Can’t afford to travel ?  Imagining you are on a vacation or trip, and canceling all your regular home activities can be a fun alternative. By looking at your home turf through the eyes of a visitor, you can have an amazing time.

Do like you would if you were a tourist in your own area. Go to the tourist bureau, or pick up a travel guide.  Start seeing things anew.

Go to that historic site which you’ve been saying you would go to for ages. Or explore a park that you haven’t been in before. Or just take a bus to a part of town that is outside your neighbourhood. Walk and try out the local cafes. Wander into the library. Or take a picnic with you and a bottle of bubbly. Invite a friend.

Go to a local museum, and instead of exhausting yourself trying to see all of it, really take your time in one or two rooms. If you like drawing, take along your sketch pad and draw what you see.

Or bring along a journal and write about your experiences. I find journaling, sketching, or taking photos makes me be more aware, more observant and appreciative of what is around me. I notice the round curves of a plump woman’s body with the artist’s eye seeing the sculptural possibilities. Colours become more vivid. I might stop for awhile and look at what is going on in patch of grass and dirt, see the ants carrying small, bright green leaves on their backs, and notice the white butterfly dipping between the flowers.

Ah, to be aware of the endless interesting things you can explore not just in faraway lands but at home, to be always discovering new territory, to stimulate your senses and imagination, to get out from under the endless to do list, and taste the beauty and fascination of what is all around!