The flaneur Way - NOTEBOOK
As far back as I can remember, I had kept a journal to take note of the moments. I found it was a good way to document what I had been experiencing at the time, whether it be bad or good or otherwise. Growing up, I was more of a silent observer, I found that writing was my way of working out on paper my thoughts, ideas, and the questions of life. Today is no different. The only aspect is that I have more awareness of the benefits of writing and still find the importance of having it as a daily practice. It not only has been my outlet to becoming the storyteller that I am today but as a wellness educator, providing a therapeutic tool in which to clear and declutter the mind of all the extra noise it may have gathered throughout the day.
In my process of writing the book, MIRA Cuba during the pandemic, under a lock-down, It was these journals, that I started to review and process my journey thus far. Through the expressions and impressions, I had documented over the years of being on the road, I began to create a collection that expressed the simple but extraordinary moments I had lived. Designed, and now bound together for you to enjoy as a BOOK called MIRA Cuba The flaneur way.
The Flaneur way NOTEBOOK was created for YOU, to engage deeper, to observe and explore your inner and outer landscapes, in hopes that you CREATE and share YOUR unique voice, vision, and journey. Encouraging moments of reflection, and contemplation.
Writing prompt & rituals offering:
Thank you for connecting to the online WRITING PROMPTS. Below is an offering of questions that bring focus to our everyday direct experience. This is the opening version, which expands deeper into a full course that brings a focus to creativity, wellbeing, and exploration, called FIELD GUIDE to Flaneuring. To engage deeper in this course, which includes not only writing prompts but also creative and wellness practices, rituals, and tools follow THIS LINK. The Field guide to Flaneuring is broken down into 3 parts, observe, explore and create and will be open for registration at the end of APRIL 2022.
slow down, TUNE IN
In a world that is absorbed with modern technology and moving at a high pace, taking the time to slow down and TUNE IN, is necessary. A lot of us walk around with our heads down, numb, and with a device in our hands. Distracted and bombarded by media and imagery, we have lost sight of our present moment and living our direct experience. This writing prompt brings a focus to setting an intention to slow down and TUNING IN and pay attention to the details that make up your day.
RITUAL
Create space. Away from distractions and noise. Turn off phones, and devices. Find some stillness. Perhaps invite some comforts to this experience to induce calm and connection.
Create an intention to be conscious of the moment.
Commit and dedicate a certain amount of time to this practice of witnessing. Acknowledge the existence of you, others, and the space. The amount of time committed to this is up to you. You set the boundaries and rules and allow them to change and flow within your schedule.
Reflection & prompts.
1) Think about your present-day routine? Name some things that distract you from focusing during the day? How much do you feel preoccupied with something that is of the past, or the future, and not the present moment? Make a list of things from the most distractive to the least. From this list, reserve a set period of time to go without, and set it aside. ( i.e, phone, gaming, t.v, )
2) Now that you have brought awareness to what occupies your time and mind. With the space, you have decided to go without your distraction, could you fill it now with something that brings you joy or growth? Jot some things down to which you would like to allocate more time ( i.e exercise, learning a language, reading )
3) Go for a walk, today. This time, intentionally walk at a SLOWER pace. Allowing moments to pause, if something catches your attention.
BEGIN to warm up to WRITING AND the act of NOTICING.
LOOK and SEE
Mirar means “to look” in Spanish. It became a regular mantra or reminder to LOOK and pay attention while traveling in Cuba, as it’s something you often hear on the streets, or in everyday moments. We tend to see more when we are traveling in unfamiliar places because of the change in scenery. It is our everyday lives, we lose the novelty to what we are seeing and become numb to our familiar experiences. At times becoming blind to SEEING what is there.
REFLECTION / PROMPTS
In your day-to-day, inside and out, in the places you occupy or pass, do you feel you take time to LOOK and truly see what is presented to you? Or is your attention on something else or somewhere, with your head down, eyes not open to the present? Only really absorbing a glimpse of life that is passing you by. Practicing observing is something we can all do and learn. We just need to make a conscious effort to do so.
Focus on your sense of SIGHT
1) Carry a small journal and record what you see. It can be as simple as naming things or describing them fully. What colors, textures, lines. Notice the people that you pass or are surrounded by. Pay attention to their expressions, their cultural backgrounds, and rituals. Notice each person's unique features.
2) Try to notice something new in your day. SIMPLY PRACTICE the act of awareness without judgment. Instead of going on “ cruise control” and catching only fractions of a second, open your eyes and SEE if you can find something different in your day-to-day familiar experience.
Photo by - Jennifer Cloutier
EYE CONTACT:
The practice of making eye contact with someone has become less and less these days.
Choose a moment, or an entire day to dedicate to this practice. This can be done anywhere and with anyone. Perhaps it is in your next interaction, either with a friend during a cafe or eating. Or even as you walk, making eye contact with the strangers that go by.
If you enjoy this practice. Go deeper by reserving a moment to do this only with other individuals over a longer period of time.
REFLECTIONS/ WRITING PROMPTS
1) do you generally make eye contact? If NO, why do you feel you don’t? Name some of the reasons why you don’t engage in this way? Emotions, fears?
1) Jot down how you felt during your eye contact practice. Was it easy or hard and WHY? What emotions came up. ? Do you think you will try to practice this again.
LISTEN to hear
Each day is made up of many different soundscapes. How much are we hearing in our day to day and can be we become more TUNED in.
reflect on the sense of HEARING.
For a full day, make it a practice to focus intentionally on LISTENING to what makes up your day. Starting off in the morning and notice all the way till you go to bed.
1) Record these sounds either on paper or with your phone. Be as descriptive or as simple. Use your phone to take sound bites of your day, so you can playback what you have heard.
2) Describe these sounds and how they make you feel. What is the frequency or vibration connected to it? Does it bring up certain feelings? Either it is a song or even a beat/. Is there a memory connected to them?
3) Notice when sounds float in and out. Sometimes sounds can turn into white noise, and silence can be deafening. This practice of TUNING In, so notice when soundscapes shift. Contrasts, volume, or even the absence.
WITH OTHERS :
Communication is key.
Listening with the intention to hear what the other person is saying is important. Ideally, you want to create a balance between giving and receiving in a social context.
A lot of the time while in conversation we are overly eager to share our story, and just waiting for a break in silence. Instead of fully listening and hearing someone out. If we were to repeat back what someone had told us, a lot of the time we couldn’t, because we weren’t intentionally listening. This is the practice of the telephone. Do you remember or know this game?
WRITING PROMPTS
In your next conversation, with a friend, or stranger, practice listening without the need to talk. Waiting for your turn to reply. Some people just need for them to be HEARD.
1) write down, how this made you feel to wait and intentionally LISTEN. Patience is a practice in itself and can sometimes not be easy.
2) After this practice, notice how you felt in terms of the connection. Did you feel it strengthened the relationship and communication? Share with the person afterward if you would like and see what their reaction was?
CONNECT and relate
On my first trip to Cuba, I didn’t know the language. All I could do was sense. Look and see, listen to hear, and feel. I had to find alternative ways to connect, communicate, and relate. I adapted to the moment in which I found myself.
Whether it is on the road, or in our day-to-day lives, we are faced with these types of challenges in which we need to adapt in order to relate to ourselves, others, and this ever-changing world.
These last couple of years have put us to the test of adapting to the uncertainty of life. Forcing us quickly to make decisions. As well as figure out how to stay connected at a time of great distance. Some of us became isolated and others saturated.
For the most part, modern technology supplied us with the instant connection we needed but WAS it enough to give us the intimacy that is necessary on a deeper level?
As we open up, into this new world, I feel it is time to find new solutions and ways to reconnect again.
RITUALS / REFLECTIONS :
How do we move forward and adapt to all the uncertainty and complexities that are still there? Can we stay plugged in and connected during a moment we are apart without feeling overwhelmed and saturated from the constant noise and clutter of the everyday?
Each relationship we have is complex. Whether it be with yourself, or another. Taking simple steps to observe and find rituals to relating, can help begin to bridge the gaps of the physical distance and disconnection that occurred. Bringing back into an alignment with a more updated and authentic version of ourselves that better suits our NEEDS and WANTS, in the present day.
SELF :
Are you taking enough time to truly see and listen to your needs and wants? Reserving moments to connect with who you are, today? Giving the necessary care you need, mentally, physically, and emotionally?
What subtle changes or intentions can you make to find ease and flow in your day, with your own self-care practice, routines, and schedules?
Can you open some space to simply relate to yourself, away from distractions, and noise? To find rest, creation, and connection.
YOU need to give up your old life to get a new one.
RITUAL :
Letting go of the old to invite in the new.
OLD SELF: An interesting ritual associated with letting go is to write an obituary to your old self. The values, beliefs, or patterns, you wish to let go of. The old stories that will not serve you as you want to move forward. This story can have people’s names, negative thoughts, and memories. Whatever it is that needs to go to the past and stay there.
NEW SELF:
The second half of this ritual is to write a letter about a NEW self. Who and what you would like to become.?
This would act as a manifestation of sorts. So write it out, in full expression. Don’t shy away from any details. Get DETAILED. Down from the house, you want to live in, the partners or the people who will be in your life, to the career you see yourself doing. Describe your character, beliefs, and values. The routines perhaps you hope to carry. Speak of family, abundance, and so on. CLOSE YOUR EYES and visualize this as it has always happened.
The old self letter can be torn apart, burned, or put in water.
The new self can be added to a box, or envelope and set aside for safekeeping.
***Moon cycles can be a powerful time to practice rituals. The full moon is a great opportunity to practice the act of letting go of the old and the NEW moon is a good time to invite and manifest what you would like to have and become.
OTHERS :
Think about all the ways in which we can communicate today. Phone, messaging, FaceTime, zoom. Is there one in which brings up stress, and feelings of saturation? If so, can you find an alternative way to connect with another that will bring back more comfort and ease to form a better and deeper line of communication? If you have had too much screen time throughout your day, can you now choose to make a phone call or write a letter or postcard? Creating space, a ritual, and an intention to your action can change the general mood and outcome.
Relationships are a give-and-take situation.
1 ) What do you need/ want in relationships. ?
2) Are you giving too much or receiving too little?
Find beauty in the ordinary
As I walked the streets of Cuba, there were many things that caught my eye. I let myself wander, without much of a plan. One of the things that I was intrigued by were all the chairs. Different styles, colors, shapes. I started to take photos. They seemed to each have a unique story. Each showed their ware and testament of their own journey here. I wonder who had sat on them, thinking, daydreaming, passing the time. By themselves or joined by another. There they sat, AS IS.
These chairs made me think about the beauty, authenticity, vulnerability, and uniqueness of each thing, experience, and person. That even though they had detached strings and cracked cushions, they still held their own and kept their use. Beauty is everywhere. We each have a unique story to tell, and an identity that is constantly evolving and changing, and becoming.
We are all made of many facets and layers. Vulnerable to the exterior elements and society in forming who we are. Over time we show our layers, our scars, our process, through lines, markings. Instead of hiding these marks, we should celebrate that we are still here. Like pages in a book, each revealing a moment in time. A chapter lived.
Find beauty in the ordinary, that becomes EXTRAordinary.
Starting with SELF
Celebrate the self. What are some qualities, or skill sets that you have?
What makes you feel vulnerable? Is there a situation or experience that has made you feel insecure in yourself?
When do you feel most aligned with your authentic self?
In what do you find confidence?
Underneath all the layers, we are all the same. What layer would you like to remove to be more authentic? What could you shed to feel lighter in your day? Are you holding or attaching to energy or something that is not part of you or that has outlived?
Seeing beauty in the ordinary is a practice. Write down some simple things in your life that you are grateful to have. Small, ordinary things that bring you comfort, joy, or ease into your life?
Take a walk today. In your block. And notice the things that remain. Go deep. Do not rush. Look at the corners and grooves. Is there something you have noticed now that you did not before?
let it go and flow
Lifelines are not linear but intersecting, crisscrossing, and at times intertwined. On the road or in our day to day, learning to adapt to constant change is necessary. LET GO of the control and GO with the FLOW, and you will see that life will direct you to where you need to go and to whom you are meant to meet.
All too often we hold on to things, memories, and people. (good and bad) in order to not lose them. However, by doing this we constrict the natural flow of energy.
REFLECTIONS:
1 ) Is there a situation or a person in which you feel you are attaching or gripping on too tight in order for it to not leave or change? What if you stood still and ALLOW what is meant to come, come and go.
2) Change is inevitable and constant. Our expectations can get the best of us. Being open-minded to what life can bring you, can help you open space to new possibilities.
3) When you think of letting go of control, what emotions come to mind? Sometimes a shift in your thoughts is all that is necessary when you go through many changes.
Practice the act of ALLOWING.
I hope you enjoyed these reflections.
They are part of an immersive sensory experience, called FIELD GUIDE to Flaneuring. Being offered in full, this coming spring. Broken down into three parts, OBSERVE, EXPLORE, and CREATE. This program focuses on observing your inner and outer landscapes through the senses. A resource of tools. creative mindful practices, meditations, breathwork, and movement exercises. It encourages you to create and express your voice and vision, beyond any barrier or border.