It is a serious thing

just to be alive
on this fresh morning
in the broken world.

–Mary Oliver, Invitation

So maybe you’ve decided to take a quick walk….now what?

How about tracking a color or pattern.  I love this list for a Fall Nature Walk from Hearts and Leaves.  Noticing every time you see leaves that certain shade of yellow.  Keeping track of all the purple accents you come across.  Counting the times you can spot polka dots.

Tracking something–anything!–takes us out of ourselves.  The constant whir of thoughts and worries finds something else to occupy itself with.  And when we have a bit of distance, those worries can become prayers.  Prayers that leave us transformed.

My father was a very disciplined and punctual man; it was a prerequisite for his creativity. There was a time for everything: for work, for talk, for solitude, for rest. No matter what time you get out of bed, go for a walk and then work, he’d say, because the demons hate it when you get out of bed, demons hate fresh air. So when I make up excuses not to work, I hear his voice in my head: Get up, get out, go to your work.
–Linn Ullmann on her father, Ingmar Bergman

It’s often hard in the midst of a day gone wrong, to stop and take a deep breath.  But sometimes just a little fresh air, just a short walk can make all the difference.

Walks wake us up and change our environments.  Even familiar places change through the seasons.  Picking a tree that you check in with all year long can provide a rich and textured record of the year.

My favorite resource and inspiration for walking is Healing Walks for Hard Times by Carolyn Scott Kortge.  The simple practices that she describes bring a measure of awareness and contemplation to an everyday activity.  These are the sorts of things that I want to teach my children–easy ways to calm your heart, open your mind, and tune in to wonder.