Wherever you put your attention is illuminating

“I wonder what that is, over there?”

Thursday afternoon and I was taking my sons to one of our favourite coffee shops. En route, we walk along a fairly unremarkable, busy road in Dalston, east London.

I guess we’ve gone down this road half a dozen times. Today I spotted something I’d never seen before. On the other side of the road, there were some multi coloured fence panels, set back from the road, in a gap between the buildings.

“I wonder what that is over there? Let’s take a look,” I suggested.

We found an entrance. And as we walked in, we were greeted by this wonderful scene. The flowers. The trees. Tables in the clearings where people sat alone or in groups, reading and drinking coffee or an afternoon beer. Lightbulbs strung from branches.

It was literally a ‘wow’ moment.

This is Dalston Curve Garden - a community garden on the site of a disused railway line. It was a hidden gem that we’d just happened to stumble upon. Something totally new and unexpected. It really lifted us.

“Why did we come here Dad?” asked one of my sons as we were leaving to resume our coffee jaunt.

Because I was curious, I said. This is the magic that happens when you ask yourself: ‘what is that?’ or ‘what is over there?’ and then go and find out.

As you may have seen in recent posts, my noticing radar has been turned up pretty high recently. I’ve been tuning in much more into what’s around me, what I can see or discover, what might be easily missed. This experience could so easily have been missed.

My friend Matthew Stillman once told me “if you follow your interest and your curiosity, and you’re willing to follow that into the smallest corners, you can find tremendous light there. Wherever you put your attention is illuminating.”

Today, with this hidden garden, I was gloriously rewarded.