{"id":610,"date":"2015-04-30T17:55:49","date_gmt":"2015-04-30T17:55:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.elizabethfram.com\/Blog\/?p=610"},"modified":"2015-04-30T17:59:50","modified_gmt":"2015-04-30T17:59:50","slug":"relaxed-presence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.elizabethfram.com\/Blog\/relaxed-presence\/","title":{"rendered":"Relaxed Presence"},"content":{"rendered":"

This week I came across a very enlightening short interview between James Fallows of The Atlantic<\/em> and longtime tech executive, Linda Stone. I think you might enjoy it:\u00a0 “The Art of Staying Focused in a Distracting World”.<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

\"Desk<\/a>

Desk Cup<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a92015 Elizabeth Fram<\/p><\/div>\n

It resonated with me as I am forever trying to navigate my way through constant distractions. I fully own that I rely increasingly on technology to achieve my goals, but I’m not necessarily happy about it. Reading this piece drilled home yet another reason that I am so grateful to be able to spend a portion of each day thinking about and making art.<\/p>\n

\"Lola<\/a>

Lola Nap<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a92015 Elizabeth Fram<\/p><\/div>\n

Even though Stone doesn’t specifically refer to art-making in her theory, I think the process of creation falls within the same framework as the other skills she does mention. It too allows and encourages one to be fully engaged, while at the same time promoting a deep sense of relaxation.<\/p>\n

\"April<\/a>

April Woods<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a92015 Elizabeth Fram<\/p><\/div>\n

I made a promise to myself last January that I would try to draw every day. As the weeks have turned into months, I’ve come to realize that this daily practice, usually anywhere from 10 to 45 minutes, not only gives me a chance to work on and improve my capabilities, but quite unexpectedly has turned out to be what one might term something akin to a form of yoga.<\/p>\n

\"Hands\"<\/a>

Hands: blind contour drawing<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a92015 Elizabeth Fram<\/p><\/div>\n

By approaching this exercise as a “practice”, there is no pressure to come out with a polished finished product. The reward is in merely showing up. While paying close attention to the physical details of whatever I’m drawing (in yoga terms, being “mindful”), an interesting by-product is that the process is incredibly restful and restorative. I’m reaping benefits on a number of levels.\u00a0 For instance, I am making new discoveries in the reciprocity of mark-making between my drawings and my textile work. I am seeing improvement and gaining confidence in my draughtsmanship; unsuccessful attempts don’t discourage me because I know I’ll be back at it the next day. I get a true sense of accomplishment in knowing that I am following through on my New Year’s promise.\u00a0 And finally, my time spent drawing is an oasis that has no bearing on how the rest of my day turned out — in the studio or otherwise… it just is.<\/p>\n

\"Pepper\"<\/a>

Pepper<\/strong> \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a92015 Elizabeth Fram<\/p><\/div>\n

That’s a pretty satisfactory return on a very modest investment. I encourage you to try it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This week I came across a very enlightening short interview between James Fallows of The Atlantic and longtime tech executive, Linda Stone. I think you might enjoy it:\u00a0 “The Art of Staying Focused in a Distracting World”. It resonated with me as I am forever trying to navigate my way through constant distractions. I fully […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[21,44,17],"tags":[5,46,10],"class_list":["post-610","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-discussion","category-drawing","category-process","tag-art","tag-drawing","tag-process"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.elizabethfram.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/610","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.elizabethfram.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.elizabethfram.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.elizabethfram.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.elizabethfram.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=610"}],"version-history":[{"count":23,"href":"https:\/\/www.elizabethfram.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/610\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":646,"href":"https:\/\/www.elizabethfram.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/610\/revisions\/646"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.elizabethfram.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=610"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.elizabethfram.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=610"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.elizabethfram.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=610"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}