Why Is Noticing a Challenge?

Most of us in Los Angeles, especially teenagers, live hyper-stimulated, fast-paced lives. There is a flood of information that comes from our social networks, personal and digital, that never eases. It is hard to know what is important, and often, there seems to be a ton of things that are important that compete for attention. Social standing is in play and the fear of missing out is real. So we try to cram as much in as possible. Not only is it tricky to know what is priority number one, it is also hard to stay on task since the next thing that could also be important is on the immediate horizon. We wire ourselves to think about what’s next. Scrolling through social media is an example of this at faster than heartbeat speed: Swipe. What’s next? Swipe. What’s next? Often, we don’t give ourselves a chance to truly be present.

Noticing involves pausing this routine swirl. It fires up our senses to pay attention to subtleties and nuances. It can connect a moment, a glimpse of our stimuli flow into something grand and meaningful. For many of us, this may be new. It takes practice. 

I live in Hermosa Beach near the Strand. The Strand is a really active stretch with runners, walkers, dogs, bikes, rollerblades, etc. At sunset, there is a collective pause. People stop, face west, marvel at the colors, listen to the waves, feel the temperature drop for about three to five minutes until the sun completely disappears. And then they go about their business. I appreciate living in this neighborhood because this practice occurs on a community scale everyday. It makes it easier to notice when others are as well. None of us were missing out on anything else with one another.

I was watching the sunset from the shoreline this weekend. Directly in front of me, the glow of the sun in the orange, red, and purple sunset was stunning. The seabirds darting about in silhouette made it that much more picturesque. I don’t think it could be satisfactorily represented in a painting or photograph. You had to be there. Looking to my right, up the coast to the mountains of the Palisades and Malibu, smoke billowed. The devastation is incomprehensible, but I felt the need to sit with it and bear witness. 

Noticing puts us in touch with what is wonderful and that will nourish us. And, we also are put in touch with suffering, allowing us to understand, love, and transform. While noticing is challenging, it is also worth it. It doesn’t require us to generally “slow down”, which might demand an entirely different environment. Rather, more realistically, it requires us to take a moment, be intentional, and let our senses activate. We develop to be agents of our lives. We become fueled to uplift those around us.