How to Notice: Expand Your Experience of Everyday Life
by Melissa A. Butler
About the Book:
In How to Notice, Melissa A. Butler draws on over two decades of experience as an educator, leader, speaker, and facilitator of noticing-based practices to share a refreshing guide for expanded awareness, delight, and well-being.
As whimsical as it is serious, How to Notice takes you on a slow and surprising journey that starts small (find an object, look closely, wonder about it), and steadily grows as you notice things you didn’t quite expect and discover new layers of awareness deep inside yourself.
Organized as a series of twenty small moments for practice over time, readers are invited to notice at their own pace and slowly integrate this into their daily lives. There’s plenty of space to rest and reflect along the way, and the book includes supplemental material for extension and application.
Reading How to Notice is an embodiment of play, with each moment of practice inviting readers to try something new, shift their perspective, wonder with whimsy, and find surprise in the smallest of things.
This is a book for right now, in a decade that calls for play and reinvention, for serious work done lightly, for deep connection to the roots of ourselves and each other, for new ways of understanding energy and matter, for liberation of being, for transforming everything from a place of deep and radical alignment with the wholeness of who we are.
Trade Nonfiction | Mind-Body-Spirit | Creative Practice Paperback | 5x7 | 138 pages | ISBN 978-1-7372578-0-6
If you have a book-related question or request, please contact: info@howtonotice.com
Engage with the ideas and practices explored in the book through a workshop, talk, study group, guided noticing practice, or hybrid experience:
Slow down, notice more in small moments with small things.
“Approachable and fun.” “Joyful practice of observation.”
“An invitation to slowness.” “A mental and spiritual retreat.”
“A small book with significant impact.”
Reviews:
How to Notice feels like a children’s book at first. I was playing along, getting to know my collection of small things. And then, BAM, the whole experience turned profound. I slowed down and saw things that had been invisible to me. I experienced moments and people with fresh eyes. If you want to know yourself better and enjoy life more – grab and read this book, completing every chapter’s assignment as if your life depends on it. Because maybe it does.
-Sharon Eakes, MA, BCC, Coach, Author, Trainer
The whole energy of How to Notice is an invitation to slowness. The idea that we can listen and receive from objects brings me into a special place in my being, like meditation does. I found this book both potent and delightful.
-Iesha Delune, Author, Speaker, Life Coach
How to Notice is a small book that will make a significant impact on your life. It reminded me to take the time to notice everywhere. It gave me permission to use more than my eyes to notice the beauty of the world around me.
-Katy Carroll, Ph.D., Kindergarten Teacher
Melissa A. Butler’s How to Notice brings us into a moment of pause, of presence, of breath. Also delight, wonder, surprise, and imagination. This book is a subtle gift, like a secret stone in your pocket. Treasure it and pass it on to a friend you love.
-Daven Lee, Integrative Therapist, Teacher, Writer
It was a joyful surprise to read and witness how willingly I was drawn into the ideas and practice adroitly encouraged by Melissa A. Butler in her book How to Notice. The book is beautifully written and innocently approachable in its guidance toward experiencing noticing more deeply in the simple moments of our day. The step-by-step guide moves us toward fuller understanding and appreciation of those moments and toward stronger relationships between our creative, spiritual, and physical lives. Be ready for some big ‘ah-ha’ moments!
-Natalie P., Early Childhood Educator
How to Notice gently unfolds a joyful practice of observation that not only centers you in the present moment, but opens you up to insights about yourself, inspiring personal growth and creative practice. Approachable and fun, Melissa A. Butler writes with such honesty you feel safe striking up a conversation with that button, that seashell, that something waiting to be found and heard.
-Teresa DeFlitch, Writer, Consultant
This book managed to ignite a childlike wonder in the heart of an adult which is no small feat. I will never experience an object the same way again and I will forever aim to look at the world through the art of noticing.
-Kari W., Brand Strategist, Designer
This book is a gift from Melissa A. Butler to our planet; a mental and spiritual retreat for anyone who is hungry for a new way of being or wants to find a way to be fully present in daily life.
-Karla Daye, Teacher, Mentor