Intentional Emptiness - My First Month of Attention Restoration
yuval bloch
After a month of dedicated self-observation—tracking where my attention goes—I’ve learned a great deal about myself and refined my attention restoration plan. I’ve come to understand the profound power of intention and ’empty spaces.'
No Secret Ingredient
Ever since my time in Mitzpe Ramon, my routine has stabilized. Each workday begins with yoga and meditation, followed by the 4-in-7 principle: four focused work sessions of 50–60 minutes, spread across seven hours, with walking breaks between them. The rest of the day is free for climbing, meeting friends, or simply enjoying life.
Working only four hours a day may sound lazy. It may also sound unbelievable that I now get more work done than I used to in a 7–8 hour workday. But the truth is simple: I work for a shorter time—and much harder.
Deep focus is difficult. At the start of each session, I feel motivated, but that motivation burns quickly when my mind begins searching for escape routes. I often feel certain that half an hour has passed, only to check the clock and see it’s been 10 minutes, and fatigue often appears across the session. Even breaks are difficult at first—my legs feel disconnected, my eyes feel strained, and standing up feels unnatural. However, after 10–15 minutes outside, I genuinely enjoy the restoration.
It’s no surprise that my plan required hard work; there is no secret ingredient to it. Like the Dragon Scroll in Kung Fu Panda, the true power comes from the empty spaces I intentionally add to my life: the breaks, the pauses, the moments of waiting for a bus or looking at the sky. These are not “the main story,” yet they carry tremendous power.
This idea is not new. The power of emptiness is central in East Asian art and philosophy. Classic Chinese paintings often leave large areas of the scroll empty. Applied to life, we learn that we don’t need to fill every empty moment. Waiting for a bus, lying under a tree, taking a slow walk—these restore creativity, emotion, and attention. If we fill all these spaces with social media, email, or worry, we’re not actually resting—and we lose the ability to focus on what we consider the “main stories” of life.
In the next sections, I’ll share what I’ve learned about living these “empty spaces” softly and intentionally, so they can hold their natural restorative power.
🌌 Light and Darkness
Our body and mind are deeply tuned to cycles of light and darkness. Evening light affects us strongly:
- Cool/Blue Light: Wakes us up and boosts alertness.
- Warm/Yellow Light: Promotes relaxation and rest.
- Darkness: Prepares the body and mind for sleep.
Understanding these effects helps us guide our energy and sleep cycles.
I recently had two strong reminders of how powerful darkness can be:
- Mitzpe Ramon: With fewer streetlights and much less noise, simply taking a short evening walk was enough to make me ready for sleep. The first nights felt strange, like something was missing, but soon it gave me a deep sense of serenity and focus.
- Bat Shlomo: A winter storm knocked out the electric grid at my parents’ home for a few hours. With only a small battery lamp and a few candles, the evening slowly fell into real darkness. By 8:00 PM (just before the lights came back on), we all felt naturally ready for bed. This showed me how quickly our bodies sync with the sun when we simply let them.
🌲 Attention Restoration
From light, we move to shape. Natural shapes—trees, mountains, clouds—have fractal properties that induce “soft fascination,” gently capturing attention and helping it heal. Studies from the field of attention restoretion theory show that even short time outdoors improves cognitive capacity.
I now take outdoor breaks between nearly every two work sessions, and always before sleep.
Other features also matter: curved edges tend to evoke a sense of spirituality, and wide views boost creativity more than narrow, close-up views.
🧠 Mirror Neurons and the Impact of What We Watch
Our brain is a master of mimicry, driven by mirror neurons—the same system that underlies empathy and learning. These neurons fire both when we act and when we watch others act. This means the content we consume shapes us, consciously and unconsciously.
🤔 Beyond Simple Imitation
Some blogs suggest watching videos of successful people and trying to mimic them. I don’t like this idea. I think the truth is simpler:
Everything we watch matters.
After a long day, when I sit down to watch something, it matters what kind of story I choose:
- Do the characters put effort into meaningful goals?
- Do they get rewarded for their effort?
- Or do they constantly fail and give up?
Even a silly movie can leave me with inspiration if someone tries hard and succeeds.
🌳 The Restorative Power of Scenery
Attention Restoration Theory works even with movies:
- Films with natural scenery and wide shots are partially restorative.
- Films with constant close-ups and chaotic urban visuals aren’t.
For example, the last time I used a treadmill, I watched The Climb on Netflix—a man from the Paris suburbs climbs Everest with no experience to impress his girlfriend. Though his goal seemed foolish and an unnecessary risk to me, watching someone put so much effort into something actually boosted my training session.
On the other hand, too much stress or tension in movies can harm sleep quality.
🧘♀️ Mindful Viewing
I’m not suggesting avoiding sad or stressful films—watch what you genuinely love. But watch intentionally. Before pressing play, ask yourself:
- What emotional journey will this take me on?
- Do I want that right now?
If you just want to relax with minimal emotional effort, put on a nature documentary—it restores attention with almost no cost.
💡 Conclusion
Every small action we take influences us—light, shapes, stories, emotions. Nothing is neutral. We cannot be “partially intentional.” True presence in one area of life—work, relationships, creativity—demands intentionality in all moments, especially the ’empty’ ones.
This doesn’t mean strict rules or giving things up. It just means acting with awareness that every action changes you.
Below a challenge I encounter and advice I’ve gathered this month.
⚖️ The Edge of the Rules
I love my new lifestyle. I make good academic progress, feel more energetic physically, and live with more intention. My confidence has grown, and so has the quality of my relationships.
But I still break my rules sometimes. One big challenge is fuzzy rules—they allow “cheating.” For example, I allow myself to check the news only when I travel and it might affect my plans (like floods or protests). But then I find excuses to check more and more. I also avoid phone distraction except for one designated hour, but because “distraction” is not perfectly defined, I can always find a new app that isn’t yet on my blocked list or a new way to rationalize checking an old one.
✨ Rituals
To align myself with the intention of my rules—not just the literal wording—I use rituals.
I have two:
- Work ritual: Before every focused session, I write down when I start, when I plan to finish, and what exactly I will do. This forces me to commit to one task and prevents multitasking.
- Commitment ritual: When I add a new rule to my system, I burn a palo santo stick at a small altar and declare the intention before a spiritual figure from my personal mythology. It may sound dramatic, but I believe anyone can benefit from a simple, repetitive, meaningful ritual—no mythology required.
📚 Recommended Reading
- Deep Work, Cal Newport
- The Miracle of Mindfulness, Thich Nhat Hanh