Observing
While walking my dog the other day, I heard a cardinal singing nearby. I couldn't spot it right away, so I stopped to look up in the trees to find it. The trees weren't very dense so it took less than 30 seconds to find the small, bright-red male. After spotting him, I waited again until he whistled his tune; this time I could see him move his head and open and close his beak.
This allowed my thoughts to stray to the idea of observing, and the different levels of observation we come across in everyday life.
On being observant
When most people think about what it means to be observant, the idea that comes to mind is most likely to be that if you're being observant, you're paying attention to everything.
When my wife tells me I need to be more observant this is where my mind goes, too. But that's not the only way to think about "observing", and I think misses the true definition.
To truly observe something, you need to pay attention. When you try to notice everything, you'll end up missing things anyway. There's too much noise over the signal; it's sort of like when you label all your emails as URGENT, then none of your emails are urgent.
To truly be observant, it's about stopping to key in on the details. Like my experience with the cardinal, I listened and looked. This was for something specific, but if I wanted to be fully observant I'd try to use all my senses and be in the moment. What else would I have noticed beyond the bird along a path I walk almost every day?
Stop and smell the flowers
Thinking about taking a few moments to pause and take notice of things with your senses reminded me of the idiom "stop and smell the flowers". I usually think of this more as suggesting you stop running around and take a breath.
But I realize now that it's more than taking a break. It's exactly what I described: stop, and take notice. Put everything on pause and observe, be in the moment.