Wonder Walks: Your Field Guide to Making Art in the Urban Wild
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We’ve had a lot of moving pieces in our lives lately, how about you? The stress needle moving up the scale has encouraged us to return to practices that may have faded into the background. One of my favorite ways to do that is a Wonder Walk which immediately shifts my perspective. What is a Wonder Walk, you may ask? I am so excited to share with you! Here is how you take yourself on a Walk of Wonder:
Carve out at least 15 minutes - you can do it!
Lace up your favorite walking shoes and grab your camera or phone. Want to make sure you have your phone but aren’t disturbed? Place the phone on “airplane mode” so you won’t be distracted by any incoming messages.
Do you prefer to listen to music when you walk? No worries, put on your favorite tunes.
Head out your door! :)
Before you begin, take a moment to tune into your senses. Take a few breaths and turn your awareness to your sense of touch, taste, smell and sight as well.
Get walking! To begin just walk and breathe, and keep checking in with your senses. What do you notice? You may be carrying a lot from your day. Invite yourself to let it take a “back seat” for awhile. You will return to it later.
Take in your surroundings and welcome your curiosity to take a walk with you. Curiosity is a doorway to wonder.
As you walk, what draws your attention? Take a picture of it with your phone or camera.
Begin to notice how you feel after you have been walking for 10 - 15 minutes. If you are ending your walk here, take another pause and scan through the senses again and make a mental note to describe how you feel. Aim for 3 descriptive words.
A Halloween decoration creeping on my photo.
My friends, you have just completed a Wonder Walk! Now, that experience in and of itself can be really helpful in giving yourself a break from the everyday routine or stresses you may find yourself experiencing. In fact, the act of seeing is a form of art making in the world of expressive arts and when doing it in nature it’s called Eco Aesthetics. Now you are feeling fancy, right?
We now ask you to take your Wonder Walk experience and let it ripple out into the rest of your week. Who says the benefits of the walk have to end here? This part is for extra credit. Take one of the Wonder Walk photos and make it your screen saver on your phone or computer. At various points during the week, take a minute and tune into your senses, look at the photo and breathe. It will become a visual and physical anchor of your Wonder Walk.
Caught in Wonder
Feeling tech savvy? Add the 3 descriptive words from your walk to the photo! On an iPhone, click on the photo, click edit, then click the three dots in a gray circle, go to Markup and add the words. You can write them with your finger or type them by clicking the + sign and choosing Text to add a Text Box. For further help, click here for iPhones. For an Android Phone click here.
We are heading into a time of year full of, well, all the things, right? Take good care of you so you can be present for it all. We’d love to see your Wonder Walk photos, comment below and send them our way! May your day be full of wonder!
