To seriously answer your initial question, Sandy, the real key to noticing the world around you is to, um, notice things. Look, don't glance, at the people walking by, or the way a tree's shadow climbs up a building at a stop light, or how the people in the car behind you respond if you have a silly bumper sticker (mine says volkSWAGen, thanks to my little brother, and I get a lot of points and laughs). I've heard people say that you should not listen to music or podcasts while out an about to really connect to what's going on, but I think they're often useful to disconnect from all the noise and really see what's happening. You can focus on the loud and the quiet things alike when you're not being shouted at by passing traffic or whatever.