The Art of Noticing the Ordinary

I have dozens of tiny ducks hidden around my home. It's a little game I like to play with new guests. Will they notice? Which ones will they notice?

I don't have a background in psychology, but I do think it speaks to the individual’s personality. Not everyone who notices the tiny ducks would consider themselves an artist. But if not an artist, nine times out of ten, they are an entrepreneur, which is a problem solving art in its own right.

I have many friends who have come over and never noticed the ducks (or at least never mentioned it) and there is nothing wrong with that. The point I am trying to make is for those who may not notice the small ordinary things.

If you came over to my house today, you may be a person who would ordinarily notice such small details, however, your life is so full of demands that you don't have the capacity to slow down enough to notice. Or perhaps I was telling you a fantastic joke, and you were simply distracted.

If either the business or the distractions of life resonate with you, I want to give you this challenge:

Today, go outside and sit on a park bench, and for ten minutes. Just study the world around you. Turn off the music. Leave your smart phone at home. Just soak it all in.

What do you see?

What do you hear?

Bring a notebook, and after ten minutes open it and jot down things that stood out to you no matter how small or ordinary they seem.

This is what I noticed in my ten minutes today:

This morning I was sipping my coffee looking out the window at my bird feeders. There was a little hummingbird that came to sit on a perch. She sat there for quite some time. As I was studying this tiny creature, I was thinking about how small and intricate she was. I was also thinking how I wanted to capture this moment in my brain, so I could sketch her later.

Then I had this funny thought as I was looking at her,;she kept moving her head back and forth like she was studying me. I thought as she flew away that she might be doing the same thing to me, studying me to capture me on her canvas at home. I chuckled at this thought.

Obviously hummingbirds don't paint, but see how this small moment of taking time to notice the ordinary allows my brain to open up and have a creative thought?

The art of noticing is a powerful thing. Don't allow it to be lost on you.