Noticing the small things

Before, I was so busy.

Rushing through all micro interactions. Always checking slack. Working every day.

I decided to slow down and take care of my attention.

The first thing I had to do was to remove the notion that my time was so incredibly valuable. How could I experiment with doing new things, spend a few days learning guitar, learn to draw, read a new book, if I had this big three headed dog in me that would strictly enforce an optimization scheme where every effort must be carefully weighted according to its estimated usefulness?

First, I went on to do nothing. Try to get bored. Doing nothing in itself wasn’t the goal, but I needed to confront my need to optimize head on. I needed to chill out and get comfortable with the fact that sometimes we do nothing. Sometimes we waste time. Not every activity has a goal.

What happened after was amazing. All my senses improved. Suddenly life was in 4K. I loved the sound of music. I found intense pleasure in cooking. Small interactions became highlights of the day. The little smile from the bartender. A fist pump to a stranger who suceeded a blimb. A joke to the cashier at the supermarket. Suddenly, I was noticing the small things.