Haiku — 0044: Focus

Summary

The author reflects on the concept of focus through the experience of an archery class, which inspires a Haiku and draws parallels to the focus required in writing.

Abstract

The article titled "Haiku — 0044: Focus" recounts the author's journey from Amsterdam to Eindhoven to attend an archery class, which prompts the creation of a Haiku on the topic of focus. The author describes the dichotomy of time in archery, where the act of shooting can feel either instantaneous or prolonged, and how immediate shooting leads to a heightened focus where only the target is visible. This experience leads to a contemplation on the nature of focus in writing, where the process is reversed—instead of narrowing thoughts, writing involves sifting through a multitude of ideas to find a coherent thread. The author also mentions the progress in their archery lessons, emphasizing the importance of a single-minded approach for better results, and compares it to the patient observation required in writing.

Opinions

The author believes that in archery, a single-minded focus, as opposed to a prolonged aim, yields better results.
There is a notable contrast in focus techniques between archery and writing; archery requires a narrowed focus, while writing involves a broad observation followed by the selection of a single idea.
The author suggests that the act of writing is akin to a form of meditation, where one must be attentive to a vast array of thoughts to extract a meaningful narrative.
The experience of the archery class, particularly the midway lesson, serves as a metaphor for the author's exploration of focus in both the physical act of archery and the mental discipline of writing.
The author values the process of learning and self-discovery, as evidenced by their reflection on the beginner's lessons in archery and the application of these lessons to other areas of life, such as writing.

Seeing only a target.

After a busy day of work, I traveled from Amsterdam, back to Eindhoven, only to make it in time for my archery class. And there, amidst the numerous missed bullseyes, I could only think of this topic to write a Haiku immediately after I reached home.

Image generated with DALL-E.

Bow strung, drawn,

A quivering heart stilled,

Archer takes aim.

So I am going through this ‘beginner’s lesson’ for archery, 8 classes of practice, one class of examination (No, they don’t score you for your bullseye just yet), and today was the midway, fifth lesson.

One thing I learned from these five classes is, that it’s either an instant between aiming and shooting the arrow, or an eternity. There is no middle ground. Shooting with a single mind gave a better result than taking my time to aim, which immediately led me to observe the surroundings, my shaking arm, the tension of the bow, the numbing of my fingers, and, of course, anything and everything else.

Except for the aim.

But, at those times when I shot almost immediately, I could already feel my focus getting centralized — There was only my target. Everything else blurred into obscurity.

Now that I think about it, isn’t writing also a form of focus? Except, this one involves the opposite strategy, the one where we let an enormous number of thoughts run, keeping an eye for the one coherent strand, that which becomes a string of words, prose, or poetry.

Curious thing, yeah?

Yesterday’s Haiku —

For the rest of my Haiku, please follow —

Haiku — 0044: Focus

Seeing only a target.

Haiku — 0043: Desire

The source of it all.

Haiku By Day

A collection of my Haiku experiments