Increasing Awareness

I’ve been practicing “awareness” of my surroundings and trying to notice things I may not normally be aware of. I once read that we are programmed to see certain things that are familiar to us. Therefore, if something is unfamiliar, we may not take notice at all. For example, if you had never seen a red-haired person, you may not even notice if you did. Your subconscious would not be programmed to notice red hair. Over time, you would see it, but at first you would not. I found this concept fascinating and have been trying to be more observant ever since I learned this. One of the things I do to stimulate my awareness is take a different route to go somewhere.

Every time I leave my house, I typically take the same route. Yesterday, I decided to go the opposite way. It's interesting...you can go by the same house one direction and not notice something until you go by it from the other direction. This makes me wonder how much I do miss in life based on my perspective at that time. This 30-day challenge has been quite interesting and, while I’m not sure it has increased my overall awareness, it certainly has made me think about how I respond to change.