Look around you, People!

Why is it, that every little thing intrigues you when you are away from home, yet you never see things when you’re on your own ground?

Out There, with everything coated in gleaming cellophane newness, you feel just like a child, carefully unwrapping the papers from the Gift of Life. Every little thing fills you with wonder. Each bed, or public loo, or grocers store is an adventure to be broached, even the most basic bite of food a symphony of angels on your tongue, each sight of nature the finding of the century, and every person that you meet a puzzle to be to be reckoned with, or a potential ally.

But here, you do not notice anything which might enrich you in similar ways. Instead, you burrow deep into some private self, denying access to the world’s infections. The world jogs by, muted and in grey-scale. You do not see the marvel in the buttery potato or exquisite cauliflower florette, The fields at arms length from your home seem inaccessible, a mere postcard of existence, as you rush through your routine, yet if you were there instead of here, you’d surely go out of your way to walk through each of them. And you'd revel in this newfound thing that you just don’t get at home.

So, I urge you all to set it aside, for an hour, or half, or if you can spare it, a day. Heck, a moment in your day will do. Look up from your desk, or glance across the street, or put yourself out there in amongst the trees, or fields of rapeseed yellow as a pre-school sun. Inhale your atmosphere; the scent and taste of it. Think about the food you eat, its grain and flavour, the weight of it as you chew. Take a moment to watch those all around you, what they wear and how they interact with their surroundings. Whatever, just really notice things in your domain, as though you’d never seen the place before.

And, in that time-honoured tourist way, think on your discovery, and what it tells you, wordlessly, about your world.