The Flâneur

Equal parts curiosity and laziness, a flâneur Is defined as a ‘stroller’. Typically used in the context of an artist, writer, or intellectual; The Flâneur is an urban explorer who strolls the streets of their home town with no set purpose other than to explore, at a slow pace, and succumb to whatever experience and intellectual curiosity that unfolds.

To me, to be a flâneur, is to be an explorer unencumbered by intention other than the intention of pure exploration itself.

The term is both beautiful in it’s literal meaning as it is in a metaphorical sense as well. In our hyper-connected world, to be a flâneur is to disconnect from the ambient noise of digital technology and plug back in to what is real and pervasive; nature and humanity. From there, it is possible to put down the assumptions by which you hang life’s challenges and for a moment in time, test an entirely new hypothesis. That is, to see the world through a different lens.

Innovation and progress has more to do with discovery than invention.

Spend some time being a flâneur around the big challenges you’re tackling in life, business or at home. The solution is already there, awaiting discovery.

Stepping back and slowing down can often reveal what you’ve been struggling to find.