Step by Step

Photo - Khadeeja Yasser

‘Let us thank the Earth

That offers ground for home

And holds our feet firm

To walk in space open

To Infinite Galaxies’.

The above lines from John O’Donoghue jumped out at me when thinking this morning about National Walking Day

  Some sources cite yesterday and others today as National Walking Day, but whichever it is, it’s a reminder of the many benefits of ‘getting out for a walk’ ‘having my daily constitutional’ ‘getting a breadth of fresh air’.

Whatever we choose to call it, walking is good for us.  One woman whom we know walked every day of her life and when asked what contributed to her current age, a few years short of a century, she replied ‘going for the walk every day’.   

While it’s true that the physical exercise is good for us, getting off our bums and getting moving, getting the blood flowing, getting the circulation moving, walking also  helps to clear the mind, calms the stress, and refreshes the  blood with fresh oxygen……… and we know that disease can’t thrive in well oxygenated blood.  

Walking can also bring us into touch with Mother Nature, with our beautiful blue planet.  This time of year we can notice the blackberries and haws, the red berries on the hawthorn bush, the leaves turning as they fall. It’s a bit quieter, the children are back at school, there’s less mowing of lawns, our daily walk can become a meditation.  One breath at a time, one step at a time.  

Walking nowadays has come to be almost exclusively seen as exercise, but many books on creativity suggest walking as a way of resting the mind and then slowly ideas may come dropping slowly.  In her beautiful book ‘If you want to write’ Brenda Ueland says ‘If you would continue to be alone for a long time, ambling swinging your legs for many miles and living in the present, then you will be rewarded;  thoughts, good ideas, plots for novels, longings, decisions, revelations will come to you’.  

Today, on national walking day, lace up the runners, pull on the fleece and head out for a walk.  Breathe, notice the autumn light, the sky, the nip in the air, the angle of the sun, hear the wind rustling the trees.  Beware of each step, one foot in front of the other, seeing the dewdrops on the grass, listening to the sounds all around.  Today, let our walk be mindful, aware, peaceful.  Let us disconnect from the thoughts running round in our heads and be present, alive, awake and alert.  

‘Let us ask forgiveness of the Earth,

For all our sins against her;

For our violence and poisonings

Of her beauty’.

(John O’Donoghue from his book ‘to bless the space between us).