We asked our poet-in-residence Philip Cowell to share the 5 reasons he loves Street Wisdom!
- The Joy of Movement (and Stillness) – I love Street Wisdom because at some level it’s just ‘going for a walk’ and I love walking. But it’s also of course about not-walking as much as it’s about walking! Sometimes we pause, to notice something, or wait for something, or just marvel at something. And that’s gorgeous.
- Connecting with Others – when I’m on a Street Wisdom Walkshop, I get to meet amazing people I’ve never met before, who are also curious and interested to see what will happen if we slow down a bit outdoors.
- The Wonder of Nature – by Nature I mean the environment around us. An urban street, it seems to me, is as much nature as the highest mountain. It’s all nature. And Street Wisdom is one fast-tracked way to appreciating its detailed rigour and beauty.
- Some Insights, Outdoors – I often use Street Wisdom if I need to get an insight on a situation or a problem. Once I’m tuned up, I’II hold the issue and just walk with that in mind and body, and see what happens. (It’s basically a shorthand way of doing the Quest: “Streets, show me some options with all this!”) Something often, if not always, will come. Sometimes it’s slant to the topic. The other day I was full of different stresses, and the streets shared with me all kinds of patterns that seemed interconnected. I interpreted that insight as “Everything’s connected” (it’s nice to reduce the insight to 2 or 3 words). And that really helped!
- Serendipity, Actually – I love Street Wisdom for the serendipities that often, if not always, arise. When I started leading Walkshops back in 2016/17, whenever I led them, wherever I was (and the locations were always different), I would always bump into someone I knew. I took that as a useful reminder to connect to my amazing support group. Nowadays it’s often more the insights from the Sharing seem so interwoven. It’s like, as a group, we become this one ‘being’. It’s beautiful!
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Inspired? Fancy some more Street Wisdom? 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. Share your insights and follow us @StreetWisdom_
Thanks to rawpixel.com for the use of this free image!
