Would our experience of life be better if we noticed more?
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| Photo by Evan Brockett on Unsplash |
The theme of our poem this week
was on noticing the little things hiding away in broad daylight.
It’s an echo of the saying that
the secret of the world is hidden in the mustard seed.
The poem was inspired by my
experiences as a parent and what the little one has taught me about noticing
little things.
It’s an experience I believe is
shared by every parent.
This started a journey of inquiry
that led me to the writings of John Holt on how children learn and fail.
These are fascinating reads on
how children explore and learn about the world around them, and how our school
system often fails them. I recommend them to anyone interested in this subject.
I recently witnessed the little
one see a cat for the first time.
Oh, it was a lovely scene to
watch – from the tentative steps he made towards it, to the love affair that instantly developed
between them. It was so adorable.
How I hate to miss such!
Just the other day, a little
feather that had apparently been packed with the eggs fell off the egg-tray to
the floor.
The little one saw it and thought
it was a dudu (insect). I saw him approach it with all the curiosity and
intensity of a toddler.
His interest and questions
(mumblings) went a notch higher when we told him it was from a cluck-cluck (the
sound we use to describe a chicken).
And for a couple of minutes it literally
became his life, especially after feeling its velvety texture and realizing
it could ‘fly’ when blown.
The saddest thing that happens to
us as we grow into adulthood is that we lose this innate curiosity about the
world around us.
We stop noticing such things - and
the more little or mundane they are, the more we don’t see or feel them.
It could also have something to
do with what we are taught to value.
We live in a society that
believes big is always better.
So our eyes and minds are
constantly focused on pursuing and getting the larger things of life. And there
is literally no end to these, or to our desire to own and possess them.
It’s so easy to get caught up in
this chase, because everyone is on it.
The pull is so strong and very
difficult to resist.
And so, over time, the value of
the little things is degraded in our eyes, and we stop noticing them.
And do you know the saddest and
most tragic thing of it all?
Most of us only realize the
importance of the little things when we come face to face with our mortality –
at the very tail end of life.
Our job and reason for writing these
pieces is to try and raise our collective consciousness now, not later.
We all can become better at
noticing things, if we try.
There are practices we can learn to
help us develop habits in this direction, for example, by practicing gratitude every day
and scheduling regular periods for reflection.
I hope you will begin to consider
integrating into your life practices that will help you start to see, feel and
notice more of the little things teeming around us, and allow yourself the
opportunity to experience the beauty and happiness hiding in them.
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