Change can begin with the simple act of paying attention to the world around us.
There is a difference between looking and noticing.
We look at things all day. We look out the window. We walk past the same houses. We sit in cafés, wait at traffic lights, stand in queues, walk through school corridors, shops and train stations. But how often do we actually notice what is there?
Writers are often told to “find inspiration,” as if inspiration is something sitting somewhere waiting to be discovered. It really isn’t like that. Noticing, is all around us and in the age of smartphones it’s incredible to witness how people of all ages are just too busy looking down.
If you are searching for change in your life you have to look up and start noticing. Begin with the simple everyday which is all around us. It could be the tree you pass every morning has suddenly lost half its leaves or it could be hearing two people laughing as you walk past them and wondering what they were laughing about.
We don’t have to know why something catches our attention. We don’t even have to turn it into a piece of writing immediately. We can simply notice it. And sometimes one small detail leads somewhere unexpected; like a smell can take us back twenty years. A song can bring back a person we haven’t thought about in ages. This brings us into the present moment and it’s in the present moment change occurs.
WriteWell’s Navigating Change short 4-week course opens online next month and in it you get to explore a variety of creative prompts to move you from the past into the present moment. There’s nothing like writing for wellbeing to bring you there. Here’s a taster exercise from the course:
Think about an area of your life where changes are taking place. Choose one specific change that you’d like to address. Complete the sentence stems.
This change is…
I would like to…
I hope that…
Write for at least 3 minutes per sentence stem.
It’s always a good idea to reflect on a piece of writing afterwards; therefore, what did you notice after completing it?
If it felt good and you’d like to explore further sign up to WriteWell Community today and enjoy a free six-month trial.
