Hilary Barnett

It has become obvious to me that as people get older, we simply notice less.  I can drive down the same street every single day for years, and not see the market on the corner, or the new building going up at the busy intersection. Most of all, we stop noticing people.  As we go about our day, we are focused, and intent on getting all of our “to-do” items checked off our list. If we are not on the phone or another device, we are most likely staring downward in thought about a pressing issue in our lives, or simply daydreaming.

I have been trying lately to be more intentional about noticing my environment and the people around me. Like the lady in my office building who goes out for a smoke every hour. Or the elderly man who comes to work with an oxygen tank in a wheelchair. Or the new sign in the bus stop terminal outside the hospital, and the man sitting on the bench. Even unrelated things, like the way the people across the restaurant are laughing together, or the ant crawling along the ground holding a piece of food three times his size. In my mind I create vignettes around these flashes of other realities. Often I try to catch someone’s eye and smile, and many times, even though I am in the South and people are typically very congenial, I will get a surprised smile in return. It’s as if people have forgotten how to acknowledge each other, how to take each other in. It is amazing what you can notice when you simply look up and look around.

What are things that you notice in your daily life that you feel sometimes get passed by?