The Sweetness of Focus

Guiding Our Minds Like Piglets Across the Road

"The magic of focus is that we can rewrite the moment—shifting from rushing in fear to living at the pace our creative soul asks for."

• To find out more about September’s Nature Healing workshop on ‘Enhancing Focus’, and grab your discount code, please scroll down to MY OFFERINGS.

  

AS I COME AROUND the bend in my van, I spot a drove of donkeys resting by the side of the road, their eyes closed against the bright afternoon sun. One or two of them might even be asleep! I slow down and, just as I approach, one of the donkeys plods into the road. A car comes from the other direction and slows to a stop. The driver and I exchange a smile as the donkey suns itself right in the middle of the road.

This part of the New Forest is known for animals wandering from the shelter of the woods onto the road. Once, I came across a tiny lamb, curled up asleep on the road while cars carefully manoeuvred around it. I’ve wanted to write about these moments for some time. Today, they feel particularly relevant as I’ve come to the forest for a sunset walk and to reflect on an upcoming workshop I’m preparing on enhancing focus.

FOCUS IS IMPOSSIBLE WITHOUT a feeling of safety and connection in the body. If we constantly fear the ground is going to disappear from beneath us (because we’re worrying about money, an uncertain future, or the outcome of a project) our minds will be scanning for ways to escape, instead of focusing on what we truly want to do.

When we feel unsafe, we enter a state of ‘activation,’ or the Sympathetic State: a state that’s sympathetic to getting us out of danger, whether that means fight, or flight. But like the lamb curled up in the middle of a busy road, we want to be able to remain calm, even when the traffic of daily life hurtles around us.

This analogy works for another reason because it shows where our focus tends to go: the potential for danger, the fact a car could come speeding around the corner and the lamb will find itself in a more eternal form of sleep.

As children, we learn where it’s ‘safe’ to put our attention. Do we allow our attention to be engulfed by the present moment, basking in the warmth of our creativity like the lamb curled up on that smooth road that has been baked to a luxurious temperature by the sun? Or, do we resist the joy of pursuing an idea – like writing a book – because we’re focusing on our dread of rejection? Indeed, many of us learn that it’s not ‘safe’ to attend to our creative urges because we’ll never make money from them.

These limiting beliefs, passed down by parents, teachers, and caregivers – who themselves were only doing what they thought was safe – end up shaping our reality in ways that keep us from fully living or creating.

FURTHER DOWN THE ROAD, as I drive to the New Forest, I see a sow leading a line of piglets across the road. On both sides, traffic has come to a complete stop. There are no honking horns, or impatient drivers drumming on their steering wheels. In fact, during the many times I’ve driven this road and waited for donkeys, piglets, cows or horses to cross, I’ve noticed a shared expression on drivers’ faces: pure rapture.

There’s something about the sight of a piglet’s pink, wiggling bottom trotting behind its mother, who lollops with swollen udders, that can instantly shift our focus to what truly matters! In these moments, drivers forget their supposed busy schedules. Nature’s unhurried innocence makes us light-hearted, almost goofy. We become kings of time as the moment seems to freeze into a perfect display of tiny, corkscrew tails, the smallest, pinkest trotters. The animals’ pure presence and utter lack of concern becomes our own.

WHEN IT COMES TO focus, we often let our learned fears, and the inherited pressure to always be busy, control our lives. Our attention gets stuck on all the things that could possibly go wrong. We choose our Instagram feed as a safer place to spend our precious attention, rather than planning and promoting our business, because we’ve ‘unfocused’ from the soft song of our dreams. Choosing distraction over the risk of rejection, we plug our ears against the melody of our soul for fear we might fail.

But what if we started the process of ‘reparenting’ our minds and bodies? This would mean teaching ourselves what really matters, rather than holding on to fears we’ve absorbed from others. We could become like the sow guiding her piglets – protecting and nurturing our thoughts and feelings, leading them in the right direction, toward what’s true for us.

WHEN I REACH THE forest, I walk to a tree called Esmerelda, whom I’ve not visited for a few months. Esmerelda is a mature beech with a moss-covered trunk that splits into two thick branches at head hight. As I approach, I feel a gentle, steady presence. After standing at a distance for a while, focusing on my breath, I have a sense I can step closer. I place my forehead against the mossy bark, which is so dry is crackles against my skin.

At once, I feel the ground beneath me soften so that my feet appear to sink several inches into the earth. Roots rise from the soil and grow over my shoes as if I’ve slipped my feet into earthbound stirrups. I’m grounded, supported – held in a way that is both powerful and safe. From the space between my eyebrows, I see a beam of light as if a torch has been switched on inside my mind. I suddenly understand that focus comes from feeling secure and grounded in the body as well as open in our imagination: it requires both the element of EARTH, for stability, and the element of LIGHT, for vision and clarity. Like this, my mind is switched on, alert. It’s isn’t swamped by the anxious thoughts we might have inherited from our ancestors, but alive with the divine imagination my soul is capable of.

Rooted to the earth, my body relaxes. I feel calm. This is the Parasympathetic State, the state of rest that allows us to be still and focus. It’s from this place, not from worry or fear, that visions can emerge – visions as pure and peaceful as a lamb sleeping.

I SPEND THE REST of the day walking in the forest in a way that feels slow yet carries enough momentum to feel effortless. I hear so many sounds – birds chirping and flapping, the wind gusting, trees shaking and branches breaking – and yet I’m softly secure in my body, focused on the light of my inner vision. Those external sounds do not pull me in different directions or scatter my attention. No, I am the sow, leading my thoughts and body along a clear path through the woods.

In this clarity, I find the words for the magic of focus. Focus happens when we pay attention to the truth rising within us right now, rather than being weighed down by past hurts that have shaken our confidence and dimmed or belittled our creative gifts.

It reminds me of how drivers slow down for animals on the road.  No matter how urgent their destination, they pause for the lamb to sleep, almost moved to tears by the innocent, natural beauty of the scene. They wait patiently for all the piglets to cross safely, perhaps remembering a sweetness from their own childhood. They stop to marvel at donkeys snoozing on their feet.

The magic of focus is that we can rewrite the moment. We can shift from rushing along with our fears, dreading what lies around the corner, to living at the pace our creative soul asks for.

AS I LEAVE THE forest, I’m more certain that ever that focus isn’t about pushing through distractions, but rather about finding balance, grounding ourselves, and allowing our true, inner light to guide us. When we connect deeply with these elements, as I did with Esmerelda, we can clear the mental clutter and awaken our true creative potential.

If this resonates with you, I invite you to join my upcoming workshop on 'Enhancing Focus', where we’ll be exploring how the elements of EARTH and LIGHT can help us feel grounded, clear, and fully present, enabling us to unlock our creativity and nurture our emotional well-being. Scroll down for more details.

As always, wishing you creative contentment.

Gabriela, tree goddess

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Offerings

In this section you’ll be able to hear about my offerings and events.

JOIN ME FOR my online workshop ‘Journaling, Breathwork & Nature Healing to transform your Creative Process’

Thursday 19th September, 6pm-8pm (UK time)

This month, we're focusing on the elements of EARTH and LIGHT and exploring the theme of 'ENHANCING FOCUS'.

Whether you’re struggling with mental fog, feeling creatively blocked, or simply looking to deepen your connection with nature’s wisdom, this online event will leave you feeling inspired, balanced, and ready to embrace your creative path.

• As a subscriber to Wild Muse, you can receive 20% off by using the code Wild01 at checkout.

• Find out more here.

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