Automatic attention is servitude.
You walk into a garden looking for mint. You believe you are awake and present, but you are actually asleep. This is automatic attention.
You have fixated on the quest for mint and your attention is oblivious to anything else. You have trapped yourself inside your own head.
Active attention means noticing the garden. It also means focusing on finding mint. It involves seeing yourself as the observer. You notice your body’s weight and how you walk. You feel the environment – the smells and sounds – along with your inner feelings. And much more.
Automatic attention requires no effort. The currents of the world pull you here, there, and everywhere.
To engage with plants in a deep, relational way, we must offer them our gift of active attention.