In their book 'Mindfulness: A practical guide to finding peace in a frantic world', Mark Williams and Danny Penman introduce the concept of 'habit releasers', which they define as "a deliberate choice to break out of one (or more) of your usual routines".
Habit releasers could include sitting in a different chair at home or at work, trying a different coffee shop or supermarket from your usual choice, or switching up your route to work, school, the gym etc.
Since reading their book, I've tried to keep this concept in mind whenever I feel I'm getting stuck in the rut of routine - eating the same food, watching the same TV shows, buying the same newspapers etc.
One of my favourite habit releasers is experimenting with modes of transport and routes to and from work. What can often feel like a dull and stressful part of your day can even become exciting! When I'm in London, I mix up cycling to work with running and taking the bus or tube. Taking different routes also means I'm discovering new places and waking myself up from the autopilot of the daily grind.
This month I've been really busy at work, including a two week trip to India, so it's been challenging to find the time to plan or do a microadventure. But then I remembered that's the whole point of this challenge - to find the adventure in the small things. So this month it was all about building adventure into my commute, and India during monsoon season meant there was no shortage of opportunities.
The photos and film clips below give a little insight into some of the microadventures I had from hotel to office and back...
Habit releasers could include sitting in a different chair at home or at work, trying a different coffee shop or supermarket from your usual choice, or switching up your route to work, school, the gym etc.
Since reading their book, I've tried to keep this concept in mind whenever I feel I'm getting stuck in the rut of routine - eating the same food, watching the same TV shows, buying the same newspapers etc.
One of my favourite habit releasers is experimenting with modes of transport and routes to and from work. What can often feel like a dull and stressful part of your day can even become exciting! When I'm in London, I mix up cycling to work with running and taking the bus or tube. Taking different routes also means I'm discovering new places and waking myself up from the autopilot of the daily grind.
This month I've been really busy at work, including a two week trip to India, so it's been challenging to find the time to plan or do a microadventure. But then I remembered that's the whole point of this challenge - to find the adventure in the small things. So this month it was all about building adventure into my commute, and India during monsoon season meant there was no shortage of opportunities.
The photos and film clips below give a little insight into some of the microadventures I had from hotel to office and back...
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| Bangalore river/road |
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| Microadventure to find the Decathlon I spotted from the Bangalore office window |
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| Delhi morning commute in the rain |
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| The relative uniformity of the M25 on the way home |
