This is probably why Freeman Patterson once said, "If you do not see what is around you every day, what will you see when you go to Tangiers?" How can we ever learn to see the extraordinary if we never learn to see the amazing ordinary? Our eyes, inner and outer, need to be exercised. Musicians know that about their ears. Unless they practice daily, they'll lose their ability to hear the tiny differences of tone and note. The same is true if we want to learn how to see attentively. The best way to learn how to see is to practice seeing. It may mean beginning small. Steal a half hour at lunch time and look at the people around you at the restaurant — look at how the light plays across their faces, drapes their clothes, and so on. . . . Take an hour in the evening to observe how the light changes as it moves across your yard or through your apartment. Pick something around you and check how it looks at different hours of light throughout your weekend.
— J. Brent Bill, Mind the Light