"I am trying to make sculpture from the inside by using my body as the instrument and the material. It requires a moment of stillness, of concentration.
The form comes from the concentration."
~ Antony Gormley
Circumstances for learning this attention exercise
waiting
feeling fatigued
taking a break from problem-solving
The surface area of any three-dimensional object is determined by measuring its entire outer surface. Breaking objects down into smaller parts increases their total surface area.
Chewing a bite of food breaks it down into smaller pieces, and the combined surface area of all those pieces is significantly greater than the original bite, which makes digestion possible. The small intestine is about 20 feet long and lined with tiny, finger-like projections, creating a nutrient-absorbing surface area of around 320 square feet.
Similarly, the spongy tissues of our lungs are filled with tiny air sacs that form a network of airways stretching over 1,500 miles. The surface of this network allows tiny oxygen molecules to move from inhaled air into the bloodstream and the carbon dioxide from the blood to move into the lungs to be exhaled.
What does this have to do with mindfulness?
It makes a good metaphor for increasing our attentional surface area.
We have a limited amount of attention to invest at any given moment. Breaking down our perception of big things (ourselves, the world) into their smaller constituent parts (sights, sounds, sensations) provides more surface area for attention to spread out.
When we focus on more than one thing at a time, we encounter the limits of our attention. We can hear a bird sing or think about a problem we’re trying to solve. We can see an approaching traffic light or picture an upcoming difficult conversation.
I’m not saying that tuning into your immediate surroundings is inherently better than focusing on the content of your imagination. I’m pointing out that our available attention is a limited resource and that there’s value in expanding the depth and richness of whatever we decide to pay attention to.
Some mindful awareness exercises expand the “surface area" of our perceptions.
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