This touched my heart in ways you will never know. I walk every day in a wildlife sanctuary. I have heart to heart conversations with the trees and deer and geese and grass. They have seen my tears and grief. Helped me heal from the loss of my mother and helped me find my way to wholeness after the betrayal of someone I loved and trusted. They have equally seen me transform into someone I love and trust. At 67, I have found myself thanks to walking. Thank you for this❤️
Your words hit their mark, just as I’m considering whether to give in to the urge for a second nap of the day. Lately I have been needing naps more than ever; usually a short power nap does the trick but this week I’ve been mentally, physically and psychologically exhausted. There’s definitely some consolation in knowing I’m not alone in this,although it also saddens me.
Walking on my favorite trail along Monterey Bay - a landscape I’ve loved since 1966 - is even better than dark chocolate (my usual drug of choice) when it comes to healing my soul. I walk with my elderly dog, letting her set the pace, following the advice of an expert birder to try to notice something new in the familiar each day, whether it’s a bird or a plant or a friend. I look forward to your book.
Thank you for this. It’s hard to find a grounded way to be now—there’s anguish or numbing, as you said. Thanks for naming that fatigue that has undermined many of us, and for the reminder that walking and observing truly do help.
Like you, I am deeply tired by life and how the social contract of civility is disintegrating yet again between nations and between neighbours. You are correct in identifying nature and art making as a source of grounding and solace. Thanks for this.
Have you read Windswept: Walking the paths of trail blazing Women by Annabel Abbs? She profiles a group of women who walked long distances to keep their souls and bodies together.
I got so much out of the wisdom that you shared with us. At 82 years of age, I can relate to many of your experiences. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.
That idea of Fitzgerald’s was introduced to me in his amazing book The Crack-Up which I read at a difficult time in my own life. To hold two seemingly opposing ideas in one’s mind and yet not lose one’s own since of equilibrium reminded me of the process of making art. Especially painting. Writing is like painting to me. There’s an all at onceness to thinking this way. Like that field where everything grows. And keeps on growing.
I am deeply touched by this ... not because I am an avid walker, but because I've seen myself as one who can't really do it properly. I require the use of a walker these days. And I must ask myself now, who decides what proper is, and why is it that I think that the use of an assistive device - one that allows me to walk, to experience the rhythm of one foot forward and then the next - disallows me from this practice. It need not. Curiosity. Discovery. Basic movement. Thank you🙏🏻
Thank you for this. So true, many extra naps as of late, when possible.
I think I'm feeling 20 years older than I am. What happened? I was at the grocery this week and the cashier asked me about my senior discount. Well, I'm almost there, but I didn't think I looked it yet.
In hindsight, I should have taken the discount because the price of groceries is beyond ridiculous.
I walk miles and miles every week, mostly back and forth to work, which is a little over 2 miles up a very big hill and then, in the afternoon, another 2+ miles down. Right in the middle there are waterfalls. All along there is lots of green. I haven't walked back and forth consistently to work since I was in my late 20s (I'm 52 now), and it is reminding me how important walking is to my mental and spiritual health. Not to mention my physical health, though increasingly that's the least of my goals. I just want to continue to want to be here despite all the obvious reasons for despair and walking is the only thing that helps.
This touched my heart in ways you will never know. I walk every day in a wildlife sanctuary. I have heart to heart conversations with the trees and deer and geese and grass. They have seen my tears and grief. Helped me heal from the loss of my mother and helped me find my way to wholeness after the betrayal of someone I loved and trusted. They have equally seen me transform into someone I love and trust. At 67, I have found myself thanks to walking. Thank you for this❤️
Your words hit their mark, just as I’m considering whether to give in to the urge for a second nap of the day. Lately I have been needing naps more than ever; usually a short power nap does the trick but this week I’ve been mentally, physically and psychologically exhausted. There’s definitely some consolation in knowing I’m not alone in this,although it also saddens me.
Walking on my favorite trail along Monterey Bay - a landscape I’ve loved since 1966 - is even better than dark chocolate (my usual drug of choice) when it comes to healing my soul. I walk with my elderly dog, letting her set the pace, following the advice of an expert birder to try to notice something new in the familiar each day, whether it’s a bird or a plant or a friend. I look forward to your book.
Thank you for this. It’s hard to find a grounded way to be now—there’s anguish or numbing, as you said. Thanks for naming that fatigue that has undermined many of us, and for the reminder that walking and observing truly do help.
Like you, I am deeply tired by life and how the social contract of civility is disintegrating yet again between nations and between neighbours. You are correct in identifying nature and art making as a source of grounding and solace. Thanks for this.
Have you read Windswept: Walking the paths of trail blazing Women by Annabel Abbs? She profiles a group of women who walked long distances to keep their souls and bodies together.
I got so much out of the wisdom that you shared with us. At 82 years of age, I can relate to many of your experiences. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.
That idea of Fitzgerald’s was introduced to me in his amazing book The Crack-Up which I read at a difficult time in my own life. To hold two seemingly opposing ideas in one’s mind and yet not lose one’s own since of equilibrium reminded me of the process of making art. Especially painting. Writing is like painting to me. There’s an all at onceness to thinking this way. Like that field where everything grows. And keeps on growing.
I am deeply touched by this ... not because I am an avid walker, but because I've seen myself as one who can't really do it properly. I require the use of a walker these days. And I must ask myself now, who decides what proper is, and why is it that I think that the use of an assistive device - one that allows me to walk, to experience the rhythm of one foot forward and then the next - disallows me from this practice. It need not. Curiosity. Discovery. Basic movement. Thank you🙏🏻
First off - the shoes! ❤️ Next, the words, the video, the poem, the observations, the craft, the softening. ❤️ ❤️❤️
Thank you for this. So true, many extra naps as of late, when possible.
I think I'm feeling 20 years older than I am. What happened? I was at the grocery this week and the cashier asked me about my senior discount. Well, I'm almost there, but I didn't think I looked it yet.
In hindsight, I should have taken the discount because the price of groceries is beyond ridiculous.
I walk miles and miles every week, mostly back and forth to work, which is a little over 2 miles up a very big hill and then, in the afternoon, another 2+ miles down. Right in the middle there are waterfalls. All along there is lots of green. I haven't walked back and forth consistently to work since I was in my late 20s (I'm 52 now), and it is reminding me how important walking is to my mental and spiritual health. Not to mention my physical health, though increasingly that's the least of my goals. I just want to continue to want to be here despite all the obvious reasons for despair and walking is the only thing that helps.
Thank you for a beautiful read, which was itself grounding.
Just beautiful and true. Thank you.
Thank you, such gentle hopeful words
Oh so beautiful.