Street Wisdom is a kind of mindfulness-inspired street-based game boosted with creativity, neuroscience and well-being.
Added to this veritable feast is also a whole load of good luck.
In fact, we have a special word for the kind of good luck people often experience on a Street Wisdom: serendipity. That’s when seemingly unconnected things come together to produce an unanticipated insight.
Why focus on serendipity? For one thing, it’s the inventor of everything from Post-It Notes to X-rays and penicillin. And a lot of people at the top of their game swear by it.
Serendipity expert, Dr Christian Bausch, has written a whole book about developing a “serendipity mindset”, and we think developing a regular Street Wisdom practice can be a part of that! Dr Bausch writes:
Serendipity is about seeing what others don’t, about noticing unexpected observations and turning them into opportunities. It demands a conscious effort to prompt and leverage those moments when apparently unconnected ideas or events come together in front of you to form a new pattern. Put more plainly, it is about connecting the dots.
At Street Wisdom, we reckon we can boost our “serendipity mindset” if we become more wanderful: take time out of our busy schedules to go outside and wander, tune in to the world around us, see the patterns, be drawn to what attracts us, find the beauty in everything, and ask questions of the world around us that are rooted in our values.
So here are 7 ways you can add more serendipity to your life:
- Prepare: Prepare to be surprised! Expect the unexpected. Anticipate the unanticipated. What happens when you make that shift?
- Reflect: Write down what you most value. Keep a gratefulness journal. Share a “serendipity story” with a friend. Ask them for one of theirs. It could help connect the dots.
- Relax: “Lucky people tend to be relaxed,” writes Dr Bausch. The second Street Wisdom Tune Up is “Slow. Right. Down”, so keep practising slowing down to relax.
- Reach out: Identify your heroes, people in your field who you admire, and reach out to them. Ask them for help with a challenge. Connect two people in your own network who don’t know each other. Send thank you notes to people who helped you that week.
- Wander: Use the free Street Wisdom Tune Ups on your next street wander. Be drawn to what attracts you. Notice what doesn’t. Slow, right, down. Ask a question that resonates with your values.
- Be brave: Chat to someone in the coffee queue; talk to people you don’t know at a conference. Share your Quest with a stranger on a park bench. While always keeping safe, assume everyone’s got a positive intention.
- Learn: Think of your “serendipity stories”, those times you experienced unanticipated insight due to good chance. Learn from them to help you repeat their success. Consider creating what Street Wisdom facilitator and dot-connector Anna Look calls a ‘subconscious parking lot’: a place to ‘park’ all the information, observations and meetings with people you have, so that the dot connecting can happen in its own time.
What’s your serendipity story? Send it in, we’d love to hear from you.
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Inspired? Street Wisdom is all about finding better ways. Join a Walkshop near you, or head out for your own wander right now with our Tune Ups. Buy your own copy of Wanderful, all profits go back into Street Wisdom to help keep it free.
This article was written by connecting the dots between Street Wisdom, David Pearl’s Wanderful, and Dr Christian Bausch’s fascinating book, The Serendipity Mindset (Penguin Books). Edmonton-based Street Wisdom facilitator Anna Look inspired us to write this piece in the first place! Anna strategically and expertly plot courses, linking together information, people, and backgrounds (aka dots) to navigate the way.
