I've been thinking about traveling. No, not actually considering venturing far from my troll hole. I like sleeping in my own bed - and planes? Well, let's just say that the feeling of having good old dirt or asphalt actually touch the soles of my shoes is much better than having 36,000 feet of clear blue scary lurking beneath me. I always pity the poor people that have to sit next to me on a flight. I simply ooze terror. Just give me a gin and tonic to clutch in my clawed hands like a wet, cold, beverage-shaped teddy bear and I'll go to my happy place (on the ground) and pretend to be fine.

Instead, I've been thinking about everyday journeys. They begin even before we leave the house. The news on the radio. Your morning internet perusal. A telephone call - wanted or not. Any and all of these have transported you from the here, from the now you were just in to whisk you to another place. Most of the everyday journeys you take through your day are ordinary, they're familiar. Work, the post office, the grocery store, the vet's office. And that familiarity can be a comfort because it's a known, no need to think about it. But that comfort can also be the exact thing that's robbing you of the wonder of your everyday journeys.

Take a look around you at the faces of your fellow travelers. How many do you see that seem flat, dulled or distracted? How many of them seem to just be going through the motions, not noticing the particular leg of the journey they're on. How many times has that person been you?

When was the last time you took the trouble to actually pay attention to all that's around you? I'm not talking about noticing a red light in traffic or noticing you are all out of clean socks which is always a big, fat drag. I'm talking about really noticing - really paying attention to the way the sunlight hits the side of a building. Really listening to the roar of traffic and the sound of its own whipped up breeze. Really seeing the smile of another fellow traveler who's decided to pay attention at that exact same time too. The unfortunately normal propensity to forget noticing robs us of these experiences. And it is just these experiences that transform the potential banality of our everyday journeys into something that may just be - perhaps - profound.

Artists and writers have always relied on the power of noticing. Masterpieces and Great American Novels have risen from these creatives' chronicling of their experiences. But the good news is that we don't have to be a Michelangelo or a Dickens to make our own everyday journeys mean something. We possess the power to create as well. Our creations may not hang on museum walls or rest in a library, they don't have to. Our creations are vivid memories - memories of sun, wind, tears,

loss

redemption

connection

love.

Check it out.