The prompt for today’s BEDN (blog every day in November) challenge is travel.
This morning I properly laughed out loud at Chaos in Kent’s response to the prompt , do go and read it I guarantee giggles! But I did wonder how on earth I could possibly come up with anything even a fraction as good. As the end of the day rushes towards me I decided to stop the comparison nonsense and just write something, because I’ll be buggered if I’m giving up on this challenge with only one day under my belt!
These days I don’t get to travel anywhere near as much as I’d like to. Travel is in my blood – I was a military child and so travel was very much a part of life. 6 years ago we sold up and moved into a campervan, all 6 of us, for nearly 9 months. They were some of the best, and worst, months of my life. I miss the moving about, the changing view from my bedroom window, the feeling of excitement and anticipation of new places to be explored, the stories that unfolded as the people watching fodder was constantly refreshed!
When you’re static you miss alot of that – there are only so many stories you can create about your nutty neighbours after all! It’s like reading the same book over over again.
What I try to do, to keep my curiosity burning, is to take my senses travelling. Say what? I might be stretching this concept a little too far, but one of the things that I had in my head as a sort of sensory coach founding goal, was to espouse the idea of adventure being possible right where you are. If you don’t have the money or mobility to travel, it’s important, if adventure is something that fires your soul, to be able to keep stoking it regardless of your circumstances.
One of the ways I get around this is with Sensory Safaris. How does this work? You may well be asking (and if you’re not then perhaps you’re oughtn’t be reading particular blog!) so I will attempt to explain – briefly, ‘cos the pesky clock is ticking down to tomorrow rather too quickly for long winded rambles. Best crack on then!
Take a sense, any sense. Let’s say today you picked hearing. You simply let your ears explore your environment. See what small sounds you can detect beneath the louder, more obviously noticeable ones. Tune in, going further and further outwards, then bringing it back in to your immediate soundscape. This can be quite difficult and can require an almost meditative state to really explore.
If that’s too intense and you just want to have some fun with your ears, play with sound. Not the standard sort of sound play that comes from listening to a favourite album on your ipod. No, no, no! Listen to the sounds that are happening as you go through your day. As an example, many of my favourite sounds happen in the kitchen- the ignition of the gas ring, the sound of onions hitting hot fat, the sound of a serving spoon through a bowl of trifle. You can bring it right into your body too! Can you hear your heartbeat? The sound of the breath entering your nose? What about moving your tongue around your mouth? The sound of swallowing, drinking, eating. Clothes rustling, your feet moving across carpet. Just really adventure with your ears (or whatever sense you’ve chosen) and see what new things you notice, things that were always there but you just didn’t see, hear, smell, taste or feel. Give it a go and if you do, let me know how you got on.
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