Observation

It's easy in our modern world with all its worries and distractions to walk through life without really fully registering your surroundings, beyond superficially that is. Even more so with todays electronic distractions. We think we're alert, listening and looking, although we're not really seeing, and many things just don't register. I'm no different, I'm not saying that, no, I'm a dullard. Though I've noticed how exposure to nature/natural environments, walking in them, immersing myself in them, my perception of my surroundings have changed, become enhanced and I notice more. I see our zombie state as the result of modernity, of technology dulling our survival instincts and of our removal/disenfranchisement from our natural environment. Watch an animal and they're usually aware of everything around them, alert to subtle changes, they're connected to their environment. It appears like a sixth sense, though really it's survival instinct. We too would have been like that, had that sixth sense, that survival instinct, though modernity gave us the impression we didn't need it any more. Of course, we do need it and we can still regain some of that natural skill with practice. Where's my rambling going? Well, as I said, I've noticed my perceptions have changed over time, my peripheral vision has improved as has my awareness of my surroundings, and even when preoccupied by what's ahead of me or whatever was on my mind, I know my peripheral vision is now subconsciously scanning my surroundings far more that it used to, or at least I'm now aware of it. An example is walking through the woods, my mind wandering on a myriad of subjects, working through things, my chain of thought was interrupted by my subconscious radar. I turned and in the near distance (30/40m or so), amongst the stands, behind fallen boughs and assorted debris my peripheral vision had registered an anomaly, a weathered square post. Obviously man made, it had eluded occupied conscious mind, taken up as it was, but had not escaped my subconscious. Wow, I thought, how/why did  I see that?  Once alerted, the post became obvious, as all straight lines are amongst the jumble, though how many people, I thought, would have passed by completely unawares and left none the wiser.

And the moral/purpose of my ramblings? No, it's not to tell you how brilliant I am, anybody who knows me knows that's not the case. It's that our peripheral vision and senses are like muscles, they need exercising to work effectively and to their best. Get out into nature, walk, immerse yourself, connect with yourself through connecting to nature, get in touch with your animal self and feel more human for it.