In The Details

Insomnia tonight, can’t sleep. Whenever such a mood hits, I usually listen to music or grab my journal and write, hoping to uncover why I can’t sleep. This early morning was a mixed bag of reasons, some printable, some not, but all of them specific in the details.

Today is, I hope, the last push on the NaNoWriMo exercise. It’s possible that’s why I’m unable to sleep, but the driver there is one of finishing the damn thing more than resolving some conundrum I’ve gotten the characters into. So what has this November writing exercise have to do with my insomnia then? Not much, except that in order to flush out the required 50,000 words by Tuesday, I’ve gone deep into details on whatever I’m writing (it’s all about the word count, baby). And as typical with any intense writing effort, this aspect has bled over into real life.

I’ve noticed on my last few walks with the digicam I’ve kept the setting on macro, being lately fascinating with capturing things unnoticed by the eye but later revealed in the details when viewed on my laptop. In all cases what I see walking, or rather, what my conscious eye sees, is different that what the camera reveals a few inches away from the subject. Was it that I didn’t see these details, didn’t take the time to really look, or was it beyond my ability at the time to notice and only later, in what I might call reflection, beheld the intricacies of the flowers, the textures of the berries? I give myself some credit for sensing there was more than met the eye thus taking the shot, but I wonder if I had stayed a little longer would I have begun to notice the details without the camera?

I write now and then about being present minded, about focusing on singular events and processes as a way to fully enjoy them or fully bring one’s talents to bear. Some might think this means reducing everyday living to a simple level, to view things as being easier to digest. But in reality, it only opens the door to more complexity, for each thing or process we encounter is not as simple as it first seems. Try being present minded while eating a piece of fruit and you’ll start to notice patterns in the texture of the skin, the grain of the flesh, the intricacies of the core. It’s all there in the details if we take the time to notice.