I’m starting this post sitting in a fabulous cafe/restaurant in Marple after an inspiring morning of Street Wisdom with Claire Bradshaw (if you’re not familiar, I previously wrote about Street Wisdom). Today’s experience was a little different in that there is more open space where we met so we explored green space more than city space (which was a welcome change!). I really enjoyed slowing down and taking time to appreciate my surroundings.
Once I’d settled into the Street Wisdom mindset, I chose to sit on a bench, reflect and journal. I didn’t have a specific question in the forefront of my mind so I watched dogs and their walkers, children and their parents, and other people going about their day. I listened to birds singing, children playing, and wind rustling through the trees. I reconnected with nature and with myself, and spent time reflecting on where I’m currently at and what I’m currently exploring.
I noticed a few references to wisdom and knowledge (owls, a library, educational sign posts) and particularly learning from age or experience (the name Oldknow, the Senior Citizen’s Association).
I pondered over this and thought about what I’d learnt from my parents and grandparents, and what I might like to pass on to future generations. I thought about what advice I’d like to give to a younger version of myself.
I then took this one step further and visited a local senior citizen centre where I asked if I could help and chat to the visitors (it’s amazing what I suddenly have the courage to do when I’m open-minded and have nothing to lose!). I spent a lovely half an hour or more drying dishes and chatting to Muriel, Sheila and Ann. They shared some of their stories and experiences with me and I left feeling inspired thanks to their wisdom and life experiences.
As I went to meet up with the rest of the Street Wisdom group to share our experiences, I thought about what I have learnt from my own life experience, and how I can remind myself of these lessons and apply them to current and future situations.
Every month I record my highlights, ‘feel good’ moments, gratitude, and learning in my bullet journal. There’s some really useful stuff in these pages! What I’ve realised is that I’m not fully utilising this, especially the learning (by learning, I mean things I’ve learnt about myself or about handling situations rather than new facts or theories I’ve learnt). I’m therefore going to digitise these pages at the end of each month and keep the ‘learning’ together in a document I can use to remind myself what I’ve learnt on a more frequent basis. I may well share some of these here on the blog or in my monthly newsletter too in case they are of value to other people.
Interestingly, when we all shared our Street Wisdom experiences one common theme that came through seemed to be around trusting our intuition to help us make decisions and take action. Different people from the group had a variety of different questions they were seeking wisdom on (careers, homes, relationships…) and everyone found that with a bit of time to think, space to explore, and inspiration from their surroundings, they knew the answers to their questions and they knew what to do next.
What wisdom do you have within you that can support you at the moment? What might the answers to your questions be? How could you use your surroundings to help you tune into this?
If you’re interested in experiencing Street Wisdom yourself and would like to join me in Chester on 2nd July, book your place here (it’s free): https://www.streetwisdom.org/event/street-wisdom-chester-uk/
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