Kathleen Donchak

Nature, Notebooks, Attention

I write about inner states as they're actually felt - not through clinical labels, but through sustained attention to what captures awareness over time.For thirty years, I've practiced recognizing the textures and rhythms of consciousness through fragmentary writing. What began as necessity - learning to understand my own cyclical patterns without pathology - became a practice I can now share with others.

NATURAL HOURS

Fragmentary Prose

Eleven pieces capturing moments of attention during transitions and stillness. Meant to be read slowly.

• Buy - $7

Sunday Letters

Weekly writing from sustained attention to lived experience. Fragments, brief reflections, and observations on recognizing inner patterns over time.

• Subscribe - $5/month or $50/year

about

Almost thirty years ago, I began a practice that would become the foundation of my work: learning to recognize and articulate inner states through sustained attention and fragmentary writing.I went to nature because sustained attention to living process interrupts recursive thought and allows inner states to be recognized as they actually are - not through external labels or interpretation, but through direct experience.I developed a practice of capturing what captures my attention, staying with experiences until they imprint, then freewriting from those imprints. The writing itself - its rhythm, texture, what images appear - reveals the state that produced it.
Over time, reading patterns in fragments, I learned to recognize my own inner states with enough precision to design life around my natural patterns rather than constantly working against them.I hold a PhD in Applied Ecopsychology. I write from the Pacific Northwest.