a creative challenge for august: ExPLore!!!

It's August! What a rich and intense month. Here on the island, August means blackberries, brushfires, wells running dry, heat, golden grass heads, warm ocean swims, traffic speeding up (tourists) and everything else slowing down. What does August at your place look like? For most of us, August does involve heat, slowing down, and if we're lucky, some time off. I've chosen a theme for this warm golden month, and it's EXPLORE. This theme came up for me, ironically, as a result of feeling limited. At the moment, my work is slow, my budget is tight, and my vehicle is away getting repairs. I was starting to feel a bit stir crazy today, longing for a new challenge or adventure, or at least a trip to town! I was yearning for exploration.. so the challenge I gave to myself, and give to you for this month, is to create a sense of exploration and discovery within the limitations of your current life. I did some brainstorming, and came up with some creative explore challenges for my life. Maybe some of them will work for you, too. My idea was to create new ways of looking at old things - it's amazing what remains unexplored in the apparently familiar territory of our selves, lives, and places. So I will try some of these:

• ride my bike instead of driving
• do things at different times of day: dawn walks, midnight swims, twilight rambles.
• sleep under the stars in my own meadow
• try some new recipes - maybe raw, since the produce is all so gorgeous now...
• explore some forest walks on the island that I haven't done before
• propose a tea date to someone I'd like to be friends with
• try a new mystery writer
• get some guidebooks out of the library and plan a grand trip
• drop in on a class at the yoga retreat that's happening now on the island
• renew an old friendship
• do some studio explores - collage, encaustic painting, ceramic sculpture, new glazes.
  

I am going to try to give myself one explore challenge for every day of August. My explore challenge for tomorrow is to take my usual forest walk... but at dawn. What can you do to explore your life in new ways? Share a challenge in the comments!

My next "7 Keys to an Artful Life e-Course" begins October 10th!
Start your autumn season with 7 weeks of creativity, life-balance, self-care, and fun. Read about it here.