The Simple Practice of Noticing

With the hustle and bustle of our work lives, our family lives, the holiday seasons, it is all too easy to drop into what some call survival mode … the put one foot in front of the other mode.  We rely on habits and demands placed on us by others to move us through each day.  Some of us turn down our sensory responses to avoid succumbing to overwhelm.  The downside of this numbing is that we simultaneously turn down, maybe even turn off, our capacity to enjoy Life.

I invite you to take a radically different approach that avoids catastrophizing and averts all sense of overwhelm stemming from the many demands that life may be placing on you:  TURN UP your sensory responses!  By heightening your sensory awareness, you can engage consciously in the “Simple Practice of Noticing” … notice everything!  Notice the different shades of green in the trees and bushes.  Notice other colors. Notice eyes and eye colors. Notice faces – old faces, young faces, thin faces, and plump ones.  Tune into bird calls – when you pay attention, they are there amid city noises.  Hear the breezes.  Notice the sense of freedom when you deliberately pay attention to what is rich and full in your environment … it is the Creator – God expressing as everything.  Soon you will discover an easing of tension in your body that you have unknowingly taken on.  With this easing, you will find that you are able to see the Sacred in and as everything. 

The practice is truly simple:

• Stop everything – even it is just for a nanosecond. 
• Be still for just a moment (or maybe longer because it feels so good).
• Remember ALL creation is the expression of The Creator.
• Tune up your sense of observation and let your curiosity surge.
• Challenge yourself to see the Sacred as whatever you are seeing: humans, other animals, all aspects of the natural world, human creations – art, music, buildings … everything!
• Practice … like with any new habit, you want to consciously reinforce it.
• In a very short time, you will notice that the only sense of overwhelm you are experiencing is awe and wonder!  How could this much sacredness have gone unnoticed?
• Develop the habit of noticing the sacred as everything!  A deep, rich sense of joy arises and your life is transformed.

This blog post is the expressed opinion of its writer and does not necessarily reflect the views of Tysons Interfaith or its members.