Every morning around 6:30 I get up with my dog, Sandy, walk out to the pasture to feed my horses, Henri and Gus, and my barn cat named Cat1. (She’s a stray and I wasn’t sure she was going to hang around, so I just gave her a number. It’s probably time to give her a decent name since she’s been here a few years!) I return to the house, feed the dog, and then sit down at my desk for some personal study before I get ready for the day. This is my morning habit and because it’s a habit, I can do it in my sleep and some mornings that’s exactly my form.

While healthy habits are good and we should strive to create them, a condition called habituation can arise when we get so used to something, we no longer conscientiously pay attention to the action. It happens regularly in our everyday lives, yet we are probably largely unaware of it. For example, I sometimes forget to even look at my animals I’m so focused on just going through the motions of feeding them. And I confess, there have been way too many drives to work when I cannot recall how I actually got there. 

Psychologists point out that habituation allows us to tune out non-essential stimuli and focus on things in our life that really demand our attention. However, what are we missing when our life focuses just on the bright and the shiny, while the simple and mundane fades into the background? 

Since my last blog I’ve been trying to practice gratitude, and I’ve discovered that habituation hinders appreciation. Mindless habits can obscure seeing what is in front of us. How have I not noticed the sunrise over the eastern hill beyond my house or the hawk lurking in my woods? How did I miss hearing Henri methodically munching on his hay or the daily game Sandy plays chasing spirited rabbits who always win as they slip under the porch?

In the classic book A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, Francie, the main character, lives a life that defies habituation and focuses instead on her belief, “Look at everything always as though you were seeing it either for the first or last time: Thus is your time on earth filled with glory.” She admires the brass scales in the coffee and tea shop, skates in the window, the lining of her purse, the dates on coins and the delight of an afternoon at the seashore. Francie shows us how gratitude emerges from a mindful curiosity and appreciation for the very small details of our everyday lives.

How can we look at everything as though we were seeing it for either the first or last time? I propose a simple experiment. This week grab your phone and take pictures of your daily habits. Take pictures of those things you would typically not photograph because they are just “ordinary.” Maybe it’s your closet, your refrigerator, breakfast dishes, a child with messy hands, your boring drive to work (pull over first)--you get the point. You’re not going to post these pictures, so just snap away without judgement of the content or the quality. Remember, it’s just an experiment! 

At the end of the day, look at the pictures and maybe share them with family. Discover what you have habitually overlooked or taken for granted. See with new eyes the evidence of abundant blessings and treasures that are already yours. 

“The real voyage of discovery consists, not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes.” (Marcel Proust)

 I would love to hear or see what you discover! You can comment on this blog or email me at terria.flint@gmail.com.