment I stopped looking for the story that I expected to see, an entirely new and richer truth was revealed]]." - In the Draw Together program, Wendy described the activity (with the children) as a way to "actively look our way through a global catastrophe together" - Drawing slows us down. Keeps our hands moving so we can pay attention to things we overlook. - Drawing helps us process our emotions (maybe trauma). It helps us talk about hard things. - [[Drawing is looking. Looking is loving]]. - We can let go of harder self judgment. - When we live through expected patterns, we miss out on the world.