Notice More: The Relaxation Habit You’re Probably Missing
Most of us spend an astonishing amount of time in our heads.
We’re thinking about what happened yesterday. Rehearsing conversations that haven’t happened yet. Planning, analysing, worrying, solving problems, imagining new ones.
It’s what our minds do.
And they’re brilliant at it.
The trouble is, while we’re busy living in our thoughts, we often stop noticing the life that’s happening right in front of us.
That’s why one of my favourite relaxation habits is incredibly simple.
Notice more.
Why We Stop Noticing Life
Our brains are wonderfully efficient.
Once we know a place well, or a routine becomes familiar, we tend to run it on autopilot. We walk into the kitchen without really seeing it. We drive somewhere we’ve driven hundreds of times and barely remember the journey. We eat our lunch while answering emails and couldn’t tell you what it tasted like.
There’s nothing wrong with this. Autopilot saves energy.
The downside is that we can drift through large chunks of our lives barely awake to them.
Children don’t do this in quite the same way. Everything is new. They notice the smell after rain, the feel of leaves, the colours of a flower, the sound of an aeroplane overhead. Their attention is naturally in the world around them.
As adults, our attention has usually moved somewhere else.
Into our thoughts.
What Happens When You Start Noticing Again?
Something rather lovely.
When you deliberately pay attention to what’s around you, and to what’s happening in your body, your nervous system begins to settle.
You notice colours you hadn’t seen.
You hear sounds that were always there.
You feel the air on your skin.
You become aware of your breathing.
None of these things are dramatic. Yet together they have a remarkable effect.
You begin to feel present again.
Research into mindfulness has shown that these kinds of practices can reduce stress, ease anxiety, lower muscle tension and help regulate the nervous system. My own experience, both personally and from years of teaching, is that people often feel the shift surprisingly quickly.
Life simply feels more alive.
A One-Minute Practice
Here’s something to try today:
- Pause for just a minute.
- Notice what you can see.
- Notice what you can hear.
- Notice what you’re thinking, without trying to stop the thoughts.
- Notice how you’re feeling emotionally.
- Notice any sensations in your body.
- Then simply notice your breathing for a few moments.
That’s it.
You haven’t solved your problems.
You haven’t fixed your life.
You’ve just stepped out of the constant stream of thinking for a moment and come back to where your life is actually being lived.
Right here.
Relaxation Isn’t Always About Doing Less
People often imagine relaxation means escaping to somewhere quiet, booking a holiday or waiting until life becomes less busy.
Sometimes it helps.
But there’s another way.
You can be standing in your kitchen, sitting at your desk or walking to the shops and suddenly become much more awake to your experience simply by paying attention.
The world hasn’t changed.
You’ve just arrived in it.
Want to Explore This More?
Inside The Relaxers membership, we explored this habit in much more depth. We looked at why our minds work this way, the fascinating neuroscience behind attention and autopilot, and practised a simple “outside, inside, out” meditation that you can use whenever you feel caught up in overthinking.
If you’d like to experience the full session, along with the guided meditation and the other Relaxers habits we’ve been exploring together, come and join us. You’ll get instant access to the replay and the whole growing library of practices to help you relax a little more and enjoy life a little more.