I like to try to be aware of what is around me. My wife tells me that I "live in my head", a phrase that can mean not noticing that it's raining or that I'm cold and need a sweater. If I am sitting in the living room, why not pay attention to what is in the room? If my memory says I have seen this room before, I can get an impulse to switch my attention to something that feels more novel. But I can pay more exact attention to the curve of that plant and the exact way the magazines are sprawled across the table top.
I do pay attention to the difference between the food being cooked for dinner and the more general idea of food, our typical food choices, what is nutritious. I am interested in the difference between the actual world and the conceptual one. One approach to the difference is using a strong focus on the present moment vs. other moments from the past or the future. I have tried a little of a present moment focus but I see that planning for our anniversary or buying candy for trick-or-treaters or recalling my 8th Halloween costume are natural human activities. We have memory and records in writing and pictures. Those records help us enjoy our past and anticipate our future in specifically human ways that are fun and nourishing and enriching.
In a related way, general concepts, like love or justice or safety can be very satisfying to think about, even if they are not physical or immediate. Somewhere, C.S, Lewis says that we can ruin any lovely or inspiring scene like a sunset but using our imaginations to analyze the seeing of such a scene as photons hitting the eye and nerve impulses traveling to brain centers. For me at least, if I have slipped in physiology and neurology enough times, I am still in awe of the beauty and the minute plus being impressed that Mommy and Daddy fucked such a fine being into existence.
