Practice #1: Pay attention to the small things
Increase your appreciation by caring for small details around you
The short: Each day we do so many things on autopilot. Life is waiting for us out of our routines — if we pay attention to small details, we can focus on our current moment and bring a depth of appreciation to the rest of our day. Appreciation leads to happiness. 😊
Practice:
Pay attention to a landmark you frequently pass. What’s one feature you hadn’t noticed before?
Ask for someone’s hand (if you’d prefer, use a loved one’s hand) and trace their hands. What do their hand creases say about what they use their hands for?
Listen to yourself during your next conversation. Are there any funny or meaningful phrases you used? Write down what that term means to you.
Look out for small acts of kindness that are offered to you, and give an extra sign of gratitude back.
Reach out with a special moment you noticed in your day! 🙏
We walk down the street, take the subway, bike, or go on a drive, all with a purpose. We hit the snooze button on our alarm clock and push ourselves to brush our teeth, change, and get out of the house — all without thinking about why we do it all. We cook a meal without smelling the spices we're putting in. We eat without paying attention to the sensations they bring to our mouths. We literally don’t stop to smell the flowers.
Well, I started smelling more flowers.
You may think I’m crazy for smelling the flowers. I don’t smell them all, but stopping to smell one flower can put a smile on my face — and that makes all the difference for my day. When I walk by a plant I pass often, I often don’t pay it any attention. But when I open my eyes (vuja de-style), I start to notice that there’s a whole world of fun details. There’s a squash vine secretly at the corner of my office and growing beautifully in the middle of the polluted city. That weed growing in the crack of the garage is actually Weed (I didn’t realize weed grows like a weed, duh!). There are so many details to pay attention to!
Life would be overwhelming if we didn't do things on autopilot — if we had to bring our full attention to tying our shoes, to remembering how to type & the feeling of typing each key, we'd get distracted from the actual content we're trying to express. We'd forget where we were going each time we crossed the street, and conversations with friends while walking would slowly occur as we fixated on the butterflies and the sounds around us. It’s not bad to be on autopilot, but there’s beauty in the world around us if we have the mindfulness to simply pay attention.
Actively choosing to focus on small details helps us to jump into the moment, a practice providing us with a path for appreciating the things around us. How many times have I appreciated the grains of fiber that make up my wooden table? When did I last pass a beautiful statue and think about the hours and attention to detail a sculptor put into making it? How many hours did it take for someone to decorate the room you’re in (or plan the infrastructure around you)?
If we can practice appreciating the small moments and details around us, it becomes much easier to foster abundant care and excitement for the bigger moments — time with friends and loved ones, time doing what we’re passionate about, time in love…
Here are some recent entries in my appreciation log:
I resonated with a song I’ve never understood before
I remembered to smell a flower I was passing by
I felt like dancing but I only recognized it because my body already started dancing
There were words left unsaid in a conversation, but it was mutually felt and didn’t need words to share the moment together
And here are some prompts to help you pay more attention to the things around you.
Look around while walking down the street. Can you recall a time before that landmark existed? Do you know who made it, and why? What’s one aspect of the landmark that you’d want to learn more about?
Ask a loved one for their hand (and if you're feeling courageous & comfortable with someone around you, ask an acquaintance) to look at their hands. Seriously, ask! Have you paid attention to their hand creases? Everyone’s hands are different! What are they doing each day to create those creases? Ask them to share a story about a recent time their hand cramped, or a task they do that requires intricate movements with their hand. What’s one experience that they can share about their hand?
Pay attention when you're talking during your next conversation (extra credit: for the week) and listen for a word or phrase you use frequently. How did that word enter your vocabulary? What stories and experiences have you had that add to the meaning of the word? Take 3 minutes before you get back to being productive and write down what the term means to you.
Think about a favor or kindness someone offered you recently, and pay attention to the next one that comes up. Try thinking of something small (someone writing your name with a heart in it, helping you clean up, or being excited to see you) and write down why that moment stuck with you. Send that person a message in gratitude!