Art of Noticing
Actively seek beauty until deliberate attention becomes a habit
- Difficulty
- Easy
- Time to result
- ~weeks to results
- Steps
- 5
- Confidence
- 97%
Swart calls noticing beauty a practical extension of gratitude. The mechanism begins with habituation: when a person passes the same tree, building, or flower repeatedly, attention stops registering it. The counter-practice is to move through daily life actively looking for a specific beautiful detail, pause to observe it, and sometimes point it out to someone else. Art can be made or simply beheld; technical skill is not required. Swart says the practice became a habit for her and claims it produces oxytocin, but the interview does not present evidence sufficient to verify that biochemical claim. The grounded benefit is attentional: deliberate searching interrupts automatic filtering and makes overlooked details salient again. Repetition turns an occasional exercise into a default way of seeing.
Origin
Extracted from The Diary of a CEO. Tara Swart describes noticing beauty as a game-changing active practice that gradually became habitual.
Core principles
- 01Habituation makes repeated beauty fade from awareness
- 02Attention can be deliberately primed toward what is valuable
- 03Making and beholding art both count
- 04Sharing what you notice can direct other people's attention
- 05A practice can become self-reinforcing without proving a specific biochemical effect
How to run it
- 1
Prime the Search
Begin a walk, commute, or ordinary task with the intention to find one beautiful detail. Keep the target open enough to include nature, architecture, color, movement, or art.
Pro tip Use an activity you already repeat so the practice has a stable cue.
- 2
Interrupt Habituation
Look again at familiar surroundings that your attention normally filters out. Change angle, pace, or route when that helps reveal a detail.
Pro tip Ask what a first-time visitor would notice here.
- 3
Pause and Describe
Spend a short moment observing shape, color, sound, texture, or movement. Describe the specific quality rather than labeling the whole scene beautiful.
Pro tip One precise sentence is enough.
- 4
Make or Behold
Engage with art by creating something or giving full attention to another person's work. Remove skill and productivity as requirements.
Pro tip A quick sketch or a focused minute with music can apply the mechanism.
- 5
Share the Attention
Point out a detail to someone else when appropriate. Repeating the practice socially can reinforce your own habit while inviting another person to notice.
Watch out Do not turn the practice into a demand that others react as you do.
In the wild
The host says his girlfriend may stop the car to spend about 45 seconds looking at a flower that others would pass without registering. Swart identifies habituation as the reason familiar beauty can disappear from attention.
→ A routine object becomes noticeable again through deliberate pause and attention.
Illustrative example: a commuter chooses one building detail to notice each morning, describes it in a sentence, and occasionally shares it with a colleague. After several weeks, the search starts automatically when the commute begins.
→ A repeated route becomes a cue for active attention rather than passive habituation.
Common mistakes
Searching Only for Spectacle
The practice works with ordinary flowers, trees, and buildings, not only rare or overwhelming experiences.
Judging Artistic Skill
Swart explicitly says a creative outlet can help even when the result is not conventionally good.
Promising a Medical Outcome
The transcript mentions oxytocin but does not establish a guaranteed biochemical or clinical effect from the practice.
Is it for you?
Best for
It is best for people who want a simple daily practice for attention, appreciation, and creative awareness.
Not ideal for
It is not ideal as a treatment for depression or as a guaranteed way to produce spiritual experiences or biochemical changes.
From the transcript
“noticing beauty. That's been a real game changer for me”
“an active practice of going through life looking for something beautiful”
“eventually you'll just not notice it cuz you're habituated to it”
From the episode
Neuroscience Expert Dr. Tara Swart on Evidence We Can Communicate After Death and Her Experience Speaking to the Dead!