The (maybe) Forgotten Art of Seeing

How many security cameras are there in the street where you live? How many and which trees? What is the most prominent color of houses?

Even if you know the answers to these questions, which I doubt you will, or you live in a place, where these questions make no sense (no city, no trees, no houses, or even no street), chances are you haven’t noticed any of the objects or characteristics I named. The reason is quite obvious. Our attention is often directed through other external sources on particular objects. Rob Walker calls this the “attention war”.

It’s like the classic fable “The Emperor’s New Clothes”, in which everyone pretends to see the new clothes of the emperor and like them until a child comes along and openly points out the obvious nakedness everyone could have seen or did see but didn’t call out.

In a way, we’re often not so different from the adults in that story. We go through life, speaking and acting as if we deeply know what surrounds us, whether it’s the cities we live in or the people we interact with. Yet when we closely look at what we do know about our environment we recognize something different. We often only know it in the most superficial ways, recognizing and being familiar with it, yet unable to observe and notice the changing details that make people and places so rich and interesting. We know what others have pointed us toward. Like the people in the story, we know how things are supposed to look and we’re eager to applaud the seeming appearance of things. We put clothes on them and rarely notice their nakedness.

Whenever I make an effort to look freshly at the world around me, I can’t fail to notice some new aspects. Naming them makes no difference. It’s a way of looking, soaking up what’s there, making an effort to see fresh without old concepts, and learning the subtle art of noticing. And when you learn to look more closely, you don’t only get more accustomed to the reality that surrounds you, you also become more present, less haunted by worries, less weighed down by stress, more alert, and more powerful to go after what you want. This, of course, is not guaranteed as a result of increased presence, but it’s a great starting point. And when you pursue it long enough it becomes joyful itself, whether you reap positive effects or not.

But often it’s difficult to notice what’s around you, even when you know you better. After all, it takes energy to pay attention, and you already need energy for a host of other practices and habits. But this is where Robert Walker’s course on “The Art of Noticing” is so valuable. Because there are specific exercises, prompts, and provocations, as he states, you can try, link to your existing habits, and use to sharpen your noticing skills. This will not only generate a childlike ability to notice your environment afresh, with a unique point of view, but it’s also pleasurable in itself because of the presence it brings.

Here are 3 short ideas, prompts, and provocations to go about this:

1. Do a secret scavenger hunt: Walker suggests looking for security cameras to inject novelty into your daily commute or walks. You start to see your neighborhood from new angles noticing different aspects, just by focusing on something often overlooked. But you can do the same with specific flowers, colors, or animals.
2. The long look: The idea is to take more time looking at one object than you normally would. To look slowly and take up more and in richer detail. It’s borrowed from an art project called “Slow Art Day”. The idea was to look at 5 works of art for 10 minutes each. But you can also look at 5 trees, flowers, houses or park benches. Looking slowly, you pick up new details and train your focus and attention muscles.
3. The repeated look: Look at the same object over and over. You again make new and deeper connections instead of just browsing through your surroundings. You again strengthen your anti-distraction muscles and notice the world around in a self-directed manner.

With these exercises, you can start to look at the world with fresher eyes but also learn to enjoy looking. The more you do this, the more present you become.

Try them out and let me know whether you know similar exercises.