Trail Stations

Search for and identify people who are facing the same challenges as you. Seek out those who are dealing with the same issues and topics. Go on walks with those people. Establish a set of principles that are part of a mission statement. The things you all agree on. This mission statement but it can also be artistic in nature.

Chart out a path to walk along that weaves through interesting locations. At points of interest along the trail there is a stop: one for each point on the mission statement. At each stop each person in the group gives their own unique perspective on that point on the mission statement. This can be stating their own ideas about what their specific contribution to that ideal will be, how they can achieve it. Or it can be an exploration what aspects of it stand out to them. They can share a story in connection to that issue, or a personal experience that moved them to want to act. They give their perspective in whatever form it comes.  

At each station, after everyone has spoken, the whole group decides on one aspect of the topic that they are most stumped by: the mystery. The mysteries for each station are recorded. Then a second group composed of different people who are focusing on the same topics receives the list and makes the same walk. At each station they discuss the mystery on the list that corresponds to that location. The order of the list stays the same so that the mystery will be discussed at the same spot the question was asked. Each person gives their unique perspective on the mystery. 

Confessional Chess

For this, one person or a group of people will be assigned a chess board.  Each white piece on the board represents a chief positive feature and each black piece represents a chief negative feature of that person or group. The idea is to identify a set of defining positive traits and defining negative traits.

Queen: trait that is far reaching

King: pivotal trait that everything else is built on. If this goes so would everything else.

Bishop: source of guidance

Knight: core essence

Castle: something you are building, or something that is “building” in you.

Pawn: habit, thing you do with repetition.

For each piece do an aesthetic study on that trait. That means to put together a collection of things that are aligned to the same general nature, or aesthetic of that trait. This will help you really get to know those traits.

Finally, play the game and interpret what it means when one piece takes out another. What would be the real life translation of that interaction? 

Ghost Journal

Keep a journal that is divided into sections, where in each section you will write about a different topic. Make headers to indicate the beginning of each section and what topic you will write about. This means that you will spend a period of time writing about the same topic. However, you will not be writing your own thoughts on these subjects. Instead, you will be tapping into the voice of some fictional persona. It came be the same character, or just what voice comes through on that day. One way to approach this is to simple present a question, then become comfortable writing spontaneous answers. When structuring your journal, it can be a different question for every day, or the repeating the same question to see how responses differ.  Thirdly, the topics should have a specific thematic scheme in that they are questions presented about other people; what they think about something, what they need, etc. (thus forming a triangle between you, the voice you are questioning, and the other people who are the subject matter). Remember to draw in the journal. It is also valid to receive responses in the form of images.