We get 24 hours in a day. Eight or so (hopefully) of those, we’re out for the count, which leaves roughly 16 hours a day where we pretty much overlook so many interesting, small moments.
We train ourselves to see past, through, or even nothing of these fragments of time we’re offered because we’re so stuck in our own minds. We’re busy, we’re stressed, we’re tired; we forget these moments exist, but I assure you, they do.
We all have this thing called life in common, and I wonder: if we paid attention to these 7 things that we habitually neglect, how different and enriched our lives might be?
7 small but interesting moments in life we commonly fail to notice:
1. That moment when someone’s face lights up as they see you.
I hate food waste, and in my town’s community center, there is a fridge where surplus supermarket food gets dropped off to prevent landfill. I go there a few times a week, and I’ve gotten familiar with all the regulars who go there, too.
One morning, I was rifling through some fruit when one chap came in. We exchanged greetings, and he turned to me and said, “You make my day that little bit brighter with that lovely smile.”
I, with my discomfort for compliments (I’m working on it…), replied with, “Thank you, I finally got round to brushing my teeth!”
We both laughed, but I walked home thinking how kind it was that he said what he said. I hadn’t noticed before, but we’ve shared many small moments like this where we’ve brightened each other’s days just by seeing and greeting each other in passing.
I might have missed it before, but I won’t overlook it again.
2. The beauty of the most ordinary places.
It’s getting to that time of year where the sun is setting a little earlier with each passing day.
I don’t know about you, but I love it.
Sure, most people love summer, but I like to sit at my bedroom window at dusk and watch the bats fly around my garden. I’m not kidding; they circle it and others, I assume, scour the ground for food. I find it so peaceful to observe.
It’s my back garden, so I see it every day. I also have two pigeons, Dave and Sally, who sit on my fence every day and really should be on a diet, but I make sure my bird bath is full for them.
It could just be a back garden that I zone out as I stare into space, but I choose for it to mean something more.
If you have a space that you can find beauty in, wherever it is, I really encourage you to look at it rather than look over it.
The same goes for any other place that is seemingly ordinary.
The elderly couple on the train holding hands. The sunset illuminating your kitchen. The person walking down the street dancing to their music.
It’s all out there if you pause to notice it.
3. The small decisions you make every day that determine what you experience.
You wake up, you get out of bed. You decide that you want to brew a cinnamon latte today instead of your usual, regular coffee (we can be friends). You decide to have pancakes for breakfast because you haven’t had them in a while.
You browse the job market, and you see one you like, so you spend an hour applying online. You head out to the supermarket, and you hold the door open for someone who smiles and thanks you. You drive out of the car park, and you let someone cross the road who is waiting, who also thanks you with a wave.
You get home, you open the windows and let the fresh, autumn air into the house, and it smells smoky and fresh.
Little decisions, right? Every single one of them, yet you get to make it. You’re deciding what you want to experience, and you’re in charge of it all.
Don’t overlook the days you get up and make choices that make you happy, because although they’re small, they mean everything.
4. The comfort of familiar sounds.
The brain is always looking for patterns, and sometimes, when we hear a particular sound, it triggers emotions or memories in us without much effort at all.
It all happens through association, and it’s a little bit like hearing nostalgic songs from your younger years and wistfully remembering being 19 again.
Sounds can offer the same comfort that songs do, such as the boiling of our kettle, or the creak of your grandma’s porch swing, or even the rustling of the leaves from the trees in your garden.
But familiarity means we overlook the weird and wonderful sounds that we hear every day, or worse, dismiss them as a nuisance, until one day they’re gone. We overlook or wish away the music of our lives and all the connection to our surroundings that it brings.
That’s pretty sad, if you ask me.
5. A brief kindness when you cross paths with a stranger.
It’s a very British thing to wish people a good morning when you pass them, although admittedly it happens less now than it used to, depending on where you live.
“Morrrning!” It always helps if the sun is shining because one of us will invariably add, “Lovely to see the sun out, isn’t it?” Off we trot on our merry way, repeating it all again when we pass the next person.
I blimmin’ love it.
It’s a small moment, just a few seconds really, but it’s enough to make me appreciate sharing my space with like-minded people.
I want you to try it the next time you’re out. Just a simple smile, nod, or “Hello” is all you need, and it’ll brighten your day, and theirs, more than you could have imagined.
I will warn you that for every twenty people who greet you back, you will get someone who doesn’t want to engage, and that’s not your fault. Just stride onward to the next.
The same goes for holding a door open, or making way for someone you cross in a tight space.
These little moments that we’ve trained ourselves to overlook (or omit entirely) add up to a lot.
6. How quickly children can change.
I have a pretty big issue with people who constantly grieve previous versions of their kids. My son is 12, and I look fondly back at his toddler years, but I never wish for that time, or prefer who he was back then.
He’s growing into a fine young man, and he makes me belly laugh every day. He’s a great drummer, and a keen fan of wrestling.
I’m not going to let that pass me by. In fact, I’m going to admire him for who he is right now because in a year, he will be slightly different.
What I’m saying is, don’t overlook the ‘now,’ especially when it comes to the children in your life. It’s the best feeling to be on that ride with them as you see the beauty in the person they are, as well as who they’re becoming.
7. The fact that your ordinary day can make a difference to someone else’s.
Taking someone out for a birthday lunch or helping get them to a health appointment may be small or even insignificant to you, but to the person you’re sharing it with, it might make all the difference.
You just never know what impact an ordinary act that you overlook as nothing can have.
For example, several years ago, I was on my way to work, and I saw a cyclist come off his bike, going headfirst over his handlebars. I pulled over, went to him, and called for an ambulance. It turned out he needed CPR, which they talked me through.
By this time, other people had stopped, too, and when he came around, I left him with those people and went to work.
It was just a few minutes of my otherwise ordinary day (and certainly a first for me), but sometimes all you need is a few minutes to make a difference.
Final thoughts…
We can so easily overlook the everyday moments that are full of wonder if we fail to see that they are actually what makes up the fabric of our lives.
I’ve learned to live the kind of life where I don’t let the small beauties pass me by, and I have taught myself to pause and appreciate, rather than rush and ignore.
As a result, I’ve slowed my life right down and trained myself to relax and ease into each day. I don’t want to overlook what is all around me and the impact I can have on others.
Do you?
