I've been enjoying my weekly jaunts to the Nottingham project immensely of late, it's good to experience a change of scenery and new sights and sounds, though I like my little town, but sometimes it can be a little mundane at times, if only through familiarity.
This Wednesday gone by, I awoke feeling very fatigued. The night before had witnessed the onset of a cold, aches, sniffles and the usual heavy feeling around the nose and forehead. Part of me wanted to call the day off, recline back into bed and seek solace in the warmth of my quilt but with a great effort I clambered out of bed groaning loudly as the cold engulfed my skin. The usual morning routine followed, kettle on, wash, clean teeth, switch PC on and check emails and sit and wake with a cup of Earl Grey and a mint flavoured Kit-Kat.
My cold was seriously encroaching upon my well being, my nose running like an out of control freight train and every limb had a gnawing icy ache. I didn't want to miss Nottingham, plus I wanted to put some posters up of a friends band in a couple of music shops there as his band is playing an unsigned bands music festival this Sunday in Birmingham. So armed with some pain killers, tissues and hobbit like resolve I wearily marched off into the new day.
The day passed pretty rapidly, I was on my own for a while at the project in the morning but joined by others later, there were a couple of amusing events and some really interesting (though a few odd) people drop into the project during the course of the day. At 3pm I was on my way, heading back to Nottingham train station albeit at snail's pace, sniffling with cold and cursing my aching bones.
It was then I decided to try to reach out and connect with the city. Now this next bit may seem bizarre, so bear with me but it's something that is kind of like an extension to my psychotherapy training , an idea of sorts put into practice and form by letting go to your surroundings or 'Street Saging' as I've nicknamed it.
Still with me? How does it work? I'm as mad as a hatter you say?
Well, the secret to it is simply like an extended empathy with your immediate surroundings, a case of active listening, people watching whilst shutting your own thoughts down to reach out and connect with others around you. I know, it's hard to take on board but the secret is using the vibe of the city as a kind of conduit to extend yourself out and actively try and feel how others around you are feeling. Of course body language is essential but I've found I can also reach out when listening to music on the ipod too. I think its something like 80% of all communication is done via body language, it's something we can all read and understand, sometimes its evident and sometimes it's more sublime but we can all understand it and read it to varying levels, more so actively examine it if know what you are looking for. There's nothing hard or complex about street saging, it's basically people watching in it's base form, it's just I feel that a little more knowledge and awareness does help you see and feel more of what's out there.
As I was really tired it wasn't hard to mute my own thoughts and try and connect with what was going on around me. I saw an Indian guy, smartly dressed but looking lost and lonely, he aimless wandered gazing around as he did so, trying to connect with someone or perhaps hoping to see someone he knew. He was short like me, had large eyes and in truth looked a little odd, it occurred to me that because of the way he looked he had possibly suffered rejection by people of his own community, though this of course is only speculation, as I try to fathom why he looked so forlorn. In truth of course I'll never know but I could sense he felt alone and a part of me wanted to reach out and say 'you don't have to feel lonely mate, let's have a coffee and a chat but as we all know you can't just go marching up to people, it's just kind of how you'd want it to be in an ideal open world, but alas it's not. I could have been wrong about him but my feelings were there all the same, it's just the empathy feeding back to you.
As I walked on I saw other people, a guy walking with a bad limp, probably due to some deformity or accident, he seemed to avoid gazing at people, he looked down and ambled on almost shutting the outside world out, as if he wanted to get from A to B without noticed or ridiculed. Several people in and I was lost with thoughts and feelings of others detached from your own personal stuff, I'd forgotten my cold completely as more and more I was drawn into people around me, not so much staring but just taking a glimpse and you stroll past and taking on board how they look to be feeling.
In some ways my heart sank, there seemed to be a lot of lonely lost souls that day, I mused to myself many things such as 'do they have many friends, where do they live, are they just wallflowers that want to let the world pass them by, simple because it's easier that way?'
As I journeyed home on the train I felt emotional inside, whilst cities can be infectious and exciting places they can also be sad and lonely, not because of the obvious candidates such as down and outs, big issue vendors and such but simply because of how sad the average man or woman in the street can look and how alone and vulnerable they seem to be.
Street saging doesn't have to be so depressing, though it's good to be aware that others around you can be sad, it's good to notice vulnerabilities and try and understand them. There's times when I have let go and street saged only to be lifted by others around me, small children laughing or having wonder in their eyes. Lovers embracing, having just met up after being apart, old people holding hands having been married for decades and simply people smiling to one another. I put my thoughts to a friend briefly last night and he say he understood completely where I was coming from, I'm sure others understand my angle too.
When I look at people I always see optimism, and hope inside that despite the fact they are looking sad, tomorrow they may well be feeling happy or turning a corner better things. If only more people tried being human more often, forgetting personal thoughts and reaching out with empathy - can you imagine how much a better world it would be?
This Wednesday gone by, I awoke feeling very fatigued. The night before had witnessed the onset of a cold, aches, sniffles and the usual heavy feeling around the nose and forehead. Part of me wanted to call the day off, recline back into bed and seek solace in the warmth of my quilt but with a great effort I clambered out of bed groaning loudly as the cold engulfed my skin. The usual morning routine followed, kettle on, wash, clean teeth, switch PC on and check emails and sit and wake with a cup of Earl Grey and a mint flavoured Kit-Kat.
My cold was seriously encroaching upon my well being, my nose running like an out of control freight train and every limb had a gnawing icy ache. I didn't want to miss Nottingham, plus I wanted to put some posters up of a friends band in a couple of music shops there as his band is playing an unsigned bands music festival this Sunday in Birmingham. So armed with some pain killers, tissues and hobbit like resolve I wearily marched off into the new day.
The day passed pretty rapidly, I was on my own for a while at the project in the morning but joined by others later, there were a couple of amusing events and some really interesting (though a few odd) people drop into the project during the course of the day. At 3pm I was on my way, heading back to Nottingham train station albeit at snail's pace, sniffling with cold and cursing my aching bones.
It was then I decided to try to reach out and connect with the city. Now this next bit may seem bizarre, so bear with me but it's something that is kind of like an extension to my psychotherapy training , an idea of sorts put into practice and form by letting go to your surroundings or 'Street Saging' as I've nicknamed it.
Still with me? How does it work? I'm as mad as a hatter you say?
Well, the secret to it is simply like an extended empathy with your immediate surroundings, a case of active listening, people watching whilst shutting your own thoughts down to reach out and connect with others around you. I know, it's hard to take on board but the secret is using the vibe of the city as a kind of conduit to extend yourself out and actively try and feel how others around you are feeling. Of course body language is essential but I've found I can also reach out when listening to music on the ipod too. I think its something like 80% of all communication is done via body language, it's something we can all read and understand, sometimes its evident and sometimes it's more sublime but we can all understand it and read it to varying levels, more so actively examine it if know what you are looking for. There's nothing hard or complex about street saging, it's basically people watching in it's base form, it's just I feel that a little more knowledge and awareness does help you see and feel more of what's out there.
As I was really tired it wasn't hard to mute my own thoughts and try and connect with what was going on around me. I saw an Indian guy, smartly dressed but looking lost and lonely, he aimless wandered gazing around as he did so, trying to connect with someone or perhaps hoping to see someone he knew. He was short like me, had large eyes and in truth looked a little odd, it occurred to me that because of the way he looked he had possibly suffered rejection by people of his own community, though this of course is only speculation, as I try to fathom why he looked so forlorn. In truth of course I'll never know but I could sense he felt alone and a part of me wanted to reach out and say 'you don't have to feel lonely mate, let's have a coffee and a chat but as we all know you can't just go marching up to people, it's just kind of how you'd want it to be in an ideal open world, but alas it's not. I could have been wrong about him but my feelings were there all the same, it's just the empathy feeding back to you.
As I walked on I saw other people, a guy walking with a bad limp, probably due to some deformity or accident, he seemed to avoid gazing at people, he looked down and ambled on almost shutting the outside world out, as if he wanted to get from A to B without noticed or ridiculed. Several people in and I was lost with thoughts and feelings of others detached from your own personal stuff, I'd forgotten my cold completely as more and more I was drawn into people around me, not so much staring but just taking a glimpse and you stroll past and taking on board how they look to be feeling.
In some ways my heart sank, there seemed to be a lot of lonely lost souls that day, I mused to myself many things such as 'do they have many friends, where do they live, are they just wallflowers that want to let the world pass them by, simple because it's easier that way?'
As I journeyed home on the train I felt emotional inside, whilst cities can be infectious and exciting places they can also be sad and lonely, not because of the obvious candidates such as down and outs, big issue vendors and such but simply because of how sad the average man or woman in the street can look and how alone and vulnerable they seem to be.
Street saging doesn't have to be so depressing, though it's good to be aware that others around you can be sad, it's good to notice vulnerabilities and try and understand them. There's times when I have let go and street saged only to be lifted by others around me, small children laughing or having wonder in their eyes. Lovers embracing, having just met up after being apart, old people holding hands having been married for decades and simply people smiling to one another. I put my thoughts to a friend briefly last night and he say he understood completely where I was coming from, I'm sure others understand my angle too.
When I look at people I always see optimism, and hope inside that despite the fact they are looking sad, tomorrow they may well be feeling happy or turning a corner better things. If only more people tried being human more often, forgetting personal thoughts and reaching out with empathy - can you imagine how much a better world it would be?
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