The Beauty and Grace of Walking

A meditation on a good old walk

Hey everyone,

Below, I’m re-sharing this 2022 post on one of the simplest, most effective exercises: walking, especially in nature. Walks have cured clogged minds, brought forth countless ideas, and healed souls, including my own.

The late Mary Oliver wrote most of her poems while walking. She rejected the assumption that you need to sit down at your computer to work, so she grabbed her notebook and immersed herself in nature. Inspiration followed. Aristotle walked, Steve Jobs walked to do his creative thinking in business and strategy, and Henry David Thoreau walked throughout the day to generate his best ideas. “The moment my legs began to move, my thoughts began to flow,” Thoreau said.

Though the winter days are colder, darker, and shorter here, I walk. I walk to clear my mind, understand the world, and absorb the beauty around me. I walk for fresh air for my lungs and sunlight for my skin, even if it’s chilly out. I walk because the health benefits are enormous, and stretching my legs is freeing. Whether I’m stuck or joyful, I find great comfort in the simple pleasure of a nice walk, preferably outside in the open air.

A recent walk in the park

Thich Nhat Hanh, who wrote the book, How to Walk, offers a good reminder of the skill we learn in our earliest years of life — but then we forget entirely. He notes that many times we walk on autopilot, unaware of the precious ability to walk on Earth. Many of us walk while glued to our phones or while thinking about the next thing on our to-do list. I’m guilty of this, too. He urges us to reconsider this approach. When walking, let’s walk mindfully, embracing each step. Let’s hear the birds and notice the work of our feet and legs to move us forward through the world.

The health benefits of walking also include:

• Improve cardio health, memory, retention

• Prevent or manage various conditions, including heart disease, stroke, high blood pressure, cancer and type 2 diabetes

• Strengthen bones and muscles

• Lose weight, lower blood pressure and cholesterol

I have walked along many trails and in many parks, with no single terrain being my favorite. I love walking in forests, parks, and beaches. This photo, taken last year at Redwoods National Park in California, shows the natural beauty of a walk outside in the forest…a mind cleanser.

There’s an indigenous tribe living deep in the Amazon rainforest, where members have had hardly any evidence of heart disease. Researchers concluded after a year-long study that the Tsimané, as they are called, had the healthiest hearts in the world, a position previously held by Japanese women. What gives? You can thank walking. On average, members of the tribe take about 17,000 steps a day. No expensive gym memberships or elaborate workout routines — just consistent activity. And they hardly sit. (The tribe also gets plenty of rest, sleeps eight to nine hours per night, and maintains a strong social fabric of laughing, chatting, and sharing.)

I look forward to my daily walks: walking in the morning, walking dogs, walking with a friend for a cup of coffee, walking on the beach, walking in the forest, walking in the afternoon, walking and talking on the phone, walking at sunset, and walking alone to get some sunlight while letting the mind wander. It doesn’t cost any money to walk. At work, most of my ideas come to me not while sitting at the desk but while walking outside. Moving is embedded in us, rooted in our evolution as hunters and gatherers, so it’s no surprise that walking has a tendency to foster quality conversation between people — the good old walk and talk.

The benefits tend to linger well after the walk ends.

When and where do you walk?

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Photos of the week (December 2022): Ally and I toured the Mark Twain home in Hartford, Connecticut, which sustained a sizable literary and publishing scene in the 19th century. William Faulkner called Twain "the father of American literature.”

As a baby, Twain wasn’t expected to live. He remained sickly and frail until he was 7 years old. He was the sixth of seven children, only three of whom survived to adulthood. Since Twain got little formal education, he took up self-educating. He spent his free time at the public library and believed learning and education were two very different things.

The room in which Twain wrote many of his most notable works, including Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer. Notice the tiny writing desk in the right corner. On the pool table, he’d spread out his writing notes to aid in his creative process.

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Parting thoughts: “There is good reason why you should wake each morning and mindfully consider what and who you will give your day to. Because unlike other things in life – goals, money, respect, good health, hope, success, and many more – time is the one thing you can never get back once it’s gone. Starting today, make your time count! Put your whole heart and soul into the present! This is the way we find happiness, opportunity, peace, and progress on the average day.” — Angel Chernoff 

Anne Lamott: “The greatest gift that people can accept at any age is that we’re on borrowed time and they don’t want to squander it on stupid stuff. I’ve been around so many people that are dying and they are not talking about their accomplishments ... they’re talking about the love that they experienced, they’re talking about the most beautiful memories — and those were about love and the natural world and those moments of awe in their life.”

Celebrate your gifts,

Matthew