Focusing, and Noticing More

David Caolo writes at Unclutterer that after his four-year-old son pointed out a snowman balloon on sale at a store in July, he realized he otherwise wouldn't have noticed it at all. This prompted him to figure out why this was the case:

That's when I vowed to notice what I was missing. The first step, I figured, was to identify how I was missing things. Once I found it, I could change it and then cease missing things. I began to monitor my habits. Initially I didn't change them, I just observed. I was stunned at how frequently I invited distraction upon myself. ...

...

Eventually, I realized something significant -- I never did what I was doing. For example, when I got dressed in the morning, I didn't get dressed. Instead, I spent that time filtering much incoming stimuli: The TV, email, my children's progress toward getting ready for school and so on. My mind wasn't on what was happening, which was selecting clothing, buttoning a shirt, tying a shoe, tightening a belt.

Caolo would eventually reach a point where would become much more effective -- and find that he could enjoy lots of simple things from the world around him at the same time. If that sounds surprising, it shouldn't; but if it does in the least bit, I recommend reading the whole thing.

Taking time to smell the roses needn't always entail going out of one's way to do so.

-- CAV