What have battered road signs and crumpled tin cans got to do with the meaning of life? The word on the street is, more than you think.
I’ve walked past one or more of these on my daily walks and not given them much thought. Head down or phone on, there’s always an A to B intention that inevitably means the sights and sounds in between don’t register.
But when I stepped out on a ‘Street Wisdom’ walk in Northampton, I realised these seemingly insignificant streetscapes could help answer many of life’s niggling questions. And bring a whole new meaning to the idea of a two-way street.
Wisdom around every street corner
Put simply, Street Wisdom is a free way to tune in to what’s around you in the urban environment and use it to find answers to something that’s troubling you. A kind of mindfulness meets the ramblers, if you like.
Founder and business innovator David Pearl, likes to think of the street as an ‘invisible university’. ‘While mindfulness meditation might try to diminish the wandering of the mind and focus on the “now”,’ he says. ‘Street Wisdom is about focusing on the wandering and seeing where it takes you. ‘Whether you’re figuring out what’s the next step or struggling with the day-to-day stuff, an ordinary city street can be an inspirational learning zone, which costs nothing to use.’
Steps ahead
But of course, you need to learn to walk before you can run. Street Wisdom runs numerous group taster events that introduce you to the concept. But I took the plunge with a downloadable ‘Wandercast’, which, for a small donation, gave me all the basics, in a more condensed form.
While organised events are normally around three hours long, my Wisdom walk lasted just over an hour. And the answer to the question I had in mind: “how to better support my husband during a difficult time?” was surprisingly forthcoming.
I was intrigued. Had I tapped into something mystical? Or was something simpler at play? Keen to find out, I engaged the services of my rather skeptical husband, Tom, and two friends to see if it was up their street too.
Warming up
Split into three parts, the Street Wisdom concept consists of a ‘Tune In’, where you sharpen your senses to pick up signals on the street. Then, ‘The Quest’, where you ask a question and look for answers. And finally, ‘The Share’, where you discuss what you’ve learnt.
Just as you’d warm up for an exercise session, the Tune In helps you slow down and observe what’s around you. It’s split into four 10-minute walks, each with a simple instruction.
‘It wakes you up, helps you listen and connects you with the street,’ says David.
For my motley crew, one instruction: to ‘walk slowly for 10 minutes’, proved to be as inspiring as it was frustrating. Three of us found it almost embarrassing to slow our pace (in places it looked like we were casing people’s houses), but my friend Lisa found it helpful.
‘Walking slowly allowed me to really appreciate everything around me in a way I’d not experienced before,’ she says. ‘And it was so different not having a purpose to my walk. We’re all so afraid of not keeping up with the pace of everyone else, but it made me realise it’s okay to slow down.’
"Walking slowly allowed me to really appreciate everything around me in a way I’d not experienced before"
The big ask
Once your senses are “tuned up”, it’s time for that all-important question. This should be something that’s not too meaningless, i.e. ‘what colour should my new kitchen curtains be?’, or too meaningful, i.e. ‘is there other life in the cosmos?’. David advises you stick to something you’d like fresh answers to, such as ‘where should I buy a new house?’ or ‘how can I make more friends?’.
‘People often panic and think they only have a single shot at it. But of course, they can come back to Street Wisdom again and again,’ David says. ‘It’s not an exam, it doesn’t have to be the ultimate question. It’s more of a direction setting.’
Ultimately, it’s your personal journey so there are no set rules. On my walk I was bombarded with advertising hoardings displaying photos of meals we’d enjoyed as a family. There was a graffiti ‘hi’ on the wall with a heart over the ‘I’. A deep red leaf and a succession of couples holding hands.
For me, this all pointed towards a (somewhat cheesy) realisation that love would see us through. But someone else might have interpreted these ‘cues’ entirely differently.
Tom and my friend Lisa both came up with the same question: ‘how can I relax more?’. Tom noticed lots of symbols for time management and self-care. There were diaries and calendars in shop windows, a Give Way sign, a box with “lounge” written on it. Surely a motto for a good life.
Lisa’s experience was more auditory. ‘Within minutes of my walk, my eye caught sight of a leaf falling very quietly from a tree,’ she says. ‘It immediately made me think about how much I needed to slow down.
‘I noticed the sounds that had annoyed me earlier in the day – car horns, road works etc. And realised they were no longer affecting me. I was appreciating them for their tone and texture, rather than how loud or annoying they were.’
Street savvy
Street Wisdom isn’t right for everyone, of course. David says if nothing much seems to be happening, don’t force it.
‘Sometimes wisdom doesn’t shout, it whispers. That breakthrough moment might appear but not in the way you expect,’ he says.
Street Wisdom isn’t (and doesn’t claim to be) anything magical. The street can’t physically give you answers, but the process helps you tap into life’s natural synchronicity. It’s a fun way of being more aware of the answers to problems – answers that already lie within you.
If nothing else, Street Wisdom gives you an excuse for physical space and structured time to do nothing but think about you and your thoughts. This has got to be a good thing for everyone.
For more information on Street Wisdom, or to find an event near you, go to streetwisdom.org, or via Twitter @StreetWisdom_ Connect with Alice Whitehead @allotmentalice