Well Being: Thought-provoking signs

One advantage of growing up on the Main Line is that you encounter vivid proof that riches and privilege do not guarantee happiness.

The Main Line, of course, is not the only place where people are engaged in chasing what philosopher William James called "the bitch-goddess Success" (and such handmaidens as Status, Prestige, and Fame), but it derives much of its glamour from a well-heeled population of old-line aristos and upstart strivers who have snared many of life's brass rings and have the wherewithal and inclination to flaunt that fact.

So you can imagine how welcome it is, in these same storied precincts, to see signs of subversion - actual signs that raise questions about who we are, how we're living, whether the path we're treading will arrive at contentment and well-being.

Signs that bear messages like:

What's Really Important?

What Are You Grateful For?

Fully Inhabit Your Life

We Are Not What We Own

Be a Curious and Honest

Observer of Yourself

What Masks Do You Wear?

The signs - 18 by 24 inches in size - are posted on the front lawn of a modest brick house on Penn Road, a well-traveled thoroughfare that connects Montgomery Avenue, the residential artery of the lower Main Line, with the commercial district of Wynnewood.

The signs have been displayed in succession for a bit more than two years, a new one with a fresh question, statement, or exhortation appearing about every two weeks, turning trips on Penn Road into a philosophical adventure.

Curious about the author of the signs, I cycled over the other day, pedaled up the driveway past the lamppost that proclaimed "Om Sweet Om," and rang the doorbell.

Meg Miller answered, her gaze steady, her voice even, her manner serene.

Miller, in her 50s, is a licensed psychologist with a Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania who has combined her training in psychology with spiritual healing (www.millerphd.com). A native of Westchester County, N.Y., a former Vista volunteer who helped prisoners in Birmingham, Ala., she's an empathy junkie and congenital truth seeker. Her speech is adorned with phrases such as "the luminosity of the present" and "the beauty of enough." The daughter of atheists, she is on a spiritual quest, acutely attuned to the moment. "Every second that's about to happen has never happened before," she says, "and will never happen again."

The inspiration for the signs came in November 2008. For months, Miller's neighborhood had been blanketed by lawn signs about school redistricting.

"My idea was to create signs from the heart that express what's important to me and see if I can have some impact, maybe get people to come together and have concern for each other."

Miller, the single mother of two children, made a list of meaningful words (love, gratitude, peace, aliveness, path, wisdom, awe, etc.) and sketched sample messages (Do You Express Your Love?, Questions Teach Us, Dwell in Possibility).

A nearby sign-making company executed her designs and in December 2008 Miller began posting her signs, letting each stand for about two weeks before putting up another. The signs are meant to provoke thought and yet be absorbed at a glance. "I try to make them poetic and digestible," Miller said.

For months there was no reaction, and Miller wondered whether anyone noticed. But then neighbors began commenting and passersby began slipping notes and cards in her door.

"Some people don't get them, but most of the feedback has been positive," Miller said. People have told her that the signs move them, change their mood, make them reflect.

"In a time of my life when no one could guide me, when no one understood, your signs . . . gave me hope and confidence to open my eyes and make life-changing decisions," one woman wrote. "Driving down Penn Road was the best free advice I ever had!"

"When you see these signs you say, 'Wow, what a refreshing thing to read something like this in today's world,' " said Ray Weinmann, 69, a Penn Road resident. "It's like an oasis in the middle of a desert of people trying to take advantage of other people."

At least one neighbor dislikes her signs, Miller has heard, and one man stopped by to complain that the signs were "inappropriate."

Her suggestion for motorists who find the signs annoying: "Please blink."

Miller hopes the signs encourage people to be "absorbed in life" and "a force for good in the world," to replace the desire for "more, better, faster" with "community, sharing, love, and empathy."

The "Sign Lady" (as some now call her) plans to add 10 signs to her current 40 and rotate them weekly.

"Now that I know people see them," Miller said, "I'm more motivated."