A few years ago I was part of training group who were offered an unusual invitation that not only captured my attention but sparked my imagination on a deep level. The invitation was to notice what you don’t normally notice. At first, I curiously pondered this idea not really understanding what to do with the request. The initial thought that crossed my mind was a line that my mother was attracted to, “Don’t forget to stop and smell the roses”. I figured it was a good place to start this noticing exercise by applying this idea about slowing down from the cultural rush we are all in and appreciate the lovely things in life. But deeply I knew there was more… much, much more to this art of noticing what I don’t normally notice, especially given the nature of the training course that I was on that presented me with the idea in the first place. It clearly had to do with a deep discovery of unseen realms, or non-physical reality that my normal senses were not noticing.
In truth, the concept had a way of twisting my mind around in an awkward mental gymnastics because, after all, was I not already paying attention in the way we humans do with our five senses? There truly seemed to be a lot going on that I was noticing, often way too much. But indeed, I always felt there was a powerful “unseen realm” out there, wherever there is, as I had glimpses of unusual things.The thing was, I was not consistently noticing them as real, although innately I knew they were and that they were right under my nose, so to speak. So now it felt time to really notice what all of that was about.
The biggest point of reference I had to this invisible realm actually came from age zero where I was taken to church and later spent my childhood as part of a religious school, Lutheran to be exact. If there was anything that supported the idea of an unseen realm, for me, it was this religious upbringing and the idea of God.