The Art of Noticing

When was the last time you actually slowed down your pace and took notice of the things around you? Everyday, we let so many beautiful things passed by our senses and they all go unnoticed by us. We placed too much emphasis on our human activities of labour and work as such we failed to spend time to engage our world with our senses. As a matter of fact, nature runs on a very different pace as the world we think we are living in. We rush from one activity to another and running after the many deadlines placed on us each day. However, nature does not function in the same way. Nature knows no speed or acceleration. Regardless of how fast we want things to be, nature is nonchalant towards it. Growth in the natural world comes very slowly.

Understanding the pace of nature will help us a lot to slow down and practise the art of noticing. Understand the need to take on a slower pace of life is the first step for us to be in sync with the pace of nature. Only then, will we be able to see, to listen, to touch, to taste and to smell the more-than-human world just next to our sides. To notice the nature around us is really to sharpen our senses, to align our senses with the pace of nature. This evening when I was taking a walk in the neighbourhood park, I noticed the movements of the trees as I moved alongside them. I tilted my head up to see how the trees moved as I moved along and the the sky would shift as well. It was a wonderful sight, seeing things differently.

Noticing involve us perceiving ourselves as part of nature, part of forest, and not someone who comes here just to receive something from nature and goes away. We can notice when we recognize ourselves as nature. We are nature. Because I am part of nature, I noticed the army of ants climbing up the bark of a tree, as if they are moving in traffic to go back to their hive. Because I am nature, I noticed the texture of barks and how intrigue those lines are. Because I am nature, the flowers call out to me and bidding me to watch their vesper dance. Noticing involve our senses.

Three things to note when we are noticing:

1. Slow down your pace

2. Recognize that we are nature

3. Engage our senses

Ronneth Hock

8/7/25