Bruce Kasanoff* urges us to practice situation awareness as an antidote for too much concentration on the digital world.
In the movie The Bourne Identity, Jason Bourne can’t remember who he is, but is perplexed by some of the facts he is discovering.
These include that he possesses multiple fake passports, a gun, and a bank account number etched into his hip.
Sitting in a bar, he also seems eerily aware of his environment.
He explains to his companion: “I can tell you the license plate numbers of all six cars outside.
“I can tell you that our waitress is left-handed and the guy sitting up at the counter weighs 98 kilos and knows how to handle himself.
Bourne is practicing situational awareness. He notices small details, all around him, all the time.
Most of us do the opposite. We notice very few details around us. That is a missed opportunity.
Especially since the pandemic started, I have practiced two habits.
The first is that I go outside for an hour or two each day specifically to look off into the distance.
This is to give my eyes and brain a rest from staring at a screen that is 60 centimetres in front of my head.
The second habit is to notice details in nature.
I look at the bark on trees, the details of flower petals, the wind on the water, and the surface of rocks.
This is to re-ground myself in the reality of the physical world, because so much of my life revolves around a digital world that exists only on computers.
This second habit bleeds into my relationships with other people.
The more I practice noticing details, the more details I notice in the people around me.
I notice whether they seem distracted, upset or joyful.
Things that used to go over my head now grab my attention.
Most importantly, I am more likely to notice when my own behaviour is less than ideal.
Our society is increasingly divided into camps based on what we believe.
When your beliefs alone drive your behaviour, you miss details because details no longer matter.
Your mind is already made up, so why bother with the details?
The opposite state is being endlessly curious about the world.
You seek knowledge for the sheer joy of learning.
You pay attention because it is a delight to notice the intricacies of literally everything in this world.
The closer you look, the more additional details reveal themselves.
While you and I are probably not highly-trained international operatives who were brainwashed and then abandoned by our own Government, we have much to learn by paying deeper attention to our own surroundings.
*Bruce Kasanoff is an executive coach and social media ghostwriter for entrepreneurs. He can be contacted at kasanoff.com.
This article first appeared at kasanoff.com.
