The poet Kathleen Jamie was recently appointed as makar – Scotland’s national poet. In a short piece in The Guardian, Jamie spoke, among other things, about the radical potential of noticing. She even called it a political act. She is right, yet again. Noticing is powerful. It is also a game changer for connecting us to the world around us. And it doesn’t take money or fancy equipment to make it happen.

Psychologists have long told us that when we know something better, when something is more real and familiar to us, we are less willing to inflict harm upon it. And that the opposite holds true too: that the greater the distance between us as another thing, person, place or creature, the easier we find it to disassociate, to cause damage, to care less.

Noticing reverses this. It builds connection, it is a ready ally of caring more. Noticing is a bit like a muscle. We need to flex it, work it, enjoy the power it gives us. It is not just useful for caring about the hills and birds, it can also be trained on material goods like for instance, what we wear. Noticing is kin with appreciation, with developing understanding of how a garment is made, what it can do, how it can be worn, washed, worn again, repaired. Noticing is the first step in a bigger journey of valuing and satisfaction across many parts of our lives. This is why noticing is a political act. It is about how we choose to live. 

I remember once hearing about the experience of a San Bushman of the Kalahari in Southern Africa who said that if he sees a small bird, but doesn’t recognize it, there is no thin thread. But every time he sees and recognizes the bird, the thread strengthens. Eventually it grows into a string, then a cord, and finally a rope. Noticing helps us make ropes of connection that bind ourselves together with the world in which we live, on whose fate we depend.