Sensory Walk
Entry posted by Pahchisme Plaid
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A Most Wonder-filled Walk. 🏃♀️🏃🏻♂️🚶🏽♂️
The other day, I went for a walk after being shut in for the winter season. 🌥 It was a fairly warm day for what we’ve been having. It wasn’t one of those days where all was beautifully new and lovely to behold. 🤧
I decided rather than let my mind wander on this walk or going for a power walk, this walk was going to be a sensory walk.👟🚶🏼♀️
If you’re like me and you find the demands in your life can at times feel overwhelming or you only have a bit of time to take out of the day for yourself, you can do something of a walk regardless of if only ten or twenty minutes. ⌚️⏱My walk was quite short. If you schedule in some time for writing after, even better.📝📓✏️. It will put your senses into word visuals.
Try taking walks in varying weather ☀️🌧💦🌬 and different times of day 🌝🌔🌓🌒🌚 and in different places for the best array of sensory experiences.
Take note of where you are, who you encounter or animals/insects you observe 🐿🐜🕷🐊 and what they’re doing, what you see,👀 what you feel, experience, what you hear👂🏻, how it sounds, how If feels, how it smells👃🏼, it’s features.
When you get home, brainstorm on paper ✍🏼everything you took note of. This isn’t a time to be a self-critic🔨✂️. Just get it down quickly. Everything you can remember—before you forget.
Unfortunately for me, my working/short-term memory isn’t the best⏳, but thankfully my visual and experiential memory are the best means for me to retain information if I’m going to. Don’t be hard on yourself. Just do your best.🧢
After you’re finished with the brainstorm, go back and add detail. If you use colors, don’t just say, “blue”, say what color blue. 👖❄️💧🌊
If you felt cold, write what it was that felt cold or made you feel cold—the wind, the air, your skin?. 💨☔️🌪
How did your body respond to the cold? Did you shiver? Did you pull your jacket tight? 🧣🧤😨. If you saw a wheat field, what did the wheat look like, was it green, brown, gold or gray? Was it heavy with grain or just in bud? 🌾🌱🌅 Was it cut or blowing in the breeze, all in the same direction or swirling? What else was in the wheat field?
How about the roadside? What flowers were there? Rocks, sand, pebbles, grass, ditches, puddles? 🍂🌷🌿🍄
If you were to take a walk in the ☔️ 💦🚶🏽♂️, there are so many visually and sensory things going on as you walk down the street, even the time of day and season will have different experiences.
Being in a space aware of your senses contains the experiences that can be translated into concrete illustrations for your lyrics. If you do music, 🎸🎼🎹🎻🎺maybe it will leave you with a feeling that you can express through your music. 🎤
The exercise itself may just hep you on your way to noticing things and people around you, the qualities and characteristics that add detail and emotion to your songs.🎼🎼🎼
If nothing else, you may open the gates of creativity or release some tension, memories or fill your mind with ideas. The most basic benefit may be that you have a moment alone grounding yourself.
Try it. See what it does for you!
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Here is my brainstorm unedited.
snow soaked gravel road
footsteps poised and slow
puddles so large I have to go around
slim ice smashed up and floating bits
oak leaves tips poking near the surface
mud brown puddles reflecting the skies
crusted muddy snow
cars humming growing stronger as they get nearer
motors trolling louder when they go by
until trailing off into the distance I can only hear
the road meeting the tires
trickling water echoing under the iron grates
cigarette butts smashed into the sidewalk
cracked pavement
matted brown-gold grass mixed in mud
brown splashed snow
boot prints, dog paw prints smooshed
into the soft ground
yellow fire hydrant with an orange flag
and a little pile of something that matches the mud
birds chittering
my shadow angled to the right as I head away South
tires of a bicycle spitting up damp of the road coming up behind me
shallow pools of water in the parking lot of the convenience store
tire tracks mark the puddles in which they were parked
the imprint fading away as they go
Bold neon blue Bud Light bar light in the window
bells hitting the glass door signal exiting patrons
Turn around
the air cool on my hands, the skin on my
knuckles crinkle
the sun warms my chest and pleasant on my face
the gravel beneath my feet crackles
the iron grate is silent
I hear the soothing tune of a woodwind
coming from within a building I walk by
children must be taking a nap
walking down my driveway
I see the reflection of the clouds and my mis-shapen form
reflected in the black body of the Envoy
My feet are dry
I close the door
kick off my shoes
slippers are soft and warm
I hear the clock ticking over the stove
two cats purring in the window sun.
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