“Notice the small things. The rewards are inversely proportional.” Liz Vassey

Do you think someone can be under-stimulated and over-stimulated at the same time? This was the question I pondered this morning as I paddled alone on the lake just before dawn.

When I paddle I often have music playing – not loud enough to disturb anyone on shore but loud enough to keep me company. Today I was so eager to get out on the water before the sun came up that I forgot to put my music on. As I started to paddle I thought I would miss the music and it would be “too quiet” without it. What I learned is that dawn on the lake is not quiet at all!

I paid closer attention to my environment as I paddled and I could hear the song of several different types of birds. I could hear the wooden docks creak against their cradles and I could discern that my paddle made different kerplunk noises in the water depending on my speed or the angle my blade hit the water. There were sounds of farmers working in the nearby orchard and a motorcycle going down the road. There was a ting of the ropes hitting the mast of a sailboat as it bobbed in the small waves and the sploosh of the fish that jumped just a few feet ahead of me.

Once I realized there were so many sounds in my environment that I had not fully appreciated before I broadened my frame and realized there were a million visual inputs I have also not paid close enough attention to – the ripple patterns of the water that constantly change, the different colours of the sky as the sun starts to emerge from behind the mountain, and the shape and movement of a tree branch floating in the water.

The realization made me wonder what small or special details I have been overlooking in my work and my home environment……. Time to get out of my head a little more! I feel some experiments coming on!