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A Walk in The Park

Reflections of a Walk in the Park S. Sacramento CA.

Inspired by Shoba Narayan on the benefits of taking long walks in the open, amid nature

As a child I loved walking in the park.  I walked in the park every chance I got.

Walking every day was a common habit for my hometown folks.

For most not because they loved it, but because they had to.

Back in those days we didn’t have cars nor public transportation.

So we foot it. Some folks had bicycles that seemed to had given them some status.

As you now know this post was inspired by Shoba Narayan post on,

“The Benefits of  Taking Long Walks in the Open…”

I never thought much of it but I enjoyed walking.

I walked to school. I walked with my neighbors to their farms.

I regularly went on long hikes into the forest.

I would go walking to the town park, walking at the beach.

I walked everywhere.

I loved walking to a prestine seaside beach area, that was 1 mile from the edge of town.

A Walk at the Beach San Leandro Marina, CA.

As time went by, I started hearing of maladies that afflicted many of my towns people, high blood pressure, diabetes,  heart problems etc.

My own grandmother suffered from asthma.

Then I noticed that people who were walking all the time, seemed healthier than those, who seemed to be living the good.

They resorted to life of sitting around, and to some extent drinking.

Some got blind and to some extent, limb amputations.

I saw those things but never worried about them.

View of Lake Mead From Hoover Dam AZ

Forty sumptn’ years later;

I am still enjoying the calmness and good spirit that walking seems to give.

But today I walk in good spirit and with real knowledge of the benefits of walking.

I am sharing this with you, inspired by Shoba Narayan post on, “The Benefits of  Taking Long Walks in the Open…”

I’d like to share a couple passages from her posted article with you.

“In his book Daily Rituals: How Artists Work, author Mason Currey has surveyed the work habits of 161 writers, artists, philosophers, scientists and composers.

Walking every day was a common habit for many, along with working early in the morning and not having a cluttered desk. Charles Dickens walked for 3 hours every afternoon, as did Beethoven, who carried a sheet of paper with him in case a musical score struck him.

Russian composer Tchaikovsky timed his walks to 2 hours exactly, not a minute more or less. Philosopher Søren Kierkegaard came straight from his walk to his writing desk to feed his thoughts into words right away.” This to me is eye openning.  It gives me a better appreciation for my love for walking.

Miami Marina Park

But she went deeper into walking, bringing up the health benefits.  She wrote, “Walking your way to health is a cliché. Everyone advocates it. In his book Thinking, Fast And Slow, Nobel-prize winner and economist Daniel Kahneman even talks about the speed of walking.

A stroll at your normal pace, he says, is good for mulling over or coming up with new ideas. Power-walking at high speed, in contrast, requires effort and attention from brain and body, leaving less room for the serendipity of brain waves or brilliant ideas.”

I tend to let my spirit moves me, on my walks; however, when I am walking with others, I walk at their space.

Ocho Rios Jamiaca

In my own observation walking seem theraputic and a binder of loving relationship.

Over the years I have suggested long walks holding hands, to couples having shaky relationship.

And for the majority of those who took me up on it, lets say they found a new aphrodisiac.

For me walking has stayed as an every day life activity.

Today I get to walk in the park in different states and even foreign countries.

But I have also incorporated it, into my lifestyle and my life work.

To get the maximum advantage of it.

I get to travel and write my travel expenses off for taxes.

I end up being able to travel and walk for practically free.