ZONING OUT & ABOUT
It seems a bug in the human schematic that we do not feel as thirsty as we really are. You can become dehydrated without the urge for water, even though going more than a couple days without it could kill you.
Examples of soft fascination
- Trees
- Ocean
- Fire
- Birds
- Rain
These things are out of doors, in the open. We are indoors for prolonged periods. How can this lifestyle provide soft fascination? It nearly never does. It’s a drought and we don’t know what we’re thirsty for.
Attention restoration theory (ART) asserts that people can concentrate better after spending time in nature, or even looking at scenes of nature. Natural environments abound with “soft fascinations” which a person can reflect upon in “effortless attention”, such as clouds moving across the sky, leaves rustling in a breeze or water bubbling over rocks in a stream. Philosophically, nature has long been seen as a source of peace and energy, yet the scientific community started rigorous testing only as recently as the 1990s[1] which has allowed scientific and accurate comments to be made about if nature has a restorative attribute.