In this time of restricted living when all our travel plans (even to the next suburb) are on hold, how can we find new ways of exploring unchartered horizons. The obvious answer is to turn within, to examine the minutiae of life that  goes unnoticed all around us.

Here is a simple exercise I use on our retreats that always leads to wonderful writing.It is usually done outside but you can do it in your house or apartment.

Think of a number under 20.

Think of a direction — North, South, East, West, North East, South West etc.

Carrying a note book and pen walk in that direction for the number of steps.  Sit down in the place you arrived at and in a small radius around you, examine in detail what you see.  Don’t rush, allow yourself to enter into a state of deep observation noticing everything you can about what is before you. When you feel the impulse, start to write without stopping, first describing what you see then allowing the writing to take you where ever it wants to go.  Write for  about 15 minutes or so, bringing the writing back to your starting point and finishing up.

You can do this exercise again and again , each time exploring different areas of your house. You can even take yourself off to designated destinations like: the cutlery drawer,  the linen cupboard, the garden shed,  the pantry, the underwear drawer,  the laundry shelf, the storage cupboard and more.

Leave no cushion or throw unturned. Go on forays to different rooms at different times of day or night and see what your journeys turn up.

At the end of a couple of weeks, start transferring your best pieces into a journal (with plenty of room for more), add sketches, maps, or photos.  Keep writing, sketching, collecting in this way until there is an end in sight.

Happy travelling!

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