“To learn something new, take the path today that you took yesterday” wrote naturalist John Burroughs. In The Magic of Walking (Simon and Schuster 1980) Aaron Sussman and Ruth Goode agreed: “Even the same walk, the one we may take every day, is never the same from one day to another.” Of course they aren’t: […]
What is it about a sunrise that gives me hope? Saw one today on my morning walk. The rich reds and purples mixed with pastel pinks seemed painted on the underside of white, wispy clouds, all set against a clear blue Texas Panhandle sky. Doesn’t get much prettier. But it’s not the beauty that fans […]
“You do not complain to a beautiful morning,” wrote Walter Teller in his book Area Code 215. I resonate with the sentiment. There’s something about a morning walk, especially when the weather cooperates, that lifts my spirits. Annabel Streets (52 Ways to Walk) says it’s the sunlight, which is the primary timekeeper for our body’s […]
“When we walk,” wrote Henry David Thoreau, “we naturally go to the fields and woods: what would become of us if we walked only in a garden or mall?” It would have gone without saying in the 18th and 19th centuries. There were no indoor shopping malls or fitness centers with gyms or, worse still, […]
“He walks best who walks alone, wrote the British author H. F. Ellis. Many other writers concurr. “One of the pleasantest things in the world is going on a journey,” wrote William Hazlitt, “but I like to do it [by] myself.” Similarly, Genevan philosopher Jacques Rousseau, Scottish novelist Robert Louis Stevenson and American naturalist Henry […]
Do you remember learning to walk? Most of us don’t. Yet, as infants learning to walk took our complete attention. As we got better at it (letting go of couches and adult hands to walk and run on our own), it became one of our best joys. Ralph Waldo Emerson said that walking (especially in […]
In the last blog I wrote about not knowing the highways of the gods when we see them. So how do I intend to give you (and me) eyes to see and bodies to feel the joy of walking? Well, I can’t do it alone. Henry David Thoreau (Walden Pond) said joyful, passionate walking is […]
Before talking about enjoying walking, perhaps it would be good to explore the alternative: Why does one not like it? What makes it unfun? John Burroughs was a 19th century naturalist who hung out with the likes of Walt Whitman (“Leaves of Grass”) and John Muir (think Yosemite Park). Burroughs said that people don’t enjoy […]
Did you know that the idea of walking for its own sake (not just a means of getting from one place to another) is relatively new to human history? In fact, the English verb “to hike” (meaning to walk for pleasure in open country) dates back a mere 200 years. And the noun “hiking” appears […]
“One of the pleasantest things in the world is going on a journey.” The words belong to William Hazlitt, a British naturalist, who in 1835 is thought to have written the first essay on walking. I found him because I’ve been researching my favorite retirement activity for some time now and have decided to share […]