When we choose a path through a city or forest, our brain must survey the surrounding environment, construct a mental map of the world, settle on a way forward, and translate that plan into a series of footsteps. Likewise, writing forces the brain to review its own landscape, plot a course through that mental terrain, and transcribe the resulting trail of thoughts by guiding the hands. Walking organizes the world around us; writing organizes our thoughts.
While working remote, whenever I got stuck working as a designer I would go for a run. It was amazing how different problems felt after doing it - like bringing a fresh new perspective.
Here's a reading challenge for any of you lovers of walking: Walking, by Henry David Thoreau, originally published in The Atlantic in the June 1862 issue! It's a dense, challenging read. I have probably put about an hour into it and I'm at 25% complete.
Also, Zomg: Virginia Woolf's Street Haunting. (I read that one in print at a library last summer because I couldn't import it to Readup. Now it works in a jiffy :)) That's another writing-walking GOAT with a spectacularly Woolf opening line:
No one perhaps has ever felt passionately towards a lead pencil.
And somehow that got me to this, a highlighted passage in Thoreau's Walden, Chapter 11, Higher Laws:
"As I came home through the woods with my string of fish, trailing my pole, it being now quite dark, I caught a glimpse of a woodchuck stealing across my path, and felt a strange thrill of savage delight, and I was strongly tempted to seize and devour him raw; not that I was hungry then, except for that wildness which he represented."
When we walk we are wild and free. And thus, alive.
I love to walk by myself and with no technology devices. I usually go early in the morning when it’s quiet except for the deep sounds of nature. Where I walk is hilly and there’s a river, which then meets a bay. The smells are of rich earth, brine and salt. I can literally feel the sights, sounds and smells filling me, feeding my soul. The beauty is awe inspiring, gratitude and appreciation my constant companions. It is in this solitude that I go within to contact my inner resources, my Higher Self, opening to receive it’s wisdom and strength. My walks are my prayers, my connection to the Divine.
Once again I like your post as much as the article! I was having a bad day Friday and was in a funk. I went for a walk around the reservoir in Central Park. I reframed my mood into something productive as I watched the buildings glow in the distance and the water come alive with ducks and birds. I have always used walks to stimulate my mind. Loved this piece.
It’s empowering to find your way back and just by walking! Awesome! I loved this piece also. So reaffirming and the timing is right with this pandemic - we need practices that keep us centered and grounded. Nature, no matter where you can find it, heals!
I've had a few mind-altering walks around that reservoir in Central Park - sometimes alone, sometimes with a companion. I love the view from the north side looking south, towards the buildings on 59th street, everything reflecting in the water.
Since I have not been able to go to the gym I started walking again. I used to take my old dog Max with me I have been sitting in front of a computer working since the pandemic so the walking has provided a nice break.
It’s wonderful to read these comments - we are all finding relief! So happy for you! If my walk is delayed, I do see quite a few people walking dogs. All varieties and I love that. I love animals.
“Methinks that the moment my legs begin to move, my thoughts begin to flow.”
This reminds me of certain species of shark that can only breathe when they are in motion. I remember thinking it was such a ridiculous thing when first hearing it but I suppose in this way we're not all too different! Really great article. I've never regretted taking a walk.
What is it about walking, in particular, that makes it so amenable to thinking and writing? The answer begins with changes to our chemistry. When we go for a walk, the heart pumps faster, circulating more blood and oxygen not just to the muscles but to all the organs—including the brain. Many experiments have shown that after or during exercise, even very mild exertion, people perform better on tests of memory and attention. Walking on a regular basis also promotes new connections between brain cells, staves off the usual withering of brain tissue that comes with age, increases the volume of the hippocampus (a brain region crucial for memory), and elevates levels of molecules that both stimulate the growth of new neurons and transmit messages between them.
Stephen King's novel (under the pseudonym Richard Bachman) The Long Walk is one of my favorites. :)
While working remote, whenever I got stuck working as a designer I would go for a run. It was amazing how different problems felt after doing it - like bringing a fresh new perspective.
So stoked this won today.
Here's a reading challenge for any of you lovers of walking: Walking, by Henry David Thoreau, originally published in The Atlantic in the June 1862 issue! It's a dense, challenging read. I have probably put about an hour into it and I'm at 25% complete.
Also, Zomg: Virginia Woolf's Street Haunting. (I read that one in print at a library last summer because I couldn't import it to Readup. Now it works in a jiffy :)) That's another writing-walking GOAT with a spectacularly Woolf opening line:
And somehow that got me to this, a highlighted passage in Thoreau's Walden, Chapter 11, Higher Laws:
When we walk we are wild and free. And thus, alive.
Walking is good for creative problem solving!
Yup! And for figuring out what the problems even are! ;)
I love to walk by myself and with no technology devices. I usually go early in the morning when it’s quiet except for the deep sounds of nature. Where I walk is hilly and there’s a river, which then meets a bay. The smells are of rich earth, brine and salt. I can literally feel the sights, sounds and smells filling me, feeding my soul. The beauty is awe inspiring, gratitude and appreciation my constant companions. It is in this solitude that I go within to contact my inner resources, my Higher Self, opening to receive it’s wisdom and strength. My walks are my prayers, my connection to the Divine.
Once again I like your post as much as the article! I was having a bad day Friday and was in a funk. I went for a walk around the reservoir in Central Park. I reframed my mood into something productive as I watched the buildings glow in the distance and the water come alive with ducks and birds. I have always used walks to stimulate my mind. Loved this piece.
It’s empowering to find your way back and just by walking! Awesome! I loved this piece also. So reaffirming and the timing is right with this pandemic - we need practices that keep us centered and grounded. Nature, no matter where you can find it, heals!
Beautiful comments. Up and down.
I've had a few mind-altering walks around that reservoir in Central Park - sometimes alone, sometimes with a companion. I love the view from the north side looking south, towards the buildings on 59th street, everything reflecting in the water.
Since I have not been able to go to the gym I started walking again. I used to take my old dog Max with me I have been sitting in front of a computer working since the pandemic so the walking has provided a nice break.
It’s wonderful to read these comments - we are all finding relief! So happy for you! If my walk is delayed, I do see quite a few people walking dogs. All varieties and I love that. I love animals.
This reminds me of certain species of shark that can only breathe when they are in motion. I remember thinking it was such a ridiculous thing when first hearing it but I suppose in this way we're not all too different! Really great article. I've never regretted taking a walk.