Well-being Journey - TAKE NOTICE

What can I do to help my own well-being? 

So we're onto number three on the list of ways to help boost our well-being and I think I found this one the hardest. 

What does 'Take Notice' mean? 

So this concept is basically paying more attention to the world around you. It's taking a moment to just stop and listen and take notice of the things around you. The reason I found this one hard is because I'm quite 0-100 sometimes and feel I spend a lot of time rushing about. With deadlines and other moments in day to day life it can feel quite hard to just stop and take a moment to pay attention or notice things you haven't paid attention to before.
This step is often known as mindfulness and according to the NHS website on mindfulness it says 'Professor Mark Williams, former director of the Oxford Mindfulness Centre, says mindfulness means knowing directly what is going on inside and outside ourselves, moment by moment'. 

What I plan to do: 

- Be in nature - this means I'll take some time out of my house and in a place of natural beauty whether that's a park or a forest or the beach.

-Walk around and pay attention to the world - this means not just walking to get to a destination but just have a relaxed walk and take notice of things. 

- Pay close attention to something - I'm going to do this by perhaps drawing or taking photos so that I focus in on one thing in particular. 

Results 

- Be in nature: 

Where my family live they are very close to the sea so one morning we went there for breakfast and walked along the coast. It was lovely to be out the house and breathe in fresh air. I listened to the waves and watched people playing games and despite it being busy it was very peaceful. I took some photos of the walk and with my camera was able to focus on the colours of the ocean and the sky and see how they contrasted. It was wonderful to focus my mind on something natural rather than a screen or a computer. 

- Walk around and pay attention to the world: 

For this I tried to take an afternoon out of my day to walk into town on a sunny day. I had no plan and wasn't just walking from A to B I just wandered down and paid more attention to things I didn't normally notice because I was so busy focusing on my next destination. It allowed me to stop and appreciate the flower displays in Cheltenham and appreciate the colours. Something I wouldn't have done before because I was trying to get to another place on time. 

- Pay close attention to something: 

I was working from home one afternoon and it began to pour it down with rain. I have always said I love sitting and listening to rain but it dawned on me I hadn't actually just sat by the window and really listened in a long time. I took myself away from my laptop and phone and sat by the window paying close attention to the rain against the window glass, the sound of the wind through the trees and the way the sky had darkened. 

Now all of these are great things, being relaxed by nature, but I researched into why taking notice and these natural sounds are good for us. According the the website Health a new study shows that natural sounds e.g. running water, 'physically alter the connections in our brains reducing our body's natural fight-or-flight instinct' helping to make us calmer and more relaxed. 

Do you take enough time to take notice of the world around you? Is there anything you didn't know about taking notice? Comment below!