I’m kind of proud of myself today. Today I officially have walked 10,000 steps every day for the last two months! Not an easy feat during a busy Autumn church season, I admit. Most folks in the PNW get their walking in during the summer months, but a couple of months ago, I took a look at my “health” app on my iPhone and noticed that my step count average was way down. And then I stepped on the scale, something I had been avoiding for months, and was aghast at what I saw. And therefore, I decided to “step it up,” literally. 10,000 steps a day. And to be honest, I have averaged 12,337 per day! Way to go, Brook!
So, I thought that it would be fun for me to share some reflections on the benefits of taking long walks. So here goes!
Number one: My dog, Piff (Short for “Epiphany”), is in love with me! Every time I put on my shoes, she turns into Snoopy singing “Suppertime!” only she’s not excited about food at all. She loves her walks! And because of that she has learned to love me even more than she did! So now, instead of curling up with Cyndy all the time when we’re watching TV, she will occasionally jump up on my lap for a cuddle.
Number two: I now know about 20 neighbors that I didn’t even know existed before I started walking. We live in a fairly rural area just outside of Snohomish, so it can be difficult to meet folks out here. But when you go for long walks with your dog, people begin to warm up a bit. You become more approachable. And before you know it, they are coming over to your dog and starting conversations. And when that starts to happen you start to feel more connected to your neighbors. I am no longer the guy who lives on the corner lot with solar panels. I’m Brook, a neighbor. And that just starts feeling totally different. I feel safer. I feel a part of something. I am not alone.
Number three: I have a lot more time to just think. I used to have a poster on my wall that said, “Sometimes I sit and think, and sometimes I just sit.” Well, I’m not sure that poster is accurate today. Today’s homes and offices have so many distractions...phones, voices, teapots whistling, etc. To be honest, I rarely ever find myself sitting and thinking anymore. But, when I take a long walk in the evening hours, I have found that my thinking process has changed. When I walk, I think differently. There is something about the forward motion of walking that helps me “unstick” the “Sticky places” of my life. There’s something about a long walk that helps me go deeper than I ever have.
Number four: I am more comfortable with being alone now. I don’t know what it is about me, but I have had the hardest time being comfortable with just being me in my life. Maybe it’s because I come from a large family, and have always needed people around, or maybe it’s because I’m so damned insecure, but forever reason, I have spent most of my life being afraid of being alone. Being alone makes me uncomfortable. And I don’t like that. But learning to go on long walks by myself has helped me overcome that feeling. I’m more familiar with myself, more comfortable. I have found “my pace” and have learned to enjoy walking it. I’m more familiar with my heartbeat and my breathing. Because of long walks I feel I really know myself now. And there’s something good about that for me.
Number five: I have come to listen more to the neighbors around me who aren’t human and learn to enjoy their company. A couple of nights ago I heard the wonderful sound of an owl nearby. Now, in the past, the sound of the mysterious owl might have made me uneasy. But now, when I hear something unfamiliar, I stop. I stop by the deep, dark wood and listen, trying my best to get the exact syntax of this owl’s call. And as I move along, I find myself relishing the beauty of that call as it slowly diminishes in sound. And then on my way back home, my heart races with the anticipation of hearing that owl again! I feel like that owl is actually speaking to me. This reminds me of a quote from Tony Angell’s book “The House of Owls.”
For years, the woods around Angell's house went eerily, sadly quiet. But then, one wintry night, he heard a familiar call, a whistle that exclaimed, "I am here!" again and again. "I whistled back 'I'm here too'" Angell writes, "and I'm hopeful." Like those owls, our gardens may be transient. And yet, brimming with miracles, both blooming and winged, they offer the most precious gift. All that raking, scraping, tilling and tending -- we do it in the name of hope."
And that leads me to my final observation, Number 6: I’m more hopeful than I ever have been before. Isn’t that strange! I mean it’s election season. The world seems to be teetering on the brink of utter chaos! I should be anxious (and am), but when I walk and hear my neighbor owl calling to me, and I smell my neighbor the maple tree, brewing me a beautiful cup of autumn tea, I find myself suddenly connected to the world in a way I have never been connected before. I’m no longer afraid and insignificant. I no longer feel like a tiny, insignificant dot, in a sea of trillions and trillions of particles. It’s not just me out here...it’s all of us...all of creation. And the placement of God has now shifted. God is no longer up and apart, but it’s almost as if God has attached Godself to my feet! I feel as if I am actually walking on the presence of God. And that grounds me like I’ve never been before!
And so, I’ve learned now, finally, at the age of 63, to take long walks.
My, O my, who would I be now if I had learned this practice as a teenager, trying to figure out whether I should part my hair in the middle or on the side! And wondering if Darla Foley liked me or not.
Your friend and pastor, out on a long walk, Brook
(Full disclosure here: Darla Foley did like me, just not in the way I was hoping!)
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