Attention is the Healer

Song Notes

A few years ago, I discovered in the “Dog-Eared Page” section of the Sun magazine, a reprint of an excerpt from one of Eckhart Tolle’s earlier books.  I no longer have the issue of that magazine,  and can’t remember the name of the book.  I just remember words to the effect that when we give our full attention to some  one or some thing, the gap of separation is bridged, and in that moment we enter into a felt sense of oneness with that to which we attend.  From that paragraph I remember winnowing down what i was reading to the core phrase of this song, “Attention is the healer of separation,” and the song was born in that moment.

I then thought about my experiences with active listening processes, non-violent communication, “straight talk,” etc., and remembered the deeply gladsome, almost giddy feeling I get when I seem to really “grok” another’s current reality and can convey it back to them accurately.  The look that passes between us when there’s an acknowledgement that I actually see and feel where they are emotionally and situationally, their “full gestalt”, so to speak, often creates a moment of sublime connection and aliveness in my soul, just about my favorite experience.  I then thought how I also can give the same quality of attention to my own feelings and needs.  In fact, when I do so I’m more available to offer that quality of attention to another.  Hence the follow up descant phrases, “Notice, notice, where you are and how you feel, and notice, notice, who you’re with, and how they’re feeling too.”  I always try to remind myself that “who” also includes the more than human populace of the rest of creation.