What are you noticing as you go through the day? What draws your attention?
The art of noticing seems simple.
It usually begins with sense perception: we take in sound, light, colour, texture, and all the many phenomena that meet our sense doors. We may also notice strong emotions. But the art of noticing doesn't need to stop there. It has great potential. It can extend to include an awareness of the very lens or frame through which we view and experience our outer and inner life.
Becoming aware of the lens is akin to planting a seed of wisdom. We begin to realize that our noticing may be coloured by some form of desire, or tinged with a shade of aversion, or obscured by the mist of confusion.
By recognizing the lens or frame as another temporary appearance, we see how it, too, is a construct. It is dependent on conditions, like the culture or family we grew up in, the current state of the world, or the person in whose company we find ourselves. Old habits are hard to shake, but once we are able to identify the attitude that is colouring our perception, it becomes easier to challenge that framework, and to allow clear seeing and mindfulness to do the work of letting go. Noticing fear allows us to recognize and learn about the nature of fear, without making it into my fear. Adjusting our frame, so to speak, allows us to view our experience with more spaciousness.
As we approach mid-March, signs of spring are everywhere: the buds, the blossoms, the first daffodils in bloom. Our attention is naturally drawn to colour and to change in our environment.
Lingering to take in the patterns of shadows on the street, or the lacework of branches overhead, stopping to breathe in the spicy scent of witch hazel...according to the science of well-being, this is not just good for us, it also builds resilience.
By really taking in what brings us pleasure and happiness, we are counteracting the negativity bias, which served us when we had to look out for predators, but isn't so useful in modern life, as it often means we are constantly on the alert. Thus we fail to appreciate what is good and beautiful in our lives. And what happens? We miss many opportunities to strengthen our hearts and minds, building resilience to meet the difficult and unexpected challenges that are bound to come. This is the core of Dr. Rick Hanson's book, Resilience.
A friend sent me a link to a wonderful poem by Lemn Sissay. His playful use of language challenges us to celebrate the overlooked and to find beauty in unusual places.
To pay attention is a skill that we can develop. It might help us to recognize when we are skipping over the beneficial experiences in our lives. It may also help us to recognize the frame through which we view our experience and to understand why we are in such a hurry to get on to the next thing. Paying attention also invites us to move beyond categories of liking and not liking, extending our appreciation and interest to everything we do, until the whole field of awareness opens up.
The currency of our attention is a rare and precious gift. How are we spending it?
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