Street Wisdom - part of your everyday wonder practice

An everyday wonder practice involves actively noticing and appreciating the awe-inspiring moments hidden within daily life. It's about shifting your perspective to find wonder in the ordinary, rather than seeking it only in grand or extraordinary events. This practice cultivates a sense of gratitude, connection, and joy by encouraging you to slow down, observe, and reflect on the small, beautiful, and mysterious aspects of your surroundings and experiences. 

Here's how you can cultivate an everyday wonder practice:

• Cultivate mindfulness:

  Pay attention to your senses, noticing details you might usually overlook. For example, observe the textures of natural elements, the patterns in light and shadow, or the sounds of your environment. 

• Embrace curiosity:

  Approach everyday situations with a beginner's mind, asking questions and seeking to understand the world around you. 

• Engage with nature:

  Spend time outdoors, observing plants, animals, and the changing sky. Even a short walk can offer opportunities for awe. 

• Connect with art and music:

  Appreciate creative expressions that evoke emotion and inspire a sense of wonder. 

• Reflect and journal:

  Take time to write down or draw the moments that fill you with awe, helping you to deepen your appreciation and recall these experiences. 

• Challenge your comfort zone:

  Step outside your routine and try new things, as novelty can trigger feelings of awe and wonder. 

• Practice gratitude:

  Focus on the positive aspects of your life and express appreciation for the things you have, which can enhance your sense of wonder. 

• Develop a Street Wisdom practice:

  Street Wisdom is all about finding the wonder in the everyday, every day. Join one of our free in-person or online Walkshops soon to have a go yourself. Learn it once and practise it for a lifetime!

By incorporating these practices into your daily routine, you can cultivate a greater capacity for experiencing and appreciating the everyday wonders that surround you. 

What’s Street Wisdom again?

Street Wisdom is a creative practice you add to your everyday walk, and we share it every week for FREE in our online and in-person Walkshops.

Very simply put, you take a question for a walk to help you find fresh inspiration. We believe answers are everywhere, all around us, especially when we’re tuned in to our environment. Your question can be about anything - life or work or love or community or the planet or everything in between. Anything you want some fresh inspiration for.

It might be…

• A question about work - What’s my next product innovation? How can I best lead my team? How can I achieve more with less energy?

• A question about life - What should my next hobby be? How can I meet new people? What don’t I know already? Which of my values do I want to explore more?

• A question about love - Should I stay with my partner? Should we move to another city? How can I bring all of me to my relationship?

• A question about community - How can I best support my local neighbourhood? What’s being called of me in my local area? How can I meet people who don’t share my opinions?

• A question about the planet - What do I need to do to help nature flourish? Which volunteering projects shall I contribute to? What does the planet want me to do next?

• A question about… [ANYTHING!] - Street Wisdom works for practically any question. We simply suggest you make it as simple as possible (could your 11 year old self understand it?) and it’s often nice to put it in the third person eg “What are [insert your name]’s next steps with the job?” Putting it in the third person helps give you a bit of perspective.

The idea is, once you have your question, that you take it for a walk and - once you’ve tuned in to the world around you through our easy three-part process (which you learn on a FREE Walkshop) - the streets send you fresh answers that directly relate to your question through signs and signals as you wander. You might find you:

• Walk down a dead-end street - and realise you’re in a professional or personal cul-de-sac

• Hit a roundabout - and realise you’ve got a decision to make and so many options (which one will you take?)

• Look up! - and realise you’re trapped in the everyday detail and need to see the bigger picture more

• See a curve ahead - and realise you want to preview the future (what’s exciting or alive-making or scary round the corner?)

• Reach a fork in the road - and have to decide which option to take. Now’s the time!

Suddenly, the world is rich with meaningful sounds, sights, images, patterns, words, posters, overheard conversations, colours, animals, birds, nature, cloud formations (looking up is great!) - all kinds of things.

The world is there for you, if you keep your mind and heart open!

Try it right now!

This curious practice we’ve developed and refined over the last 15 years is backed by the latest mindfulness, neuroscience, creativity and wellness theory.

To give it a go right now, you can try our five-minute taster, or sign up for an online or in-person Walkshop (yes, walking workshop!) to practise it fully. Once you’ve learned it, you’ve got a skill for life!

Fancy becoming a Street Wisdom host?

It’s really rewarding becoming a Street Wisdom host, bringing strangers together to connect, helping people become more playful, sharing everyday wonder in your local neighbourhood, and giving people a practice and a skill they can enjoy for life!

What does it involve?

Being a Street Wisdom host involves as much or as little as you want it to. Many hosts lead one or two Walkshops a year in their neighbourhood. Some host more, including weekly Walkshops. To become a Street Wisdom Host in your area, get in touch with us at contactus@streetwisdom.org.


Finally, don’t forget

Sign up for our newsletter and get the first chapter of Wanderful for FREE!

So get offline, get off your phone, get off on the wonder all around. You deserve it, and the world does too!

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