flâneurie and the delicious joy of smelling
I was walking through New York’s Central Park recently when I came up on a soccer practice with a dozen or so 10-year-olds. Whatever the game was, It left several kids idle on the outside of what appeared to be a square formation.
Years ago, when my kids were children, I coached a bunch of soccer. One thing I learned to focus on was keeping kids involved—engaged and touching the ball as much as possible. As I got closer I thought, “This guy (the coach) needs to split this into at least two sets of this—too many kids just standing around.”
Five seconds later, one of those kids shouts to the coach, “I’m begging you. I will pay you if you will let me be useful.” 10 years old.
How beautiful a validator of our innate desire to be useful in the world! Felt lucky to hear it.
I walk a lot where I live and most often listen to podcasts but occasionally, I go with no earbuds so I can just think or practice keynote line delivery or just notice things as a flâneur—a word I picked up from the writer and journalist, Pete Hamill (1935 - 2020).
Sharing his Sunday routine in the NY Times back in 2013—
“If it’s a beautiful day, I love taking walks. The walks are always aimless. From where I live, I like walking to the Battery, where so many people, including my own parents, came through that harbor and passed into Ellis Island and became Americans. You can just sit on a bench and look at the harbor, or look at the people. Like being a flâneur. You can just wander around and let the city dictate the script.”
I love that.
Goes further than the visual joy, too. It’s meeting and talking with other people (interactive joy), learning and overhearing things (auditory joy), and feeling a soft breeze or temperature you like on your skin (tactile joy). And if you’re lucky, even the smells. Olfactory joy!
My two favorite times to walk (often with my boy Vinnie1)—breakfast time and dinner time. We’ve got all the regular possibilities (visual, interactive, tactile, auditory) but there’s also the olfactory joy that floats out from the restaurants, homes, and backyards—especially on the weekends. Garlic, meats, and tomato sauces in the evenings. Eggs, cheese, bacon, onions, and sausage in the mornings. Sometimes you can almost taste the calorie-free smells. That’s gustatory joy!
I’ve lived in a city for the past few years after a couple of cul-de-sac decades in the suburbs. Olfactory joy from food is easier here—many more restaurants and people per square foot. But, I remember going for runs in my old neighborhood in the mornings and evenings and still occasionally catching some of that joy.
All of this, for me, is just more reminder that when I pay attention, there’s really so much to appreciate.
I know—
There’s also so much not to appreciate right now. My hope with the thoughts above is to inspire a few more attentive moments for those who might enjoy them.
One timed event that might be useful in addressing some of the not-to-appreciate things at the moment—
For those who are unhappy about the chaos the current US president, Musk, and their congressional enablers are creating, there are marches all over the place tomorrow. This’ll be my first, which is a little sad.
I’m weak. I can’t call him a 🐶.
I walk a couple miles twice a day. I ditched the ear buds years ago. There is so much going on during a casual walk as you pointed out. When I started walking it was chore, something to cross of the to-do list. Now it is one of the best, mindful times of the day for me. Thanks for a great look at a simple pleasure.