How to make walking more interesting

The arrival of spring means it’s time to get out and walk again. But if you live in a cookie-cutter ‘burb, you may be a tad bored with the unchanging character of your strolls. You don’t have to be. With some focused attention, you can add layers of interest to the experience, says Rob Walker, author the “The Art of Noticing” and an accompanying Substack newsletter. You just have to trick yourself into engaged contemplation. A few tactics:

Narrow down: “Look for one specific thing — pick a color. ‘I’m going to look for blue today.’” Keep track of everything you see that’s blue. “It’s just a trick to keep you engaged and looking,” he says. The next day, try yellow.

Focus on nature: As the coyote sightings on Nextdoor.com remind us, nature is no stranger to suburbia. Look for it. “Pick a different kind of nature to notice,” Walker suggests. And not just animals: Our abundant xeriscaping offers plenty of plant variety. What is that odd purple tree, anyway?

Count with numbers you see: “It’s kind of a child’s game,” Walker admits, but it can be fun — once you see a 1 in someone’s address, license plate or political yard sign, look for a 2, and so on. “You can keep it going as long as you like,” he says. But along the way you’re noticing elements of the neighborhood you hadn’t before.

Engage other senses: Don’t just look at your neighborhood. Listen. Birds, cars, distant voices. Get into it: Use a birdsong app to identify species. Ponder what you hear. “Ask yourself, ‘If I had to map the sounds that define my neighborhood, what and where would they be?’” Do the same with scents, though you might want to stop short of tastes.

“These are all just prompts,” Walker says — deliberate self-assignments. And if you really pay attention, he says, “it will eventually shift the way you experience the world.”— Scott Dickensheets