Some exercises in description from John Gardner's classic The Art of Fiction.
4a. Describe a landscape as seen by an old woman whose disgusting and detestable old husband has just died. Do not mention the husband or death.
4b. Describe a lake as seen by a young man who has just committed murder. Do not mention the murder.
4c. Describe a landscape as seen by a bird. Do not mention the bird.
4d. Describe a building as seen by a man whose son has just been killed in a war. Do not mention the son, war, death, or the old man doing the seeing; then describe the same building, in the same weather and at the same time of day, as seen by a happy lover. Do not mention love or the loved one.
What do these have in common? They all concern description. They all use the phrase "as seen by," asking you to notice how your POV character's subjective way of seeing influences what appears in your story. They all ask you to make us feel an emotional truth of the story by showing it though the character's experience, without telling us directly what it is.
(Note in 4d the phrase, in the same weather and at the same time of day. No rain for sadness/sunny days for happiness.)
You could choose one of these and spend ten minutes on it. Then, next time you sit down with your own story, think about how the surroundings are filtered through your character's experience. How description can be a tool to show your characters' emotions. How even a landscape can be saturated with mood and meaning.
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