Welcome to Dan Catena’s travel blog

After our alarm sounds each morning, we are greeted with our friend the “R” word.

Routines.

Each day we are faced with routines, habits, and schedules.

Wake up, eat breakfast, shower, brush your teeth, work, school.

The list of daily tasks can slowly begin mounting.

For example, my schedule for a long time looked like this:

• I’d work five days a week.
• I ate three meals a day.
• I took the same bus each morning to work.

Week after week, month after month.

Tiny sensations began sprouting in my mind:

• Disconnect because everything seemed automatic.
• Boredom because each day felt exactly the same.
• Anxiousness to break free and disrupt the mundane.

It didn’t matter how sunny the day was.

The music flowing through my earbuds couldn’t have been more positive.

Yet at times I felt like I wasn’t enjoying each day.

I’m not saying routines are a bad thing.

Research points that routines are needed for a healthy lifestyle.

However, I find that we need to spice them up a little bit.

Recently, I read the book Think Like A Monk by Jay Shetty. He’s one of my favorite sources of inspiration. This book didn’t disappoint.

He outlined a way to improve each day in a simple yet groundbreaking way.

I tried it and can confirm that it’s great.

Thanks to Jay, it’s easier to appreciate each day. I feel much more connected to the place I live.

So what did he suggest?

It’s simple:

Each day, make a conscious effort to look for something new.

In other words, as you go to work, take lunch, or spend a few minutes outside, try to spot one thing that you’ve never seen before.

Here were my findings:

• I found a beautiful flower in my neighbor’s garden.

• I noticed an interesting door that looked rustic and wind-worn.

• My neighbor’s car had a colorful bumpersticker of a hummingbird.

I was surprised at how many new things I found. My mood began to shift in a positive way. Doing this practice became a soft reminder for me that:

• Each day is unique.

• There is beauty everywhere but we just need to look for it.

• There is plenty in our life to appreciate.

• We are blessed to be where we are.

• Treasure is closer than we think.

For me, the new habit of finding unique things in my daily life became a fun game.

At first I thought — There’s no way I’ll find something new, I’ve seen it all!

Well, I was wrong.

In 30 seconds I saw something cool and new.

It’s improved the way I view each day and I hope it does for you too.

Thank you for reading. I hope you have a great day!

Daniel

P.S.
This post was originally written on Medium. Check it out here.