List of important things to us at this time in the world: Resources. Politics. Inclusion. Religion. Education. Social justice. Poverty. Racism. Freedom. Cultures. Spirituality. Equity. Safety. Economics. 

As we consider this list of things that are important to us, no doubt there are some items we may not find important, some we find extremely important, and others that should be on the list. It’s not an exhaustive list of important things.  But everything on that list touches our lives and becomes important to us whether we realize it, like it, or not. 

There’s something else they all have in common. Each of them in their own right requires us to notice. Notice the issues tied to them. Notice the nuances involved in each. Notice how each affects us, affects our neighbors, affects our family, affects people like us and people different from us. Notice the context and history of each. Notice the various qualities and characteristics of each that positioned it on the list of “things important to us” in the first place. 

There are likely some items on that list where each of us knows we really have not been noticing–so much so that we would be willing to drop it off the list. Be assured. The item we don’t notice much someone else is noticing with a life or death grip.

Why does noticing matter when it comes to these items (and many other things)? Noticing is the doorway into change and progress. Noticing is where we begin to make a difference.  Once we begin to notice the dynamics of a thing, how it affects us, what it requires of us, what it has to offer us, we begin to make deeper connections. Those connections begin to tie us not only to people we know but to others we don’t know (yet). They move us, inspire our creativity and establish alliances that are nothing short of human, social and spiritual infrastructure.  

When we have noticed something that draws us into deeper connections, I believe that we are then involved, through our creativity, work, progress and growing alliances, in the work of spirit, the spirit that is our interdependent web of existence. This is what it means to be human at our best. 

~Robert Patrick

If these kinds of questions and experiences sound familiar, you might find spiritual direction a good way to explore them.  Here’s how to get started.