When you do the common things in life an uncommon way, you will command the attention of the world. - George Washington Carver
Do you have a place that you walk or drive by every day but have never explored? Most of us have these places. We say that we will get to it one day...but it's hard to make these adventures a priority. There is a spot I have driven by almost every day on my way home from the office for the past eighteen months that I have never visited...that is, until today.
This evening when David picked me up from work, he suggested that we check out Asheville's edible garden. To be completely honest, I was hungry, craving a run, and had to pee - definitely not in the mood to explore. But there are two key things I have learned through this (29th) practice:
ONE: The moments when you are the least excited are usually the best moments to practice. It doesn't matter if you are tired, hungry, cranky, stressed out - sometimes these are the BEST times to stretch yourself and grow.
TWO: Support helps a lot. David will ask me: "Have you gotten in your exploration today?" and this helps hold me accountable...and usually recruit a partner in crime.
We knew that the garden was somewhere along the drive home from my office, so we set out to find it.
Tucked into the middle of downtown Asheville, in the midst of thick waves of honeysuckle, is the George Washington Carver Edible Park. The park was built out of a trash pile in 1997 and now boasts over 40 varieties of fruit and nut trees.
Chestnut, pecan, and apple trees. Blueberry and blackberry bushes. Pears, pawpaws, and plums. A beautiful urban oasis and you would never know it existed unless you stopped to look.
What places have you been meaning to check out? Where can you go exploring today?
I am a firm believer that most of the time it is the small things that make the biggest difference.
Local cherries. Fresh blueberries. A kick-ass gluten free bagel from a local baker that makes me smile every time I see her. Organic micro-greens (they're so small but packed with nutrition!). Hot coffee. The smell of library books and the promise of a good read.
This past week I spent some time in Shenandoah National Park. I slept late. I hiked on the AT. I turned off my cell-phone. I took a nap in the afternoon. I ate campfire meals.
It was glorious.
I wasn't there for long, but long enough to reset and to get in a few good hikes, including Bearfence Trail, a hike that boasts a rock scramble with 360 degree views. True to its name, after we scrambled up huge boulders we encountered an earth-shattering view of the Blue Ridge Mountains. We were towering above the tree-tops and I was reminded of our trip to Tikal, Guatemala where we scaled temples that were built thousands of years ago.
Standing on top of those rocks I felt empowered. enlightened. eternal. And reminded of the power of exploration.
Now, I cannot take credit for this realization on my own. I shared with David that I've felt unsure about this (29th) practice. I was so excited about my month of movement in March, but with April and May I've felt a little lost. I changed focus half-way through April. While I kept up my Morning Pages in May, I only wrote 500 words about a dozen times. But David helped me identify something I had already been doing in the first few days of June AND that I felt excited about practicing: exploration.
Studies show that novelty experiences release endorphins and dopamine in your brain, causing the event to be both pleasurable and memorable (bonus point: studies on relationships reveal that experiencing new things together can contribute to relationship sustainability).
So far this month I: have gone to a Nationals game in DC, drove down Skyline Drive, climbed on the rocks in Shenandoah National Park, visited a new town (Waynesboro), ate a picnic lunch during the workday, run a new route, and explored a new neighborhood near my house. June is about exploration - not big, crazy exploration (although I am certainly not ruling that out), but integrating exploration in small ways every day.
It is so easy to have a list of somedays - and these lists are important as they represent our hopes, dreams, and desires - but we should not focus on them exclusively. Sometimes all it takes is 10 minutes of exploration a day to make our souls sing.
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