Noticing as a fully embodied practice
At a recent conference I attended on Contextual Behavioral Science a key term I heard frequently is NOTICING. This is not a new term. Yet it stood out for me. One of the presenters highlighted that we come into the world as ‘noticers’. We have an inbuilt capacity to notice. Noticing is a verb, something we do all the time, whether we are aware of this or not. It’s an internal process natural to all of us, just as natural as the flow of blood through our bodies. For much of our waking time we are not aware of what we are noticing or giving our attention to. Yet we are still engaging this process.
More often we are lost in ‘cognitioning’ or thinking, judging, fantasising, remembering, longing, problem-solving, worrying. We don’t realise this is where our attention is most of the time. Being lost or entangled in thinking is simply that. It is not noticing. Noticing is being aware of the fact that we are engaging in cognitioning, regardless of what this is about. Noticing involves engaging a different dimension. This includes leaving the thinking mind, or at least trying to create some space between the thinking mind and oneself as the noticing dimension to enable this process to unfold.
The process of noticing includes the whole body. It’s an embodied experience. Our whole being, mind, heart and every other part of the body are inherent in the noticing dimension. It is infused with consciousness and the dynamic energy of the heart, mind and body. We bring our whole being into the process of noticing, moment by moment. It is a fully embodied practice. Noticing is essential to being fully human and alive. It’s important to know that this noticing dimension is not a thing or object. It’s unlike an organ in the body that has a particular physical location.
When we begin noticing our experiences from this dimension we see our experiences for what they are – experiences, including thoughts, images, memories, feelings, emotions, sensations. These experiences are not who we are as human beings. When we use language the process of noticing is the ‘I am’ part of a statement. For example, in the statement I am sad the I am is noticing an experience of sadness, which will arise for some time and eventually dissipate. The simplest way to begin engaging in the process of noticing is to acknowledge and name what you are noticing. For instance, I am noticing a thought, I am noticing a feeling, I am noticing a sensation. Each of these is unfolding behind our skin. You can also noticing experiences outside of your skin. for instance, I am noticing the cars on the street, I am noticing the sounds of birds.
Within and through this process and practice of noticing lie the seeds of acknowledging, allowing and accepting what is, moving us toward being kind, gentle and compassionate with ourselves and others. The practice of noticing enables us to really see what’s there, providing an opportunity for us to make an intentional choice about how to engage with what arises in a fully embodied manner.
