I walk, therefore I think
“I only went out for a walk and finally concluded to stay out till sundown, for going out, I found, was really going in.” John Muir,
Well I didn't walk all day, just the usual walk into Eltham - it was such a lovely day and anyway I hadn't walked for many days - I have been a bit busy with this and that trivia of late. And as I walked I thought, as I always do. The picture is not Eltham of course - it's in Italy near Lerici and the Cinque Terre but inland. The wall is the wall of a castle. There was a lot to think about here. The beauty of the landscape, the density of the habitation, who built this castle and why? What are we going to have for dinner tonight? Is everybody else happy? (They were just up ahead.) They were probably not your everyday thoughts, as I was in a foreign country, and a place I had never seen before. Everything was new and unfamiliar - well different. I guess there were familiar things too. But really it was more about enjoying a new place, a new environment. I was being a tourist.
My normal walk, however, is through Melbourne's prosperous suburbia, so not so spectacularly scenic, although there are one or two spots where one can see the distant hills and be lifted by the vista. And the walk is also the same every time.
Except of course it isn't. Every time I do it I notice something new - today I noticed palm trees planted around one of these little suburban houses, and further on, two planted either side of the front door, like those pencil pines in Italy. And it's not always the same anyway. The seasons change which means a change in the vegetation - and the weather. People move around, various roadworks and renovations and building and gardening exercises take place. There is always something different. I remember as a teenager on the school bus, noticing different things every day on the same journey to school. And these new things release a whole new train of thought and speculation and memory.
And so the brain keeps busily ticking over - as it did today. Indeed it seems to tick over most busily when I am walking really, although I have to say my brain never stops thinking - consciously I mean. Heaven knows what it's doing unconsciously. Does your brain keep talking away at you?
“Think while walking, walk while thinking, and let writing be but the light pause, as the body on a walk rests in contemplation of wide open spaces.” Frédéric Gros, A Philosophy of Walking
At various stages of my life I have walked the same path every day. My first walks alone (well with my sister and other friends) were to primary school from around the age of 6 or 7 to high school which was too far away and involved a school bus - though even then we had to walk to the bus down the same streets. At university I walked around the campus and through the beautiful grounds - although not often alone. And walking to pick up my son from kindergarten was also not alone as I was accompanied by my other younger son. When I worked I walked from the train to my office and back again and then not a lot except when on holiday. I grew a little overweight. But now I am back into the habit and I do enjoy it, even though I puff and go very slowly when I go uphill. Walking around shopping malls is probably my only other form of exercise - so I need to do it frequently. It's surprising how far one walks in a shopping mall. David's fitbit has the evidence!
"Walking is man's best medicine." Hippocrates
Walking alone is definitely good for the soul, and the brain and the body. Walking with somebody else is a different thing altogether. The exercise is the same but the thinking is not, as one is most likely conversing at the same time. It's a social exercise - and we all need that too. Walking alone is said to be good for depression - if you are angry or depressed - go for a walk. I find it works every time. And I really don't know why. But it's also nice to walk with others. Food for the soul but in a different way.
"[Elizabeth Bennett's] solitary walks express the independence that literally takes the heroine out of the social sphere of the houses and their inhabitants, into a larger, lonelier world where she is free to think: walking articulates both physical and mental freedom.” Rebecca Solnit
But what on earth does this have to do with food you might ask? I am supposed to be writing a foodie blog after all. Well not a lot really, but I do get some of my ideas for this blog from walking - witness this post (and at least two others I thought about today as I walked - which I will pursue on other days). As I walk I think, about everything from absolute trivia to 'deep' thoughts about life, the universe and everything. I think about things from the past, things from the present, what to cook for dinner tonight, what am I doing tomorrow, what tasks do I have to complete and how can I meet the deadlines, things about my relationships, my children, my grandchildren, even, occasionally thoughts about the state of the world, though I try to suppress them - and on and on. And it is surprising how many of my thoughts are related to food - although I suspect that part of this is because I now have this blog and need to think of something to write about every day. Another very good exercise - (for the brain anyway).
“I can only meditate when I am walking, when I stop I cease to think; my mind only works with my legs.” Jean-Jacques Rousseau 1712-1778
For me this is not true - and I doubt it is for anyone. The quality of the thoughts might be different though I suppose. But the brain just never stops it seems to me. Here I am, stopped, as I climb through one of those hilly French villages, but I doubt I have stopped thinking.
This has turned out to be a real rambling post. Sorry. My walks are not the only source of inspiration for my posts - there are many more, listed on my 'Why' page. But truly they have turned out to be a major source of inspiration and it certainly often gives me a purpose when I enter the supermarket at the end of the walk - to check on something I though about along the way - which sets off a whole other line of thought.
“All of us learned how to walk by failing.” J.R. Rim
Now what does that mean? I think it's optimistic and another reason why walking is good for depression.
