The past few days you’ve read about things that happened when I took a walk.

A walk.

To the Farmer’s Market.

Down the streets of my neighborhood, streets that I walk along all the time.

When you stop to actually look at your surroundings, when you pause and look up or look down, you never know what you are actually going to find…or see…or experience…

You probably aren’t going to see someone get hit by a van…but who knows what you will see when you open your eyes?

Inspiration is all around you…sights, sounds, colors, experiences…

How do these things make you feel? Sad? Happy? Intrigued?

Can you see the makings of a story? Poem? Novel? Play?

Or did it just make you think about things in a different way?

Here’s your assignment:

Take a walk. You can choose the destination. Really use all your senses as you walk: What does the sky look like? What does the air smell like? Pause and look down at the ground- look left, look right. How does what you are experiencing make you feel?

Write it down.

Think about it.

Then do something creative with it.

Inspiration is all around us if we are open to the possibilities. I know how easy it is to be in a rut. I was in one a few weeks ago. I looked at the page and I didn’t care that it was blank. I was perfectly content leaving it that way.

So I took a day. I had a pity party. All the teeny tiny violins were there. Then I shook it off like raindrops that you are unprepared for and got on with it.

We are all allowed to have bad days. And if you believe the Friends theme song, it can be a month or even a year…but eventually we do need to snap out of it…

We are too important to have bad days every day ad infinitum…

We are too important to leave the page, or the canvas, or whatever blank…

We are surrounded by inspiration. We just have to allow ourselves to see it: allow ourselves the latitude to explore it.

Put your phone in your pocket.

Take a walk.

Consider this your prescription: put one foot in front of the other.

73 thoughts on “I Took a Walk”

  1. Love it. Few things as therapeutic as waking in nature. There is no problem so difficult that you can’t walk away from it. Often when you do, the Brian connects the dots in the most unexpected of ways.

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    2. I’m going back to using my walks as my mindfulness/meditation method which to me means I clear my head and try not to really think of anything much except what’s right in front of me or right around me. IDK if you would call this process a source of inspiration or not.

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  6. Yes, walking doesn’t mean just an adjunct to physical health, or even about getting somewhere in particular, it’s about taking in what’s around you in my opinion. The sidewalk chalk art that is renewed by some very creative kids; the cats belonging too and wandering outside the cat hoarders house; the changing seasonal gardens; remodels of old historic homes, and my favorite: meeting the older gentleman in his blue plaid jacket walking his ancient dog. We pause for just a moment to greet each other. Walking = renewal of mind and spirit.

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  8. Someone at work asked me last night how I can work without listening to something. I don’t listen to anything at the gym or when I’m walking or at work. Why? Because i like to fully present. I like to look around and see what is there. To carch bits of conversations. To watch how.people react and what their.facial.expressions are. I like to breathe in fresh air. I like hearing the birds chirp and seeing someone’s art work on the side.of a buildimg . Having something in your.ears all of the time or looking at your phone hinders you from that. I like to know what is going on around me.

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  10. YES. This is excellent advice. Get out of your head and get into nature. I’m currently reading Ram Dass…I don’t know who I am anymore either….and he said lay on the ground outside and look at the sky for 15 minutes ,if you need to get away from your ego mind. That’s deep LSD jargon for what you’re essentially saying.

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  12. I woke up after a bad’s night sleep after a fight with my husband. I’m in a terrible mood. I went on my morning walk — before reading your post — and I took a ton of photos. My plan is to post them today. I feel much better after taking a close look at nature this morning.

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  13. Nice…I choose to walk most, and if, as it should be, requires no further investigation. The persons most common with interaction are a light house! Serving as a guiding light, and a hard mf¡

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  14. Great advice … I try to take a walk on most days, and they’re wonderful to get fresh air, stretch your legs, and let your mind wander. I’ll focus more on my senses in my next walk and see what inspiration brings 🙂

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  17. I’ve been doing that every day since I’ve been walking the dog. Amazing the things you notice even when you’ve been down the same streets for the last 2 years. It’s always changing. Great post!

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  20. Well these past 16 to 18 months of perpetual bad days do add up… which isn’t to suggest that the two years prior where just chock full of yucks…but oh my… the inspiration of now….are my neighbors grilling burgers or is that the smell of Oregon burning? I don’t need another damn minute of take notice, I need a few months of simply absolute tedium.

    But I get ya.

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