Sit on the steps for two minutes and count what you hear. You’ve been missing a lot.

Your ears have been working the whole time and you have been filtering nearly everything out. A street has layers in it, traffic a long way off, a dog, somebody’s television, wind through a particular tree, and the brain discards all of it because none of it is urgent. Counting forces the filter off. The change is in you rather than in the street.

Go out and sit for two minutes with the single task of counting separate sounds. Aim for ten, which usually takes less time than you expect. Do it in the same spot twice this week and notice how the list changes with the hour.