Never Stop Exploring
I had a client who years earlier had traveled abroad frequently. She found that new places, foods and people provided a heightened awareness to her life. In resent years her financial situation prevented such worldly explorations. She reported feeling board and frustrated with her life as it was. She wanted to find a new home for her dog, quit her job and move over seas.
When I asked her what it was that was so boring, she replied, “It is monotonous, the same people, the same roads, the same sounds, the same foods over and over again.” I asked her a few questions and then asked her if she was willing to try an experiment for one month. She agreed.
I gave her the exercise below. After only one week of filling in this list and making plans to do them, she reported that she very much enjoyed the exercise, that “there is more around me than I had ever noticed.” And that she was the one limiting the breadth and depth of her experience.
Never Stop Exploring:
1. Name three things that you have always wanted to do but had not yet done. And make one call about each on them.
a.
b.
c.
d. Sign up to do one of them.
2. Go down three roads close to your home that you have never been on. Take in the new sights. Notice the details. What are the colors of the doors? What style are the buildings?
a.
b.
c.
3. Go into three stores close to work or home that you have never been in.
a.
b.
c.
4. Have a meal at three restaurants that you have never eaten at. And try a new dish.
a.
b.
c.
5. Start a conversation with three people you’ve seen around you everyday but have never spoken to.
a.
b.
c.
6. Choose one of these.
a. Move the furniture in your home.
b. Paint a room a “different” color.
c. Trade homes with a friend for a weekend.
7. Find one thing that really shifts your perspective and do it. It may be go listen to music. It may be go to the gym at a different time. It may be dress differently. I can be anything at all just “Never Stop Exploring”……..
Today I look at my world through new eyes.
Today I do something differently.
Today I shake things up.
Thursday 19 Apr 2007 | Gayle | Daily Inspiration, Change