Saturday, though, was a problem. I was told to look out for my special animal. (There are some shamanic principles woven into Street Wisdom’s design – and no shamanic journey is complete without an animal spirit to guide you.)

On Saturday I looked and looked but didn’t really connect with the pigeons or crows, cats or dogs I saw. Other wanderers were having luck. My co-founder, Chris texted me to say he’d just been taught a lesson by his dog Sparky. It was a bit disappointing but I basically gave up and went off to the cinema with my family. Halfway through my wife pointed to the screen. “There’s your animal”, she said. And I think she was right…

What animal did you see? What was it like to complement a stranger? Have you been enjoying the music of the city? When you smiled, how many smiled back?

Please leave your comments below. And enjoy next week!

The post A Wanderful Week appeared first on Street Wisdom.

“I was wondering if I should move house.  Then I saw a business sign which read Hang On Realty”   Daniel

“Decided to decide later”  Erin

“It’s easy to forget your feet hurt”  Byron

“Experience Nature, City and Art with a child’s mind”  Paul

“Sacred City Streets.  They speak to you…”   Michelle

“It was refreshing to go for a walk with open eyes looking around and within for clues about things in my life”  Doug

All great comments – and do keep them coming!   And maybe the most succinct – and certainly most tasty – comment of all?  Lucky Creation.

The post Lucky Creation (San Francisco) appeared first on Street Wisdom.

Is Amsterdam the most beautiful imaginable backdrop for a Street Wisdom event? I couldn’t think of a better one, standing on the sun-bathed cobbles of Westerstraat on 4 March with a group of fearlessly curious and up-for-it Amsterdam-ers. 

One of them, Joel, had this to say. “Street Wisdom showed me that our cities are alive with wisdom and that through them we can open to a mysterious, magical, meaningful and revelatory relationship to life.”

And this picture of Anke probably says it all!

David

The post Straat Wisdom – Amsterdam March 2014 appeared first on Street Wisdom.

Most people think of the street as just a way of getting from A to B. We hurry along, avoiding contact, screening out the city with our iPhones, blanking strangers, heads down and thoughts turned inward. Street Wisdom sees it differently. We think the street is an amazing place if you are curious and willing to break the rules of ordinary life.

So it was a thrill for us to discover Sunday Assembly – a whole tribe of people who basically think the same way as us. And even more of a thrill to be invited by the Sunday Assembly team to hold a Street Wisdom event in London last weekend when their normal venue wasn’t available so the street was, by happy coincidence, the venue anyway.

We’ve been experimenting with Street Wisdom for years, refining the experience to the point where we can now give it away as shareware to anyone who’s interested. It’s free, it’s simple and it’s surprisingly transformational.

The Sunday Assembly event forced us to simplify the experience even more as we had more people attending and less time than usual. We gathered at 11am for a bit of a briefing and a mingle. There was no real ‘ice’ to break as Sunday Assemblers seem to arrive pre-warmed up. (“You’re one of us” said a smiling lady on the street as I arrived for the set-up. “I can tell by your smile”. Sweet.) Then 200 people spilled into London’s streets to first “tune” their senses and then “ask the street a question”.

After an hour everyone was invited back to share their tales what they learned.

“Bizarrely amazing!…The thinkiest I’ve ever been…It was AMAZING…a very tangible hour of meaningfulness… I started off with quite low expectations of what I would get from this hour, but I can now say it was a revelation!”

Tweets went out:

V positive experience on my 1st @Street_Wisdom walk: seeing London afresh & thinking differently

Particularly wanderful @SundayAssembly today! Recommend everyone tries @Street_Wisdom.

One person told us “I didn’t arrive at a definite answer, but that’s ok. Doors have been opened, more wanders will be had.”

And that’s the point. There are many streets out there. And many Sundays. And now more people able to gain some Street Wisdom. Altogether it’s a wander-ful life!

The post Sunday Assembly meets Street Wisdom appeared first on Street Wisdom.

Every year hundreds of thousands – millions – of people trek through our city streets on their way to and from work.   And what they get from is, mostly, – nothing. Zip.  Nada.  Niente.

The street to many of us is just a traffic-filled, annoying space to hurry through, a logistical obstacle, something to screen out with an iPod playlist.

Street Wisdom disagrees.   We think a scrubby path through the northern Spanish hills is more like Oxford Street rush hour than we realise.  We think the magic is more about how you look than what you are looking at.   We’re suggesting the difference between a quest and a commute is a choice you can make any time.  When you really switch on your senses and connect with what’s around you, you can start picking up inspiration right outside your door.

What do you think?

Give it a try.  

Thanks to the recent tube strike Londoners were given an excuse to slow down and use the walk.     Ask a question and see what the street answers…

If you get some interesting results, check out where the next Street Wisdom events are taking place and come really experience what the street has to teach you.  It’s free and designed as shareware so you can even run your own event for friends or colleagues.

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