I'll think of you as I take my morning walk, Helene. Perhaps we'll share that walk sometime when you visit your son in this valley. As for the internet, it's such a relief to be able to connect again when I want to. :)
Beautiful area to walk and breathe. I love the mountains and pines more than high desert, but I found out the hard way, while traveling alone, that I can't handle high elevations anymore.
Perhaps I could adapt again, but that's unknown. I'd need enough time and someone with me to test it to find out whether it's possible. For me, my limit is about 5,000 ft. I know you had to adjust to a change too.
Penny, I am so sorry that you can no longer handle the elevations where your beloved pine forests dominate. That's a hard adjustment to make. I know that you have come to terms with it more or less, but it's still hard.
I am fortunate that I love the high desert, because it's in the elevation range where my lungs and heart are healthy. And I am doubly fortunate to be able to live in this valley where farms and orchards adjoin wilder landscapes, so I live with a huge amount of diversity, which is fertile for my creativity and my life.
The view over the valley is just glorious. I find it both soothing and inspiring.
At one of my lowest and most lost times, I decided to walk. My reasoning was that when you are in the midst of a great darkness, all you can do is walk. Walk until you see a glimmer of light. Walk until you get to the other side.
And that's what I did. I walked the same path daily, but in my soul, I was moving thru the dark forest until I reached the open sky. I healed. I learned many valuable lessons. I regained my life.
I loved walking with you today and hearing the voices of your new home.
Oh, Kathleen, I am so glad you found walking as a way to walk your soul out of the darkness into that glimmer of light. Walking is such powerful medicine. I honestly cannot imagine not being able to walk every morning, or if I couldn't walk, to be able to get outside and sit in awareness with the community of the land. It is so healing.
And thank you for that benediction. I am very happy here. Hugs and blessings to you!
Susan dear, I don't even NEED to take a walk to let go of my fears and sorrows. Your walk, with the air flowing up into the mountains and down into the valley is enough for me. I can feel it! Thank you, thank you, again and again.
Dear Sharon, We all need soothing and calming in these times, and I'm happy to have helped with that. Of course, you have your wonderful garden to turn to. I know it's a refuge and an inspiration every day. I smile just thinking of you there. Big hugs to you.
For some reason, I got really anxious before a presentation I had on Monday. And after the presentation, I couldn't calm down (I had some other client meetings). I was counting down the minutes to get outside to walk to meet a friend for lunch. As I walked back home, I thought to myself "yep, that was what I needed" (even if the scenery wasn't as pretty as yours).
Thanks, Jill. I'm glad to not be in the middle of the move and to have internet access again. It can be a lovely thing to be on retreat and offline, but if you don't choose to be offline, it's stressful.
I hope Monday's presentation went well, even if it was especially anxiety-producing, and yay for having a walk to lunch and a walk home to give you the time in nature and the physical exercise to settle your system. Isn't it amazing how well that works? (No matter the scenery--it's just the being outside and out of yourself and moving your body!)
I too walked in Rwanda and Burundi and through African Road, a non profit in Portland, have “adopted” a couple who are change makers for their people. We support Grace’s education to become an interpreter and help support her family and her husbands work. I walked with them in Oregon at Smith Rock where people practice climbing on the red pillars. It was in walking where we came together as family-community. We can breathe together.
Jane, That is such a wonderful story. There you are, Finding Beauty in a Broken World in your own way. Thank you for being you, and for supporting Grace and her husband and family, and welcoming them into your family. You are an inspiration.
Walking is how I got through the Covid pandemic. Every day, I would walk and walk some more. When the peopled world seemed like it was getting crazier, walking helped me keep my sanity. Same goes the last several months - walking is my antidote to all the current craziness - and helps me find the energy and wherewithal to be a part of the resistance. Thanks Susan.
Walking is the best medicine ever. I'm glad you can walk and that you do, in order to give yourself the sustenance and balance you need to be part of the resistance. We're walking together, at least metaphorically.
Thanks, Linda! I'm glad you find joy in your daily walk as you observe and learn. Do you use Seek, the app from iNaturalist to identity the plants you see? It's the best one I know of. If you want to contribute to the body of knowledge about plants and their lives and ranges, I suggest setting up an iNaturalist account and uploading your photos and IDs. The millions of ordinary observers around the world using iNaturalist have contributed significantly to our understanding of this planet, rediscovering species thought to be lost, expanding the ranges of others, helping us understand how climate change is affecting species' ability to attract pollinators and make seeds, and so much else. There's a TED talk about this I will link to in my next post. It's inspiring!
First: Daily walking serves me in so many ways. Sometimes, it's a birding lesson; this week, it was a wildcrafting slow walk. Other times, it's my office for thinking, and sometimes it's an exercise in building strength. I walk the same rural road almost every day and am never bored - there is just so much to notice, feel, and wonder about.
I am still reading the book - blame the work of my vegetable garden. Some thoughts:
Thanks in part to a hormonal menopause, I stepped away from a life of convention: career, suburban home, and stuff to fill it. I moved to a five-acre homestead in a small community where I knew no one. A city girl for my first 50 years, I was terrified of the unknown, the absence of reliable financial security, and starting over. Two years into this experiment, I was widowed overnight - the first time I lived alone in 30 years. Well-meaning friends urged me to "come home" to the city and the life I had left behind. But I couldn't, there was a pull that I am still learning to understand 16 years later.
Like Terry's pull, it completely changed my life. Like your new home, the pull is the universe's guide. We just need to listen.
Sue, Like you, I walk the same route every day and always find something new to ponder, take joy in, and be inspired by. And like you, walking serves in many ways, exercising my body, brain and my spirit, in addition to calming my anxiety and distress in these times. It's such a blessing to be able to walk out into the near-wild and be award and soothed and nurtured in so many ways!
Your comment about your move is interesting, and I would say that you are right about it being like Terry's "call" to go to Rwanda. It sounds like that move took a huge amount of courage just to make the change, and then to be widowed overnight two years later.... I wonder how that experience would have been different if you and your husband hadn't moved, and if you would have been able to make that leap to the homestead in a rural place at that point (after his death).
The twists and turns of our learnings and our lives are sometimes simply inscrutable, and only comprehensible when viewed in the rearview mirror, sometimes years or decades later. I am glad you listened to that call from the universe! Change is inevitable, and the way we handle it is what makes us who we are. Blessings to you as you listen for whatever change is ahead.
I love this essay! Your tips for reducing our brain's chatter are sound, and they work. When I have anxiety, going for a walk calms me and settles my mind, and the effects of this last for the rest of the day.
And you are surrounded by nature's bounty! It's wonderful that you have such scenic delights surrounding you.
One day I'd love to participate in your book club. Right now I have a ton of books to catch up on, but maybe in the future. The readings sound interesting.
Hi, Beth, I'm glad you have a walking practice too, and that it works so well. We forget how effective it is to disengage from our sources of anxiety and just get outside into a rich community of lives. Movement and fresh air and the community of the land are amazingly healing (and free).
Whenever you can participate in the book discussion, great. In the meantime, don't push yourself. Enjoy the books you have, one by one.... :)
I think a morning solo routine stroll is an incredible healer and source of inspiration & gratitude. Even the same route is always different. I enjoyed your video. Beautiful views. I am located in western Canada in the seaside walkable community of Ambleside. Each day the same route. Each day something different. Happy summer!
Debra, I am happy to think of you in Ambleside enjoying the sea air, the green and the lovely walking. Let it soothe your soul and inspire your creativity! Blessings to you.
Hopefully, if my back ablation works, I can begin taking my morning walk again—5:30 a.m. here in Tucson summer. Mediating in my chair works for now. Thank you for your calming inputs.
Karen, I am thinking of you and sending positive thoughts for a successful back ablation. May it free you from pain and allow you to walk again. And for now, I am glad you have a chair comfortable enough to meditate in. Blessings to you.
I’m so glad you have connection again so you can grace us with your wisdom writing. I walk with you daily. And with TTW
I'll think of you as I take my morning walk, Helene. Perhaps we'll share that walk sometime when you visit your son in this valley. As for the internet, it's such a relief to be able to connect again when I want to. :)
Beautiful area to walk and breathe. I love the mountains and pines more than high desert, but I found out the hard way, while traveling alone, that I can't handle high elevations anymore.
Perhaps I could adapt again, but that's unknown. I'd need enough time and someone with me to test it to find out whether it's possible. For me, my limit is about 5,000 ft. I know you had to adjust to a change too.
The view over the valley is so peaceful.
Penny, I am so sorry that you can no longer handle the elevations where your beloved pine forests dominate. That's a hard adjustment to make. I know that you have come to terms with it more or less, but it's still hard.
I am fortunate that I love the high desert, because it's in the elevation range where my lungs and heart are healthy. And I am doubly fortunate to be able to live in this valley where farms and orchards adjoin wilder landscapes, so I live with a huge amount of diversity, which is fertile for my creativity and my life.
The view over the valley is just glorious. I find it both soothing and inspiring.
At one of my lowest and most lost times, I decided to walk. My reasoning was that when you are in the midst of a great darkness, all you can do is walk. Walk until you see a glimmer of light. Walk until you get to the other side.
And that's what I did. I walked the same path daily, but in my soul, I was moving thru the dark forest until I reached the open sky. I healed. I learned many valuable lessons. I regained my life.
I loved walking with you today and hearing the voices of your new home.
May it's peace surround you always, my friend.
Kathleen
Oh, Kathleen, I am so glad you found walking as a way to walk your soul out of the darkness into that glimmer of light. Walking is such powerful medicine. I honestly cannot imagine not being able to walk every morning, or if I couldn't walk, to be able to get outside and sit in awareness with the community of the land. It is so healing.
And thank you for that benediction. I am very happy here. Hugs and blessings to you!
Thank you for this, Susan, again and again.
You are welcome, Marlena. May you be blessed with the gifts of the community of the land around you.
Susan dear, I don't even NEED to take a walk to let go of my fears and sorrows. Your walk, with the air flowing up into the mountains and down into the valley is enough for me. I can feel it! Thank you, thank you, again and again.
Dear Sharon, We all need soothing and calming in these times, and I'm happy to have helped with that. Of course, you have your wonderful garden to turn to. I know it's a refuge and an inspiration every day. I smile just thinking of you there. Big hugs to you.
Glad you have some semblance of normalcy.
For some reason, I got really anxious before a presentation I had on Monday. And after the presentation, I couldn't calm down (I had some other client meetings). I was counting down the minutes to get outside to walk to meet a friend for lunch. As I walked back home, I thought to myself "yep, that was what I needed" (even if the scenery wasn't as pretty as yours).
Thanks, Jill. I'm glad to not be in the middle of the move and to have internet access again. It can be a lovely thing to be on retreat and offline, but if you don't choose to be offline, it's stressful.
I hope Monday's presentation went well, even if it was especially anxiety-producing, and yay for having a walk to lunch and a walk home to give you the time in nature and the physical exercise to settle your system. Isn't it amazing how well that works? (No matter the scenery--it's just the being outside and out of yourself and moving your body!)
Amen to that.
I too walked in Rwanda and Burundi and through African Road, a non profit in Portland, have “adopted” a couple who are change makers for their people. We support Grace’s education to become an interpreter and help support her family and her husbands work. I walked with them in Oregon at Smith Rock where people practice climbing on the red pillars. It was in walking where we came together as family-community. We can breathe together.
Jane, That is such a wonderful story. There you are, Finding Beauty in a Broken World in your own way. Thank you for being you, and for supporting Grace and her husband and family, and welcoming them into your family. You are an inspiration.
I love this.
Thank you for reading and loving it, Samantha Jacqueline!
Just Samantha is fine. Feel free to follow.
I'll do that, Samantha, and thank you. Blessings to you!
I walk every day and twice a week with a neighbor.
Thanks too for the video!
Good for you, Marian. Enjoy every moment of those walks. The video was fun; I'll shoot more of them. :)
Walking is how I got through the Covid pandemic. Every day, I would walk and walk some more. When the peopled world seemed like it was getting crazier, walking helped me keep my sanity. Same goes the last several months - walking is my antidote to all the current craziness - and helps me find the energy and wherewithal to be a part of the resistance. Thanks Susan.
Walking is the best medicine ever. I'm glad you can walk and that you do, in order to give yourself the sustenance and balance you need to be part of the resistance. We're walking together, at least metaphorically.
Loved the video. I walk everyday and it is my healing time. I stop and look at plants and take pictures, studying what they are. Joy!
Thanks, Linda! I'm glad you find joy in your daily walk as you observe and learn. Do you use Seek, the app from iNaturalist to identity the plants you see? It's the best one I know of. If you want to contribute to the body of knowledge about plants and their lives and ranges, I suggest setting up an iNaturalist account and uploading your photos and IDs. The millions of ordinary observers around the world using iNaturalist have contributed significantly to our understanding of this planet, rediscovering species thought to be lost, expanding the ranges of others, helping us understand how climate change is affecting species' ability to attract pollinators and make seeds, and so much else. There's a TED talk about this I will link to in my next post. It's inspiring!
Thank you for sharing this beauty!
Cynthia
Thanks for reading/viewing and commenting, Cynthia! Blessings to you.
First: Daily walking serves me in so many ways. Sometimes, it's a birding lesson; this week, it was a wildcrafting slow walk. Other times, it's my office for thinking, and sometimes it's an exercise in building strength. I walk the same rural road almost every day and am never bored - there is just so much to notice, feel, and wonder about.
I am still reading the book - blame the work of my vegetable garden. Some thoughts:
Thanks in part to a hormonal menopause, I stepped away from a life of convention: career, suburban home, and stuff to fill it. I moved to a five-acre homestead in a small community where I knew no one. A city girl for my first 50 years, I was terrified of the unknown, the absence of reliable financial security, and starting over. Two years into this experiment, I was widowed overnight - the first time I lived alone in 30 years. Well-meaning friends urged me to "come home" to the city and the life I had left behind. But I couldn't, there was a pull that I am still learning to understand 16 years later.
Like Terry's pull, it completely changed my life. Like your new home, the pull is the universe's guide. We just need to listen.
Sue, Like you, I walk the same route every day and always find something new to ponder, take joy in, and be inspired by. And like you, walking serves in many ways, exercising my body, brain and my spirit, in addition to calming my anxiety and distress in these times. It's such a blessing to be able to walk out into the near-wild and be award and soothed and nurtured in so many ways!
Your comment about your move is interesting, and I would say that you are right about it being like Terry's "call" to go to Rwanda. It sounds like that move took a huge amount of courage just to make the change, and then to be widowed overnight two years later.... I wonder how that experience would have been different if you and your husband hadn't moved, and if you would have been able to make that leap to the homestead in a rural place at that point (after his death).
The twists and turns of our learnings and our lives are sometimes simply inscrutable, and only comprehensible when viewed in the rearview mirror, sometimes years or decades later. I am glad you listened to that call from the universe! Change is inevitable, and the way we handle it is what makes us who we are. Blessings to you as you listen for whatever change is ahead.
Hi Susan,
I love this essay! Your tips for reducing our brain's chatter are sound, and they work. When I have anxiety, going for a walk calms me and settles my mind, and the effects of this last for the rest of the day.
And you are surrounded by nature's bounty! It's wonderful that you have such scenic delights surrounding you.
One day I'd love to participate in your book club. Right now I have a ton of books to catch up on, but maybe in the future. The readings sound interesting.
Hi, Beth, I'm glad you have a walking practice too, and that it works so well. We forget how effective it is to disengage from our sources of anxiety and just get outside into a rich community of lives. Movement and fresh air and the community of the land are amazingly healing (and free).
Whenever you can participate in the book discussion, great. In the meantime, don't push yourself. Enjoy the books you have, one by one.... :)
I think a morning solo routine stroll is an incredible healer and source of inspiration & gratitude. Even the same route is always different. I enjoyed your video. Beautiful views. I am located in western Canada in the seaside walkable community of Ambleside. Each day the same route. Each day something different. Happy summer!
Debra, I am happy to think of you in Ambleside enjoying the sea air, the green and the lovely walking. Let it soothe your soul and inspire your creativity! Blessings to you.
Hopefully, if my back ablation works, I can begin taking my morning walk again—5:30 a.m. here in Tucson summer. Mediating in my chair works for now. Thank you for your calming inputs.
Karen, I am thinking of you and sending positive thoughts for a successful back ablation. May it free you from pain and allow you to walk again. And for now, I am glad you have a chair comfortable enough to meditate in. Blessings to you.