Hidden in plain sight
Week 3: Searching for clues, receiving secret messages, and uncovering unexpected delights
In case you missed it, all August long Outsourced Optimism will be transformed into Camp AweGust, a 4 week, choose-your-own-adventure, virtual summer camp designed to combat the Sunday Scaries of Summer (otherwise known as Blah-Gust…I mean, August). We tackle the seasonal burnout and anxious boredom of these dog days with imagination, creativity, and the kind of simple joys that make us feel like a kid again. The best part is– you don’t have to go anywhere. We’ll find magic and delight and freedom exactly where we are.
It’s completely free. All are welcome. And you can invite anyone you want. In fact, it’s highly encouraged. All you need to do is bop these buttons to Subscribe and Share.
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🪧 Time Travel (to past weeks): Week 1, Week 2
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Last week, I wrote about how I’m trying to be better about giving compliments. If you remember, I shared a story about shouting “I love your outfit!” to a stranger on the street. Right after I finished writing that memo, I was out on a walk when a girl rode by on her bike and shouted “Great colors! Your outfit. I love the colors!”
My jaw dropped.
Not only because I had just outed myself for doing the same, but because I had also just started putting together this week’s Camp– all about the everyday magic of synchronicities. How certain ideas or prospects find us, over and over, around the same time. We see someone vacationing on some obscure island we’ve never heard of before and all of a sudden that same island is a destination in the book you’re reading. We fall in love with a car and then we start seeing it everywhere.
I’m not talking about the algorithm or our listening phones, eager to feed us curated information that may or may not be based on our conversations.
But it does feel like someone or something is listening to us. It feels like being delivered little messages, like we’re in conversation with everything around us. A friendly reminder that we are connected to everything by a million invisible threads.
You can call them winks or signs or synchronicities, but to experience them, all you really have to do is tune in your internal antennae and pay attention.
This week we’re going on a field trip to search for hidden messages. All you’ll need is a notebook, your favorite pen, and an open mind. Put your shoes on and let’s go!
Find your nearest (or favorite) library or bookstore
When you get there, make sure you fully arrive. Put your phone on silent. Take a minute to settle into the space.
Begin to browse, letting your curiosity guide you through the aisles. Take your time, run your fingers along the spines, looking up and crouching down, until a book catches your eye.
Pull it off the shelf and take a moment to hold it in your hands. Then, let the book fall open or think of the first number that pops into your head and turn to that page.
Let your eyes settle on a passage or read through the open pages until you find something that speaks to you. Notice if your heart leaps or certain words leap off the page or it just feels like something clicks.
Write down the name of the book, the page numbers, and the passage.
Repeat 3 more times with different books
When you’re done, read through what you’ve recorded. Are there any themes or messages that stand out? Any synchronicities? Do the titles have anything in common? Any thoughts that pop into your head when you’re reading through them? Trust your interpretations. Sometimes the clues need to be decoded. Sometimes you need to unfocus and let your mind wander so it can make connections that don’t seem obvious at first.
These hidden messages may be for your eyes only, but feel free to share your experience. Did you feel like a detective? Did you trust the process? Was it what you expected or were you surprised?
Due to Buckwheat’s limited availability (and lack of enthusiasm for walks in the heat), we’re doing something a little different with the Wonder Walks this year. Since Wonder Walks are all about getting creative with the way we see things, I thought what better way to introduce new points of view than to literally invite new points of view. Each week, our Walks will be hosted by a different Guest Camp Counselor, offering us their unique lens so we can see our world in a whole new way.
Meet this week’s Guest Counselor:
I don’t know anyone who seems to be in a more ongoing conversation with her inside and outside universe, constantly creating, experimenting, and putting words to the most simple and profound observations than this week’s Guest Counselor. Meet Dani Kreeft. When she’s not wandering, you can find her on instagram, a portal to her Good Newsletter, creative workshops, and the unfolding adventures of nomadic life.
The most amusing things I find in the world are often the most intrusive. If you’re not paying attention, they blend in, they somehow camouflage. But if your eyes are open and your phone’s away, they have a chance to greet you. To announce their oddity to any passerby.
Things like a couple of conch shells or a Bon Jovi song seared into a vanity plate or someone missing their pants. It’s the genius of adding a letter to public property or a cardboard Shaq smiling up at you. It’s seeing the Ice Cream Man refueling - a sight I hadn’t seen in all my 40 years! Even the ice cream man needs gas!
I drink these sights in like water, like electrolyte pit stops as I go from here to there, as I go about living life. They hydrate life with their tiny surprise parties and make you remember them more than all the regular houses and garages and cars and blades of grass you won’t ever recall later.
So here’s your prompt for this week’s Wonder Walk:
As you walk around and let the world present itself, keep an eye out for oddities, for surprises, for little presents in strange sights. See if you aren’t delighted by what you didn’t expect to see instead of what you did.
Follow this trail to see Dani’s delightful discoveries and share your own surprises to our Wonder Wall 👉🏻
TALK TO STRANGERS
Last week we experimented with being more generous and free with our compliments. We felt the abundance that comes from giving flattery and appreciation away. We wrote to our heroes and our friends and even to ourselves. This week, we’re going to take it a step further (two steps, depending on if you’re feeling a little more mischievous or a little more introverted). We’re going to do the thing we were told as kids to never do: we’re going to talk to strangers.
The challenge is quite simple: As you’re out and about this week, find an opportunity to compliment a stranger. That’s it. Then see what happens. What is their reaction? What is yours? Did it feel weird? Did their face light up? All of the above?
If this feels like too much pressure or the idea of approaching someone you don’t know gives you the willies, here’s another option: Write a little note, something simple and lovely, and hide it for a stranger to find. You can stick it in your favorite book when you’re at the library for our Field Trip or you can wedge it between the cereal boxes when you’re at the grocery store. Hiding a note to be discovered can even be its own creative exercise.
Let’s pretend the nights are chilly, the fireflies are blinking in the dark, and we’ve got a crackling campfire to gather around before you head back to real life. Join me and your fellow Campers in the comments and let’s share some of the things we’ve loved lately. Use this fill-in-blank prompt if you’re not sure what to say:
It’s true what they say: sharing is caring. So here are a few things I loved lately that I think you may also enjoy ______, _____, _____.
Think: The best thing you’ve watched/ listened to/ heard/ read, a new favorite recipe or product, an activity you recently discovered or rediscovered, a new habit or tool that’s changed your work life, a fun restaurant you just enjoyed.
I’ll meet you down there!
It’s true what they say: sharing is caring. So here are a few things I've loved lately that I think you may also enjoy:
- This crockpot chicken recipe for tacos when it's too hot to turn on the oven: https://www.halfbakedharvest.com/crockpot-mexican-chili-lime-chicken/
- Flores Lane candles for clean burns and clever pun names (side note: this is where I selected my summer scent from week 1!): https://shopfloreslane.com/
- In progress puzzles spread out on the coffee table. I just started this one, which promises a mystery surprise at the end! https://magicpuzzlecompany.com/
- watching the DNC (for the first time in my life) and noting how often words like belonging, hope, and inclusion are being used in the speeches
It’s true what they say: sharing is caring. So here are a few things I loved lately that I think you may also enjoy:
💄At the tender age of 35 I’m finally getting into makeup and it’s so fun! Last week I did a full face, or least my version of it. I only shop at Glossier because it’s easy for first timers like myself—I’m obsessed with their cloud paint: https://www.glossier.com/products/cloud-paint?variant=44416233898229
🥞 I’ve really enjoyed making pancakes lately. Just the regular old pancakes from the box. Last weekend at added cinnamon to them and they were delish!
💌There’s something about getting a letter from a friend in the mail that just makes my heart smile. I’ve rediscovered the magic of pen pals this summer and it’s been amazing! I even bought my own stationary from Papier that just adds a special little something to my letters: https://www.papier.com/us/stationery/stationery-sets/letter-writing-paper/