My Daily Walk

Below the dam in springtime. I come here often to be right by the water. It’s so alive!

My daily walk takes me down the riverwalk and around the lake—”the loop” as I think of it. The loop itself is just a little over a mile. Most days I add onto it so I can get down to the river below the dam. So that’s my daily walk—”the loop” or “the loop plus”.

The loop is familiar, in the best way, which allows me to look for the familiar things—the fox and her kits in the spring, the bald eagles as the ice goes off the lake, the trout rising in the river at dusk, the seasonal flowers and colors. I have a deep sense of belonging, connection and awareness with my surroundings, with the loop and all it encompasses.

On my daily walk, I’m giving myself all the benefits of walking in nature—too many to list here. I connect via my senses: sight, sound, smell and taste, the feel of the air and sun or rain, and very importantly my sixth sense.

The dam in winter. A very different landscape, yet familiar.

And it’s this sense, my sixth sense, my inner knowing, that I’m frequently walking to. Walking increases creativity by 60% and it also allows our intuition and inspiration a time and place and space to rise up. This connection with inspiration and creativity gives me a sense of wholeness, a sense of coming home to myself.

April Fool’s Day blizzard. Tell me Nature doesn’t have a sense of humor.

Autumn, my favorite season.

Ahhhhh . . . summertime.

Like everyone, I have ups and downs, emotional and mental highs and lows and in-betweens. I manage these by walking, just like I manage my physical health by walking. And it is that sense of home-coming to Self that I value the most on my walks.

No matter what is going on in the circumstances of my life, my daily walk takes me around the loop and brings me home to my wholeness, my health and my resilience. Walking works wonders, always and all ways!

I hope your walks this spring and summer bring you home to yourSelf as well.