Ch. #133--Anything Goes POSITIVE with the Opt. Twist of: Take a Walk & Find Inspiration from Something Unexpected that You See Along Your Route…Midway

 

 

Hey folks! Welcome back to the Path of Positivity Challenge Blog! It is the third Monday of the month and that means that it is time to present the midway for Challenge #133. It is my fond hope that each of you and your own families continue to stay happy, safe, and well, wherever it is you live in this big wide world of ours. 

As we are a unique kind of challenge blog, it is important for you to understand how things work. Please be sure to check out the START POST FOUND HERE for the specific details related to this month's challenge, and you can find out all the general details you need to know in order to participate, by clicking on the 'Challenge Details' tab (located at the top of the blog). For your convenience, a summary of the most important rules can now be found in the right sidebar under the heading 'General Rules'.
 
Right now, it is time to continue with our midway. Here is a refresher of the details for our current twist:

 

 

Challenge #133

Anything Goes POSITIVE with the Opt. Twist of 

Embracing The Unexpected:

Take a Walk & Find Inspiration from Something Unexpected that You See Along Your Route

 

This year's goal is to Embrace the Unexpected in our lives (click here if you'd like to read more in depth about our overall theme for 2025). No matter how much planning we do throughout our years on this earth, we're going to come across circumstances that we can't plan for. These unexpected things may be small or they may be huge and life altering. The only thing that we can control is how we react to these events. So this year, instead of BRACING for the unexpected, we are going to flip that and get in the habit of EMBRACING the unexpected. This will help us to train ourselves to look at these types of events in a different light.

To help inspire you on this journey, each month we will be doing things such as creating fun unexpected projects, working with items we might not typically work with, taking approaches that are different from what we normally do, offering up the unexpected to someone in our life, etc. So, let's get to the details for this month's challenge.   

Henry Miller said, "The moment one gives close attention to any thing, even a blade of grass, it becomes a mysterious, awesome, indescribably magnificent world in itself". This quote is a powerful call to mindfulness and encourages us to be fully present when interacting with the world around us. When we truly stop to discover the myriad of riches found in the simplest of things, we discover new dimensions within. It isn't so much that the object changes but our relationship to it can, and often will change, when we take the time to observe it more closely. In doing so, we can begin to appreciate the wonder that can be found in the ordinary and unexpected alike.  

So, for your optional project this month, go for a walk and take inspiration from something unexpected that you see along your route. If it is too cold outside, head to the mall, a museum or another indoor venue. For example, you may come across an old tree that you have passed again and again but rarely paid attention to. This time though, you might want to stop and really look at what is in front of you. Feel the texture of the tree. Can you incorporate this same rough texture into your creation? What colours are the leaves? Where I live, the leaves are already starting to change colours. Think of how you can incorporate these colours into your project. Are there any birds, animals or insects in the tree? You might be influenced by something that lives in the tree rather than the tree itself. It doesn't matter what it is that you draw inspiration from during your outing; just choose something that calls to you. The beauty and magic of the universe is woven into the very fabric of everything around us from the simple—like that blade of grass in Miller's quote—to the profound—like the cosmos. We simply need to be willing to pay close attention, be willing to truly see what is in front of us. There is always more to discover, no matter how familiar something seems. 

Remember, the twist is completely optional and you don't need to follow it in order to win. However, in order to be considered eligible for this month's goodies, remember that general types of projects/posts will not qualify for the honours and prize UNLESS they are also positive, inspirational, motivational or encouraging in some nature. Additionally, even if a project may qualify as positive, if your post promotes negativity, hatred or anything of an abhorrent nature, your project will be disqualified. Honours and Prize include:

• $6 worth of images from Scribbles Designs, for a person chosen in a random draw based on all qualifying entrants.
• A badge for the following honours: Top Pick, Most Inspirational, Random Winner, DT Delight.

To help inspire you further down the path of Embracing the Unexpected by Taking a Walk & Finding Inspiration from Something Unexpected Seen Along the Route, check out the wonderful projects my Design Team had the opportunity to create. Clicking on each team member's name will take you to their blog where you can check out the details for their inspirational creations.

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks again to my astounding design team! As always, each of them have their own unique avenues of creation which I thoroughly admire. Each of these designs has demonstrated the theme of Embracing the Unexpected by Taking a Walk & Finding Inspiration from Something Unexpected Seen Along the Route splendidly, and I hope we have motivated you throughout this challenge to come up with your own work of handicraft. Be sure to go and visit these accomplished ladies so you can see just how their projects tie in to the twist.

 

Why not join us, if you haven't entered already? Create a project and/or post that is positive, inspirational, motivational or encouraging in some nature and join our link up. How about stretching yourself by also opting to follow the twist?! How do you typically deal with the unexpected in your life? Do you view it with trepidation or take it on as a challenge? This month it is time to be open to being inspired by something that you see while going out for a walk. Be sure to check above for some specific ideas if you aren't sure how to get started. If you want to share your process on how you decided your project, you can write a sentence or two in the body of your post, write a sentence at the bottom of your post next to the link up for this challenge, or simply leave a comment on this post if you'd like.

Also, I know that the participants would love for you to go and pay them a visit. Remember we're creating a Path of Positivity to follow one project at a time and we'd love to see you somewhere on that route even if it is just by leaving a comment on an entry from someone who has touched you somehow with their project and/or post! You can find our list of participants and enter our latest challenge yourself by clicking HERE and scrolling down to the bottom of the post.

 

GENEROUSLY SPONSORED BY…

Please show your support to our wonderful sponsor, Scribbles Designs, by going over and checking out their work and saying hi if you have the chance. You may also just find an image or two to add your your collection!

Thank you so much to this awesome Canadian company for their
continued support of this challenge blog!

Don't Forget...

Winners for challenge #132 will be posted next Monday if everything goes according to plan. You can find the Top Picks post HERE.

 

If you ever have any questions be sure to leave me a comment.

 

Click HERE to head to the current challenge post & link up!

 

 

We look forward to seeing you participate!