YoM Day 124: taking notice

Yesterday, I talked about how things are connected. Today is a new day.

"The range of what we think and do is limited by what we fail to notice. And because we fail to notice that we fail to notice, there is little we can do to change until we notice how failing to notice shapes our thoughts and deeds." - R. D. Laing

One of the biggest mistakes people make is thinking they "know enough". There's always something to learn and there's always someone better. Thinking otherwise is dangerous and causes stagnation. Having the mindset that there's nothing left for us to improve on keeps us from noticing our own flaws, which in turn keeps us from growing. Most importantly, it tends to inflate our egos, leaving room for cockiness and hotheadedness.

This is probably the most common thing I'll see in any heated argument. Someone always thinks they know everything, they refuse to listen to reason, and things escalate until shit hits the fan. Even if they're just rambling on nonsense they still believe that everyone who doesn't agree with them is wrong. I see this a lot when playing online games. There's not a day that will go by where someone I'm playing with is toxic and blames everyone for the game not going well. Yet if that person focused on how they can play better instead of wasting their time blaming the team, things would turn out much differently.

Although teamwork is important, the best thing you can do, as a single player, is improve your own game so that things run more smoothly for the rest of the team. These people, however, get stuck in the mentality that there team is entirely to blame for their loss and thus they leave no room for personal growth. It's not even an afterthought.

By taking into account our own flaws we open up our thoughts to a new spectrum of possibilities. These possibilities enable us to notice things we otherwise wouldn't of had we focused all of our attention toward just a few things. Practicing mindfulness is much like learning how to think outside of the box. We're all born with the ability to think creatively. However, as we grow older that ability tends to drop as we become culturally appropriated. Like any skill, it's something that needs to be fostered and developed if we don't want to lose it.

One thing I like to do is go for walks in the park and look around and listen for all of the sounds I can notice. Rather than focusing on a few targets, I practice seeing what I haven't seen before. I look for the subtle details of the trees blowing in the wind. I listen for the sounds of the fallen leaves rustling against the concrete as the wind blows. Wherever I go I try noticing anything I can. This broadens our view and helps prevent tunnel-vision. As I've become more aware of my surroundings I've noticed that my possibilities have also opened up. It's a matter of our mindset.

                                                                                                                         Peace

In chess, we have to notice the movement of the entire board to see the most subtle of plays.