When standing on the corner of a street in downtown Port Coquitlam, I was able to focus on the bustling and busy lives of the individuals in the urbanized city. The cars drove by, rushing to their next destination, as people crossed the streets, shopping for groceries or maybe just getting a coffee. I spent most of my time thinking about where the people around me were going to and coming from. This time around, I did not feel as relaxed or content in my environment because people kept staring at me and with all the sounds and movement going on, I could not really find something to focus on and my attention was everywhere.
I had the exact same experience in not being able to focus on things. It’s as if there is too much in our urban environments for us to really focus on any one thing. Makes me think about how it might train our perceptions when growing up in different environments. In a city, we might learn to ignore a lot of things because there’s too much stimuli, in an rural setting, we might notice more.