Object Detail 📝 🔬 🍏

Dive into the intricate world of everyday objects

What will I need?

1. A piece of paper and a pen/pencil.

2. A room with a variety of objects to describe.

Steps:

1. Set a timer for 3 to 15 minutes – your choice how long.

2. Pick an object within your field of vision.

3. Study it for a moment, then start describing it in writing. Do not name the object directly. Instead, use as many details as you can to paint a vivid picture of it.

4. Click the “heart” button for this post to track your progress and let us know you did this one.

5. If you’re up for it, share your description in the Substack chat or on social media with a link back here.

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Tips, Guidance, Inspiration, and Science:

Want to keep going?

1. Try this exercise with different objects.

2. If you're with a group, each of you could write a description, then swap papers and guess each other's objects.

3. Send it to a friend. Can they guess what you described?

Help! I'm stuck!

1. Instead of looking at the whole object, focus on one small part and describe that.

2. Think about the object's texture, color, shape, and any other sensory details that stand out.

3. Imagine you're describing the object to someone who can't see it. What would you want them to know?

What's the science?

Noticing details promotes awe, a powerful ingredient to happiness. (Cuzzolino 2021).

"Words - so innocent and powerless as they are, as standing in a dictionary, how potent for good and evil they become in the hands of one who knows how to combine them." - Nathaniel Hawthorne