Neighboring Tip of the Week - Slow down, and notice something new about your neighborhood each day this week.

Happy spring, all!

When we drive through our neighborhoods, we tend to see people, houses, yards, and streets, but when we walk through our neighborhoods, we tend to see faces, homes, flowers, and trees.

For this reason, we propose this week’s tip: Slow down, and notice something new about your neighborhood each day this week. This tip allows us to become better informed of what is happening in our neighborhoods, helps us to foster attitudes of thankfulness, and may even help us to discover the stories of our neighborhoods.

The tip is made up of two distinct parts that work together in order to accomplish the common goal:

1. Slow down - Before you can actually notice something new about your neighborhood each day, you have to create the space to do so. Obviously, this may look very different depending on the person. Maybe you set time aside each day to be mindful of your neighborhood while still in your home. Maybe you walk the next time you need to get somewhere in your neighborhood that you might normally drive, bike, or run in order to get to. This can be anything that both keeps you from feeling rushed and puts you in a position to notice your neighborhood. No matter how this looks, set time aside each day in order to do so.  

2. Notice something new about your neighborhood each day this week - Now that you have already created the space to notice something new about your neighborhood each day this week, all that’s left is the easy part: notice! Again, this may look very different depending on the person, but all you have to do is employ your various senses in order to observe the neighborhood around you.

Have you ever been past something hundreds of times and never truly noticed it was there? It seems as if most everyone can recall a specific moment when they first noticed something they had been by countless times before. It’s just so easy to do! As humans, it seems all too easy to become caught up in our everyday experiences, or what we perceive as being part of “our lives”, instead of taking time to notice the life that surrounds us, the lives we impact, and the life we get to be a part of. By focusing on deadlines, destinations, and what is familiar to us, we end up missing out on what is happening all around us, what is new, what is beautiful.

Happy neighboring!