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Finding the fun; The Art of Noticing and photographic studies

It's long been apparant to me how much of what I do; what I'm somehow as if by osmosis, drawn toward - is the force of habit. Our brain's hard-wired tendency to minimise descision fatigue, and so I'm compel me to do what has a known outcome. But this conspires if reflected upon - to make our life not only feel like it's going too fast, but robs us of lifes' endless potential. The simple state of being and moving through the world will create the features of our experience, so let's curate it...

When I hear people bemoan how 'it's going to fast, it's scary...!' I am reminded to reflect on how rather than just A matter of course; a function of the relative difference between life-lived so far, and each progressing year - that's it's more an outcome of not giving the proper and necessary attention to the variety we afford ourselves in the day to day. Variety is the salve to the helpless feeling of hurtling through life...waiting it out.

'it's going to fast, it's scary...!'

We all may have experienced how time can go slower. A trip might feel longer or at least a more substantial, well-spent experience if we pack it full of new visual, visceral, and social experiences. How much more fulfilling would such a trip be than if it was - like the rest of our lives can be - undifferentiated.

This is the trap of living against which we must be forever vigilant; a natural trend toward the mean that threatens to homogenise our life and prevent us recognising the latent joy, connections and experiences that can enrich us.

But we must first recognise this dynamic at play, and resolve to spot how life can keep us stuck, and it's the job of living to find new experiences. And this is nothing grandiose; this is perhaps least about big adventures, but rather injecting some art of noticing into that which is more proximate; being more intentional with our small choices and where we put ourselves each day.

How often have we only discovered something new - an interesting shop, gallery, vegetables, bustling market, or a chance enounter with a local business, or artist; perhaps an unusual vista, or tucked away nature reserve - simply by doing something different than before.

This is a way of being often mentioned by writers. Rick Rubin, in The Creative Act speaks of 'The real work of the artist is a way of being in the world...Look for what you notice but no one else sees. It's to be sensitive to the nuance and re-interpreting what's around us.

"Look for what you notice but no one else sees."

Ali Abdaal talks of 'Finding the fun' in 'Feel Good Productivity', as a means to make our work - let's face it our life - more fun. However this looks: work from somewhere else, write about something difference, reach out to someone new for no specific reason...

Rob Walker also has a great blog on the reflecive life, and the Art of Noticing, with ideas for how to notice things and how this can be a means to connection.

'...for people who want to stay interested in life'.

Navigating life mostly on my own makes it challenging to have shared visceral experiences, to feel seen, and to share life's small moments. And so, I'm learning to value the artistic and subjective interpretations of the world purely for their own sake and meaning to myself.

This is what I'm resolving do in my everyday life. Find the fun. Pattern interrupt. To look up; closer. To notice, and I'll share my mini noticing projects here on my travels around Nottingham.