A Notting Hill Street Wisdom

Do you take too many photos at concerts or read your emails while you’re on holiday? Do you busily walk down the street and forget to appreciate all that is beautiful around you? Most of us fall into these little traps and have a deeper knowing that it’s not what we want. When we slow down and go a little bit inside our bodies we remind ourselves that we are craving more wholesome day to day experiences of life. The great thing is that we don’t have to go very far to start having these experiences.

I facilitated my first Street Wisdom event a couple of weeks ago. Street Wisdom is a way of using the streets to get our senses more in touch and more in tune with our immediate environment and using that to help us find the answers to some of our more testing life questions. We use streets to get from a to b but outside of that straight line journey is an opportunity to learn about who we are, what we like, what we want and what steps (or not) to next take.

Six participants used the lightly chilled early springtime buzz of Portobello Road Market in Notting Hill in pursuit of getting their big question answered. The three hour event is split into three parts. Firstly we use shorter walks to tune our senses into the streets. We use the simplicity of our senses in a different way and feed off the sounds, sights, colours and people to fuel a better understanding of ourselves. The second part is where we take that question we want answered and roam the streets for an hour in search of whatever inspiration and direction is offered around us to get closer to an answer. Lastly we get together and discuss our discoveries.

There were some powerful messages flowing through the streets from the book shops to the dustcarts to mother-child bonding and urban greenery. There were conversations in record stores and posters on walls offering gentle signals. We learnt to trust and honour our intuition. We were reminded that sometimes it’s important to remove yourself from your familiar environment and relationships to gain a wider perspective on what you need from life. We saw how enjoying the creativity of others encourages our own creative pursuits.

I enjoyed this feedback from one of the participants: ‘The process reinforces my conviction that when one is open to explore the rich resources that is beyond the self, the meaning of one’s quest is within our reach.’

Use your streets in a way that serves you best. That gold mine of wisdom you’re searching for, how close by is it? I bet not far at all.

Vernon James @casualartist

thecasualartist.co.uk

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