I was walking through Central Park the other day later in the morning than I normally do, and I discovered that the light on the trees creates completely different patterns and touches the branches and leaves in completely different parts of the trees as the morning moves along. I was struck by one particular tree where I’ve never before seen the sun on the trunk almost at the top of the tree. Usually, at the time I cross the park, the sun touches the base of the tree and, perhaps, half-way up. The patterns of light and shadow on the tree were as beautiful later in the morning; they were simply different and caught my attention because I hadn’t seen them this way before. That got me to looking around even more, and I noticed other changes. The way the shadows fell across the pathways was also different – shorter, with more light around them. These were subtle changes, but brought a sense of something new, an awareness of the constantly changing world around me.

For this week’s experiment, I invite you to pay attention to what’s new in the things around you that are also completely familiar. Think of the times you’ve entered a room in your home only to discover that, when you see it through the eyes of a visitor, suddenly you notice what may be out of place, or messy, or particularly beautiful. At moments like these, we tend to see things we don’t ordinarily take into our awareness. It’s as if we were seeing something for the first time, even though we encounter it everyday. I had someone come to my apartment a couple of weeks ago, to work on a last-minute project, and when she left, I noticed many things about my space that I had come to take for granted. It was eye-opening, as I noticed not only the things I like about the feel of my space, but also the presence of little piles of “stuff” I’d come to overlook. The next morning, my first task was to make the changes that had come to my attention the evening before, and it was a pleasure to engage it all with “fresh eyes.”

And so, this is really an experiment of seeing through fresh eyes, hearing through fresh ears, and perceiving familiar things in your environment through an open, fresh point of view. This may even extend to the people in your life with whom you are completely familiar, and toward whom you may have a set point of view. Allow this to be a week of discovery of what’s new or unexpected in the parts of your world that are completely familiar, that you know so well.

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