The Soul Is Built Out of Attentiveness
"This is the first, wildest and wisest thing I know, that the soul exists,
and that it is built entirely out of attentiveness”
- Mary Oliver
Attention as an Act of Presence
In my therapy practice, I often describe attention as one of our most powerful tools for healing. When we turn our attention inward — to our sensations, our breathing, our emotions — we begin to sense the truth of what is happening in the moment.
This is the heart of embodied, relational Gestalt therapy: slowing down enough to notice.
Mary Oliver’s words remind us that the soul — our deepest, most essential self — is not something we have to find or fix. It is something we can listen to, attend to, and inhabit.
When we bring our attention to our experience with gentleness and curiosity, we begin to remember that we already make sense.
What Does Attentiveness Feel Like?
In embodied therapy, we explore attention through the body.
It might feel like:
noticing your shoulders drop after a deep breath
sensing warmth in your chest when you speak something that feels true to you
realizing your feet are firmly on the ground
noticing yourself holding your breath — and taking this as information about how you’re doing
Attentiveness is the bridge between thought and sensation. It is where presence lives.
The Soul of Relationship
In relational therapy, attention is what allows connection to deepen. When we are attentive to ourselves and to another, something sacred happens — the moment becomes alive.
To be seen by another person while we are fully present is to feel the soul come alive in relationship.
This is why therapy, at its best, is not about fixing but about meeting — meeting yourself, meeting another human being, and discovering what becomes possible when you both bring your full attention to the moment.
The Wildness of the Soul
Mary Oliver writes that the soul is not only wise, but wild.
This wildness is not chaos — it’s aliveness. It’s the pulse of your being that longs for expression, for movement, for authenticity.
In Gestalt therapy, we often find that beneath anxiety or tension lies this very wildness — the energy of life itself asking to be felt and lived.
Learning to pay attention to this energy, to trust it, is part of returning to wholeness.
Building a Life Out of Attention
Attention is not passive. It’s an act of love.
When we attend to ourselves — our sensations, our thoughts, our relationships — we are quietly building the architecture of the soul.
Through embodied, relational Gestalt therapy, you can learn to listen more closely to your experience and discover what your body and being have been trying to tell you all along.
If this idea of soul and attentiveness speaks to you, perhaps this is the beginning of your own conversation with yourself.
Book a free consultation or connect with me by email to explore what therapy can make possible.
