An inspiration to stop and look

It is amazing what you notice when you really stop and look.

Often we chunter through life at full pelt without really stopping to notice what is around us – in our homes, in our  communities, in our families, in our relationships, even in our own bodies. But when we choose to stop and look, and focus on what is right under our noses, it is amazing what we see.

Characteristics and abilities in friends or family that we normally take for granted but can choose to call out as encouragement. Patterns of communication that are unhelpful but so deeply ingrained that we fail to spot them and the damage they do. Little acts of kindness we can perform along the way that we might otherwise miss the opportunity to do.

The Now Thing.

Furthermore, on reflecting on how easy it is to fail to stop and look at life right now, I also see the impact of our busy lives. I am an organised sort of person. And whilst I am un-learning my tendency to be a control freak, this most definitely remains a work in progress. I also like a challenge and change. This is not always a great combination.

The danger is that I am so busy thinking about The Next Thing that I miss The NOW thing – that which is happening right now, right under my nose, right this minute.

It might be a comment or a kind gesture, a colour or smell, a laugh and an aside from a friend. Or perhaps a change in body language that indicates unhappiness or unease from someone in the room. These are all so easily missed when I fail to stop and look, when I am heading at fully pelt towards what is The Next Thing.

And yet, all these things are tiny blessings in their own right, each worth stopping to notice and appreciate.

To quote the great Ferris Bueller (you have to be of a certain age to appreciate his greatness and the film!):

Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.”

Being present to NOW, to HERE, to TODAY is an art and a skill.

Learning to stop and look takes time and practice. We choose to retrain our brains to capture and let go of the thoughts that keep us focused on fears of what might be to come. We choose instead be present to what we can do right now.

That might be in small, simple ways.

I love to collect sea glass.

To me, it feels like treasure hunting, walking slowly along a beach looking for tiny fragments of green, white, brown and – joy of joys – blue glass.

When I am focused on the Next Thing, I am looking at the end of the beach and walking briskly towards what is next. Sometimes this is right and important.

But in so doing, I easily walk over and past sparkling treasures of sea glass.

Choosing instead to stop and look allows me to reset my focus to what is directly at my feet. It can take a few minutes to bring my concentration into spotting the treasure amongst the stones and shells, to really get my eye in.

So too with life.

It can take practice and concentration to train ourselves to notice the little things that are going on in life right under our noses that are really significant.

I have been musing recently on what happens when we get out of balance with life and ourselves. For me, some of the cost of living with a lack of balance is that parts of me become underused. This includes my ability to train myself to be present to NOW and not rushing on to the next thing. And the refreshment and soul restoring joy of walking along a beack collecting sea glass.

What is right under your nose that you can choose to be present to and appreciate this week?

What would you notice if you stop and look throughout the day?

Food for thought as always.