The things we stop noticing

There are so many things happening around us that we cannot notice everything.

We might pass the same people each day, walk the same streets, sit in the same room with the people we care about, and barely notice what is happening around us. Our attention can become so familiar with our surroundings that we stop really seeing them.

I’m curious about what happens when the things around us become so familiar that we no longer notice them.

When something becomes familiar

We can become used to the people and places in our lives.

We know what our partner usually says. We know the route we take to work. We know what our neighbourhood looks like. We know the sounds around our home. Familiarity can make life feel comfortable.

Yet perhaps it can also mean that we stop looking quite as closely.

The small things we miss

Someone might have changed their hair. A neighbour might look as though they have something on their mind. A child might be trying to tell us something.

A bird might be sitting somewhere we haven't noticed before. The light might have changed. Something that is usually there might no longer be.

These things can be easy to miss because our attention has become accustomed to what is already there.

When our attention is somewhere else

It isn't only familiarity that draws our attention away.

We might be thinking about work, checking our phone, worrying about something or planning what we need to do next. We can be looking directly at what is around us without really taking it in.

Our attention is there, but not quite with us.

Looking again

Sometimes it only takes a moment to notice something we have been overlooking.

We might look at someone a little more closely. Listen to what they are saying rather than assuming we already know. Look around a familiar place as though we haven't seen it before. We don't have to make ourselves notice everything.

Perhaps we can simply become curious about what we might have missed.

What are we no longer noticing?

Our attention will naturally drift.

There will always be things we overlook, people we don't see and moments we don't take in.

Perhaps connection sometimes begins with noticing what we have stopped noticing.

Looking up. Looking again. Paying attention to what is actually here.

I wonder what you might notice the next time you look at something familiar and give yourself a moment to really see it.