Noticing

Choosing to see the beauty in the ordinary.

I’m choosing to notice, not because there is nothing hard or ordinary or mundane about my life, but because there is beauty here that I will miss if I rush past it.

As a photographer, I learned to look for the little things. A grandmother’s hand resting on her grandson at a wedding. A smile. The discarded pieces of celebration. The rings. The tiny hand of a newborn wrapped around her Mama’s finger. The way a new Dad looks at his family. The things that might not make the official photograph bust somehow tell the story.

I’ve realized I can practice that same kind of noticing in my ordinary life.

For the past few weeks I’ve been doing just that. I’ve been capturing the details of my life by slowing down enough to see what is already here.

I capture the photos not to make my life look beautiful on Instagram, but rather to remind myself that it is beautiful.

I think that may be why I have been thinking about noticing so much lately.

To notice means to become conscious of something or someone. To take notice means to give something your attention.

I’m wondering what would happen if we practiced noticing.

What would we see that we’ve been walking right past?

What small, ordinary things would become worth remembering?

I’ll keep noticing. Come look with me.