Bright Consultancy

In praise of looking

Tomorrow I’m going to be doing one of my favourite activities – taking a day off and spending it wandering around the National Gallery in London with a like-minded friend.  As some of you know, for many years I worked as an art historian with the National Trust.  I was very fortunate to do the work that I did, not least because I worked closely with beautiful things all day long.

I’m guessing that many of you reading this won’t be art lovers, or country house aficionados, or even lovers of beauty. So why is beauty important?  For me, I suppose it’s mostly that I find looking at beautiful things restorative.  There’s something simultaneously tranquil and energetic about allowing your eyes to rest on beautiful things.  It slows me down, it causes me to concentrate, it’s incredibly relaxing, and at the same time it’s exciting and stimulating.

I believe that many of us have forgotten how to really look at things.  When I was first studying art history, I had a terrific teacher.  He told us to take an image, and look at it closely for 30 minutes.  Then, we were told to write down everything we’d noticed.  As you can imagine, for the first 10 minutes or so all I could think about was being thirsty, cooking dinner, shopping lists etc and then an amazing thing happened – I surrendered to looking and was totally in the moment.  Afterwards, I was astonished at how much I had noticed about the image.

As I trained myself to really look, I fell in love with looking.  Over the years, this has been a source of enormous pleasure to me – as it will be tomorrow when I will spend all day looking.  Beyond art appreciation, is there a deeper value to skill at looking?

The thing about really looking is that you notice more than other people do.  Over time, you become capable of making minute distinctions, you develop a strong visual memory, and you develop a way of articulating what you are noticing.  You are increasing your ability to be observant.  As a coach, this is an immensely valuable skill as it is associated with being perceptive.  Being observant is an important skill for anyone to cultivate – especially those in positions of responsibility.  Consider this – being observant helps you to notice more of what’s going on.  As a leader, this is essential.

So, why not decide to spend a little time today just looking?  If art isn’t your thing, try nature…

Tags: appreciation of life, ideas on motivation, Leadership Skills, Restoration of self, stimulation and motivation, what motivates you