The Simplicity of Noticing

Mindfulness is really just the practice of noticing—nothing else.

My mind has been busy and complex for most of my life. I think some of us are just built that way—always masticating something. I am a person full of contrasts: curious, a non-stop thinker, at the core, busy.

Maybe because I’m getting older, my mind is shifting. It feels as if a new way of thinking is unfolding in my 40s—a tendency toward simplicity. Removing layers of myself, and the noise of what I’ve learned.

This shift in perception is changing everything. If we think about meditation, it can become quite complex, mystical, and now, in this new era, sometimes overly scientific. We complicate things because we want results, we want to understand. But I feel all of this can become a hindrance.

Too much thinking about how things work and how things should be done prevents us from going with the flow. It prevents us from finding our own way of experiencing things. On a personal level, I feel it pulls me out of noticing what’s here, what is happening within me. And with that, I feel creativity is lost too.

For a long time, I was fascinated by all of it. I spent years studying the brain, listening to countless teachings, exploring what happens and why. All of that had its place (and it’s fun), but when I return to the heart of practice, it is beautifully simple.

Mindfulness is really just the practice of noticing—nothing else.

Are you noticing the smile of the girl next door? If yes, then you are mindful of that.

Are you noticing your own anger rising when things are not done the way you like? Then you are mindful of your own anger and what irritates you.

Are you noticing what you put on your plate?

Are you noticing how it is to live in your body—how it feels to be you?

Noticing makes life whole, nothing missing.

It’s when I’m lost in my phone, social media, or caught in my racing thoughts, that I feel empty—like something is missing. And the craziest thing is, I’m overflowing with information.

Each moment offers something to notice.
When we notice, we are present.
When we don’t, life fades away.

Pau