Paying Attention And Noticing Things

“The range of what we think and do is limited by what we fail to notice.  And because we fail to notice that we fail to notice there is nothing we can do to change until we notice how failing to notice shapes our thoughts and deeds”.

-R.D. Laing

 

“Man’s mind, once stretched by a new idea, never regains its original dimension”.

-Oliver Wendell Holmes

 

Ad I have said many times, mindfulness is about being awake and aware.  This sounds so basic and obvious but the world is full of the walking dead.  Many people go about their business every day and fail to notice much, if anything, of what is going on around them.  Focus and concentration can be good things when performing a task or solving a problem but when you go through life with your eyes and mind closed you miss out on quite a bit.  For example, it is now late winter/early spring.  Life that has been dormant for months is beginning to burst through the ground and flowers and trees are budding and flowering.  Have you noticed?  Last week, virtually overnight, most of the trees in our office park began blooming.  I was walking to my car one afternoon after a long day and boom!  The dogwoods, or are they Bradford Pears?, were in full bloom.  I bet there were some people who didn’t notice.  As you go through your day, pay attention and notice things.  When I walk around my antennae are on full alert.  If my wife and I were sitting on a bench at the Mall, she wouldn’t notice if her dead mother walked right in front of us.  Many people are like her.  As you open your eyes, expand your mind.  Read a book.  Challenge yourself with new ways of thinking.  Don’t be locked in old paradigms.  Openness to new ideas stretches your mind and expands your potential.