Vase of Flowers, 1905 - Odilon Redon
Rob Walker writes recently (The Art of Noticing No. 50) about a podcast "No Stupid Questions" - from Angela Duckworth and Stephen Dubner. They talk about the concept of habituation - "the human tendency to get used to things."
Duckworth & Dubner chat about reasons to resist habituation and find time to appreciate the good things we’ve come to take for granted. (They reference the “three good things” exercise: “In this daily reflection, you list three things that went well for you, and why they went well.” )
Walker suggest a few noticing and attention prompts, not for daily use, per se, but as one-off exercises in fending off habituation right now:
Identify a human-made miracle in your life you’ve come to take for granted.
Same for a feature of the natural world: pick out some miracle of nature you encounter so often you’ve stopped noticing it.
Consider a person in your life (IRL or digitally), whether close or a familiar stranger or anywhere in between, that you enjoy but have come to take for granted.
Now go the other way: What’s a problem or annoyance you’ve gotten habituated to — but that can be solved? How could you solve it?
Think of something you’ve never habituated to — a thing you love that everyone else takes for granted (or even dislikes). Duckworth mentions her love of wall-to-wall carpeting. Which I find crazy, but that’s the point: identify something unique to you.
Finally, identify some thing or activity that you now take for granted that you’d be sad to lose if it were abruptly taken away from you.
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