Up: [[Values]] Related: [[Attention]] Created: 2025-06-05 Updated: 2026-03-02 > [!Orbit] Ian Roberts in *Creative Authenticity: 16 principles to clarify and deepen your artistic vision* > Focus your attention on what caught your attention in the first place. Respond to what is yours. Your truth. It doesn’t matter the subject matter, or the style. You must strip the thing back to the basics of what you feel about your response. What is the kernel here that you want to express? Get to the foundation and then build it back up. (p. 157) While he’s talking specifically about painting, Roberts’ advice applies to every mode of self-expression. Of course, he recognizes that this is not easy. *It takes expertise to strip everything away to reveal the vision. That’s what takes a lifetime.* (p. 136) I think what’s needed is a particular kind of attention that only comes, at least for me, from a simple life. Joe Landwehn is an astrologer who trained as a psychotherapist. When he read my chart, he said > [!Orbit] Joe Landwehn > What you want is an abiding sense of peace and contentment, a quiet joy that needs nothing external to fuel it, a sense of spaciousness and able to be fully present in the moment; a stillness that deepens and expands as you relax into it. You have always been reaching for the wholeness of your being and for a place of stillness as your ultimate destination. That’s why I find the concept of wandertivity so appealing. #### Wandertivity The concept of wandertivity comes from Nick Milo. Rather than the “go, go, go; aim higher, faster, further” ethos of toxic productivity, Nick likens wandertivity to the actions of a Japanese garden master who wanders the garden, leaving whatever is touched a little better than it was. Wandertivity involves learning to do from a place of stillness. That stillness, I think, is essential if I’m to savour the small joys of everyday existence. As astrologer Liz Greene suggests, the meaningful and universal can be found in the meticulous care needed to make a good cup of tea. That’s the ethos of wandertivity. Wandertivity is the overall tone I want in my life. What Nick refers to as *curiosity and gentle exploration*. None of the edginess of toxic productivity. I want to treat myself softly, kindly, with respect and appreciation.