How to take a walk
Below is an excerpt from my morning read that I had to share. “Who Will Cry when you Die?: Life Lessons From The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari” by Robin Swarma
“On a recent rainy day, I pulled out the book [ “Getting the Most Out of Life” ] and flipped through the different chapters, stopping at the one entitled “How to Take a Walk.” In it author Alan Devoe shares his insights on how one can get the best out of walking. First, he advises, a walk should never have a specific purpose. Rather than having a destination, you should simply immerse yourself in the beauty of the walk itself. Second, you must never take your worries with you on a walk. Leave them at home, for if you don’t, they will become even more deeply rooted in your mind by the end of the walk. And finally, be fully aware. Train yourself to pay complete attention to the sights, sounds and smells. Study the shape of the leaves on the trees. Observe the beauty of the clouds and the fragrance of the flowers. As he concludes: “The world after all, is not so unendurable, when a person gets a chance to look at it and smell it and feel its texture and be alone with it. This acquaintance with the world-this renewal of the magical happiness and wonderment which you felt when you were a child-such is the purpose of taking walks.”
And so, I realized that I too need to learn how to take walks. I often walk Auggie with a set route, a turning around point, and time the walks right before something else, so that I’m rushing to finish up. Lately, I haven’t taken walks simply to take them, and maybe it’s true, that by taking walks in a specific way, we can begin to relate to the world differently.