Making time for a morning walk can contribute so much to life. It has literally changed mine. I highly recommend it to anyone. A morning walk can get endorphins moving, improving mood. It can build confidence as you honor a commitment. Most importantly, it is exercise for the heart. It can help you start your day. Also, it can be a daily prayer as you notice the beauty of nature around you. It calms the brain chatter, strengthens the muscles and joints, and enlivens your spirit. Just being outside can have healing effects on the body, mind and soul. It is a win-win (win,win,win) situation. Better than just walking: Take a friend with you or, even better a young person. Give them the gift of nature.
Nurturing
I was recently listening to a podcast, a talk, by a healer named Michael Finney. He was reflecting on actions steps we could take to help in our current world and he emphasized that whatever we do, let it be nurturing. Bringing in and supporting the feminine divine energy by embodying that energy; nurture like a mother. I love this way of thinking about going forward because where, what and how we nurture is up to us. We can be creative (another feminine energy.) I have begun to think about this with everything I do. How can I nurture my family more, nurture my clients more, nurture the mental health system more? These are questions I ask myself as I walk through my day. How can I be a nurturing presence, and contribute to the nurturing energy of this planet?
My morning walk
I decided to bring the nurturing attitude to my morning walk. Nurture myself, by making time for it. Nurture nature around me by staying on the trails and respecting the plants and wildlife. Each day I bring a small bit of food to leave as an offering to the woods for letting me walk there and a bag to collect any garbage (or recycling) I find. It startles me to see so much litter on the trail. It is hard to comprehend how someone could stand looking at a beautiful waterfall and just throw their empty bottle at it.
I wonder what was going through their minds as it seems so blatant of a disregard. But no judgment, I do not know what was going on for that person. Perhaps they threw it there to give me the opportunity to pick it up. I used to forget bags everyday, only remembering a few minutes in to the hike, when I see the first infraction. And after so many mornings of forgetting, my mindfulness about nurturing helps me remember. I stopped saying I’ll do it tomorrow.
Connection
A few days ago, I took my daughter on a morning walk at Seneca Park. It is my favorite hiking spot because it’s convenient location close to my house. Lily and I collected three bags of “stuff.” She was feeling good about what we were doing and we had a wonderful time together walking, holding hands, chatting, taking in the beauty around us. At one point I was unsuccessfully attempting to reach an unreachable plastic bottle. Lily turned to me and said, “That’s OK the earth doesn’t blame you. God loves you just as you are.” She was nurturing me, the energy is contagious!
Jodi, I absolutely love it! If more people would just schedule the time for their spiritual selves. It is quite interesting that if we do, schedule out the time(I don’t think we can make the time, though as we already have it!), for exercise, for such walks, for feeding the spirit (and strengthening the body and mind at the same time!), then I truly believe that the rest of the time is so much more meaningful, and productive! I love the “nuturing” concept. I am going to add that into my routine. I always come in with being grateful. I think that is key. Adding in nuturing seems to make it complete!! Thanks. Also, I used to smoke. I smoked for 10 years, anywhere from 1-2 packs a day. Disgusting, I know. Thankfully, on 4/10/97, I decided to quit, and I did cold turkey. This was my 13th and final attempt. I used to flick my ashes out the window when driving, and would throw the butt out the window. I often see others do that, and it appalls me. So gross, so disrespectful, or so I thought. But, I was not a bad person. I was simply not thinking about it, or maybe thought, that one little butt would not do any harm. I would always pick up other trash, and would never “litter”, although I really was. So, I appreciate the non-judgement. As you said, we never know where a person’s thoughts are. Thanks for the reminder. We need to focus on what we can do. One last thought. Just imagine if every person picked up one piece of trash off the ground a day. That would be over 300,000,000 pieces of trash in the US. Wow. So, can we individually make a difference, of course.
Thanks for the comment. Just thought of something. Even if we pick up the trash, it still has to go somewhere. The bottles recycle but it is still energy to do this. What if we stopped using individual disposable bottles and plastic cups. Or everyone used one less bottle or cup a day! (by using stainless steal reusable bottles)
Jodi – what an excellent idea about picking up trash on your daily walk. I just recently started incorporating morning walks into my personal development within the last 60 days, and it has done wonders for my spiritual growth. Adding the element of giving back to nature will help me to take it to the next level. Excellent suggestion – thanks for sharing!
What has it done for your spiritual growth?
That’s one thing I could never do 🙁
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Walk?
Hey Jodi,
great & inspiring article and of course, having just read ours on the same subject I’m sure you won’t be surprised when I say I couldn’t agree more!
take care, have a great weekend & thanks again for sharing,
Alan
Alan | Life’s Too Good recently posted..Don’t Like Exercising? Then Just Walk – It’s The Best Form of Exercise Anyway!