You can energize your writing by brightening up your experience of the everyday. Here are 4 tips to help you "wake up" in your home and on the road.
On the Road
1. Take a different route home.
In grade school I rode my banana seat bike around and around the same block. To combat my boredom, I'd challenge myself to notice one new thing (a budding flower, a roly-poly bug...you get the picture) each time I made the circuit.
Now that I'm grown up, I breathe new life into my drive home by sometimes deliberately taking back roads or alternate routes home. (Full disclosure: my toddler's love of shouting "THAT WAY!!" at intersections inspired this new habit.)
Can you take a different route home one day this week? If not, see what new things you can notice as you head home. Intentionally "seeing" your world helps work out your writerly muscles of observation.
2. Fully "stop" at stop lights, stop signs or crosswalks.
I learned this tip from my meditation teacher. When you come to a red light, stop sign, or blinking "stop, pedestrian" sign, use the opportunity to stop both your car (or body if you're walking) and your mind. Sense your body for a moment. Feel the tension melt down your body and into the ground. Relax your shoulders.
If you can't fully stop at every crosswalk or stop sign you encounter (who can?), choose one to fully stop at regularly. I've chosen the first stop sign I come to after we exit a busy road and head towards home, and now the intersection has become a relaxation cue for my mind and body. My mind and body often shift at the stop sign, without me thinking consciously about it!
My husband's picked up me doing this exercise and now he often "fully stops" at the same stop sign, too. This shared exercise has become a refreshing (and sometimes annoying, sometimes funny) ritual for us.
At Home
3. Clean the window glass.
Brighten your view by cleaning the window glass in your home or apartment. (For city dwellers, consider changing your disguise of a brick wall or other industrial view with new curtains, decorative paper or art.)
You can use this tip to brighten your inner landscape by polishing the glass with intention. As you clean, visualize yourself burnishing and polishing your self-confidence and sense of purpose in your writing project. As you remove dirt or dust, visualize yourself cleaning your mindset of limiting attitudes and habits that block you. (This may sound hokey, I know. We often learn better when we use our kinesthetic faculties as well as our mental ones, though. Try this tip with an open mind.)
4. Rearrange your furniture.
It's just common sense, isn't it? Shifting your room's layout can help you experience your environment in an alert, new way.
You'll have to be mindful to navigate the new arrangement and avoid stubbing your toe on the sofa that didn't-used-to-be-there. Your repositioned chair can offer you a new perspective -- of the room, the view or even your mindset, if you let it. Perhaps one of you will share your Feng Shui ideas or resources in the comments section below.
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If you use my 4 tips to brighten your life on the road and at home, you'll brighten your experience of the everyday. A more awake "You" off the page often translates into a more innovative and energized "You" as you write.
Give these tips a try and come back later this week for part 2. Until then, have fun dropping the drab!
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