I couldn’t agree more.

There’s a moment, somewhere between airports and unfamiliar sidewalks, when travel stops being geography and becomes perception. The cities don’t change as much as we do. The trick isn’t crossing borders — it’s learning how to see again.

Modern life trains us to look without noticing. We scroll, skim and predict our way through the world until everything feels familiar. But the brain is more flexible than it seems. It can be rewired, nudged and even startled back into surprise. Here are five best practices for tricking the mind out of autopilot and into wonder.

1. Count your blessings.

Expressing gratitude not only makes us happy, but it has a powerful effect on our imagination and appreciation for the world around us. Naming three new things you’re grateful for each day, for example, can radically rewire the way we see the world. Do it consistently for 21 days, in fact, and the brain starts to default toward scanning for what’s good in the world instead of what’s missing or broken.

This matters because attention is not neutral. It is trained. Left unchecked, it drifts toward threat, scarcity and outrage — the currency of news cycles and algorithms. Gratitude interrupts that loop. It doesn’t deny difficulty; it just refuses to let difficulty be the only thing you see.

Over time, even ordinary scenes — a tall soft serve from Macey’s, a kind exchange, sunlight through a window — start to register as part of the main story, not background noise.

2. Expose yourself to novelty.

The brain is a prediction machine. Familiarity is efficient, but efficiency comes at a cost: invisibility. When everything is expected, nothing seems special. Novelty cracks that pattern. A different neighborhood. A conversation with someone outside your usual orbit. A subject you know nothing about. These small disruptions force the mind to update its model of reality.

This is where neuroplasticity shows up in daily life. The brain literally recodes itself in response to surprise. Even minor novelty can restore a sense of vividness and the feeling that the world is no longer a script you’ve already read.

3. Change your biology.

Perception is not purely psychological. It is physical. Sleep, nutrition, exercise and stress levels all quietly alter how we see and interact with the world.

Poor sleep tilts the mind toward negativity. Chronic stress narrows attention. But regular movement — especially aerobic exercise — and consistent rest expand cognitive flexibility and emotional range.

The world doesn’t just seem different when your body is regulated. It is experienced differently. A benign street becomes bubbly. A minor inconvenience loses its emotional weight. Biology sets the lighting in which perception occurs.

4. Break prediction.

Much of life is lived inside prediction loops. You already “know” how your morning will go, how your commute will feel, how people will respond. And so, you stop looking.

Disrupting that loop requires small violations of routine. Take a different route. Change the order of your morning ritual. Listen to music you would normally skip. Do something slightly out of sequence. These are not lifestyle gimmicks. They are disruptive interventions that force the brain to reengage and process anew instead of autocomplete. Where prediction fails, attention returns.

5. Abandon self-labels.

Identity is arguably the strongest filter over perception. We don’t just see the world — we see it from the kind of person we are. “I’m anxious,” “I’m bad at this,” and “I always react this way” are sure-fire ways to predictable outcomes.

When we loosen these self labels, however, perception expands, allowing us to see our surroundings in a new light. This shift starts and ends with honest answers to more open-ended questions: What if I choose to react in a different way? What else could be true right now? Is it possible I can be good at this?

Our identity is not set in stone. It can and does evolve over time. It can change with effort and newfound beliefs. And it can be rewritten. Just because the world often stays the same doesn’t mean you have to.

Blake Snow contributes to fancy publications and Fortune 500 companies as a bodacious writer-for-hire and seasoned travel journalist to all seven continents. He lives in Provo, Utah with his wife, five children and one ferocious chihuahua.