Have the Best Year of Your Life sets out seven key areas where your personal growth can take place, and where joy, discovery and change can enter your life.
The first of these categories is EXPLORE.
Exploring means slowing down, and noticing the things that sometimes pass us by – like the earth coming alive again each spring, or the vastness of the night sky. And not only noticing these things, but enjoying them. Marveling at the magic of the every day, and the way our bodies allow us to experience the world around us.
Inhabiting the world
The concept of exploring the world needn’t be intimidating: each exploration exercise or challenge is designed to be taken on your own terms.
Nobody is asking you to become the next Christoper Columbus, (in fact we’d rather you didn’t)! Exploration can reach as far and as wide as you’re able to imagine, and there is infinite exploration to be done in just a small back garden, a sleepy village, or a local town.
After all, it is often the smallest steps that constitute the biggest changes, and allow you to form habits that last.
For example…
“Learn how to identify three or four of the most common birds you may spot in your garden, local park, or hovering over the verge as you race down the highway. It’s lovely to be able to put a name to the things we so often take for granted.”
“Today, look up at the sky every single chance you get. Watch it change shape and shade. Observe its moods. Notice how it is ever shifting.
Remember the billions of others living their lives under the same, endless sky. I find that as I look up into this vastness, some of the things that bother me shrink in size, and seem less important than I’ve built them up to be.”
Inhabiting our bodies
When did you last stop to appreciate everything that your body does for you? Isn’t it a miracle, how our bodies are able to heal, renew, and keep us alive – all while being the vessel which allows us to experience the world?
Yet instead of loving and thanking our bodies for this service, many of us treat them like the enemy; always criticising, always scruitinising.
These exploration activities will give you the opportunity to reconcile with your body, to dwell on each of your senses long enough to understand and appreciate their power, and to tap into your innate capacity for fun, excitement and wonder.
“We’re far better at noticing unpleasant smells than those that delight or trigger a happy thought or memory.
Today, go in search of smells that make you smile: freshy ground coffee, clean skin, coconut perfume coming from a travel agent’s, baby powder, cut grass. Consciously seek out wonderful smells and, as you do, breathe deeply, giving your nose a treat and a workout.”
Can you remember what fun it was to wade when you were young? Today, roll up your trouser legs and find a pool to cool your toes in. Or head for the riverbank and dangle your feet into the water.
Some sensations are as wonderful whether we’re six or 60.
Start now
Each week, set aside a little time to explore. Have the Best Year of Your Life suggests one small adventure for each week of the year – from visiting a new place, to tying your hand at yoga, to simply stopping to watch the world go by.
Visit my Instagram and LinkedIn pages for more exploration inspiration, or buy Have the Best Year of Your Life for an activity, challenge, or piece of growth work every day of the year.