Your attention is always shifting. Usually beneath your awareness, it moves between emotional, cognitive, and relational states—shaping how you feel, perceive, and respond to the world.
The Attention Taxonomy helps you shift intentionally. Each mode listed here is a poetic "lens"—a distinct way of seeing and feeling that you can step into deliberately. Naming these states creates shortcuts, empowering you to rewrite your inner experience in real-time.
Explore these modes, adapt them, invent your own. Attention isn’t passive—it’s creative. This taxonomy is your poetic toolkit for reclaiming authorship of your nervous system.
Become your own poet of attention.
| Mode | Poetic Trigger | Felt Shift | Common Portals | Memory Stone |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Flowing Presence | Movement turns memory. | Energized, clear, self-validating | Exercise, challenge, flow sports | The Circle at the Gym |
| Curious Playfulness | Delight sneaks in sideways. | Expansive, mischievous, light | Games, invention, wordplay | Snowbird Cacofilia |
| Aesthetic Witnessing | Beauty tugs at your sleeve. | Calm, reverent, attuned | Mountains, snowfall, poetry | The Snowflake Moment |
| Hypervigilant Self-Watch | You see yourself being seen. | Tight, self-critical, tense | Arguments, dating nerves | Therapy Room Snap |
| Sublimated Sadness | Grief hums low and gold. | Warmed sorrow, layered gratitude | Loss, goodbyes, nostalgia | Ping Pong Club Closing |
| Lucid Living | Dream flickers behind daylight. | Awed agency, surreal clarity | Driving, rituals, thresholds | Driving Revelation |
| Front-Loaded Friendliness | Warmth races ahead of fear. | Strategic ease, emotional disarmament | Tense relational moments | Text Initiation w/Jules |
| Chronesthetic Attention | Time folds its wings. | Softened, layered seeing | Looking forward/back | Son on Putting Green |
| Sender's Respect | You bow to the brave stumble. | Reverent uplift | Watching courage spark | Wobbly Site Building Day |
| Apprentice Attention | The unknown cracks open a door. | Absorbed, tender expansion | Deep study, first tries | Undergrad Library Study Glow |
| Heavening | Sensation becomes prayer. | Joyful stillness, warm immersion | Nature, ritual water, sacred silence | Snowbird Pool Reverie |