The noticing game

Note: I wrote this a couple of days ago.

Today has been a bit crappy. One of "those" days, where everything feels worse than it should.

This makes today a perfect time to talk about my third favorite way to get out of my head: notice things.

Right now, I'm on a Silver Line train toward Ashburn, Virginia. I notice that almost everyone on the train works for an airline. I notice that the train driver is using the intercom, rather than an automated voice, to say the next station. I see the road signs on the interstate outside and wonder who cose th font.

At this point, I'm scanning around to see what I can teach myself. How was the train floor made? What are the other passengers doing? What material are the windows?

I won't bore you more with details, but I'm already feeling better. The process I followed — I call it the noticing game — was simple. 1. Ask what do I notice around me? 2. Write it down. 3. Repeat.

I don't know why it works, but it does. Probably it's the same reason that meditation works, or gratitude journals: it makes my thoughts and focuses them away from myself. But whereas gratitude journaling pushes me to be thankful, noticing things pushes me to curiosity, even wonder. A nice view out the train windows of downtown McLean just struck me because I'd opened up my eyes to see.

I don't know if this game will work for you. I am almost embarrassingly earnest, and this is an exercise to be done without pretense. But who knows? The next time you feel bad about yourself, maybe try noticing the world around you.

You don't know what will happen until you try.