Inspiration struck one recent Sunday on a visit with Van Gogh at the Philadelphia Museum of Art www.philamuseum.org.
To my surprise, I discovered a whole body of work I’d never seen before – work from his last three years in which he focused on the familiar but with an eye brought way up close. The head of a sunflower, a blade of grass; the kind of art that requires nothing less than intense focus.
My “Eureka” moment happened while in the second room of the exhibition, there among the nuns and the children messing with their audio players. A voice—maybe Van Gogh himself—broke through the silence of the hushed gallery and whispered ever so clearly in my head (and I swear it was with the slightest Dutch accent):
If you want to accomplish what you say you want to accomplish, all you have to do is… focus. Focus on the next indicated thing.
Right, I thought. Easy for him to say. Though he had to wrestle a few demons in his time, he was living in the 19th century. Who can focus these days? Too much information, too many distractions. We’re living in our own loony bin, though, unfortunately, not in the South of France.
So all I have to do is focus. And not on the big, overwhelming, far-reaching scheme but on the next indicated thing. What about you? How’s the focus thing going for you?
Sixties Chick 
May 1, 2012 at 4:39 pm |
Focus…first, you must establish a definite purpose…read more…
http://thinksimplenow.com/productivity/how-to-focus/
May 1, 2012 at 11:12 pm |
I tried so hard to get a ticket to the exhibit when I came to Phila from NY a few weeks ago, but it was totally sold out. Such a bummer. I can only hope it will come to LA.
As for focus, I work with ADHD/Learning disabled/Asperger-y kids! All I do is try to make them focus. As for me, I’m as lousy at it as they are – always trying to “multi-task” – a euphemism for scattered work habits or too much to do in not enough time (another euphemism for poor planning)!
That said, I muddle through, sometimes creatively, sometimes productively…… I think this is called life.
May 2, 2012 at 12:14 pm |
Focus? I’m lucky if I can get through brushing my teeth without getting distracted. I liked your entry, though.
December 22, 2015 at 9:24 am |
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