Solvitur ambulando

This may be a bit of a rambling post (ha ha) but recently, I have been walking at lunchtime.

Back in the U.K. I had a number of places which held some cultural, personal, or family significance. Each of these places was somewhere I could go to when I needed to focus my thoughts, and all of them required some degree of walking, driving, or both to get to. Since moving to Australia I have yet to find alternatives for those places, and so when I need to focus, I walk.

I have had a lot of things on my mind recently, and walking helps me to focus those thoughts into something coherent. Perhaps it is the near meditation of the rhythm of the walk, perhaps it is the absence of other mental distractions, or perhaps it is something else. Apologies to my short distance walking partner +Gordon Yeong, but in order for the thinking part to work I need walk on my own.

Some of the plus points to walking are…

• Walking has obvious health benefits, and I do feel better for it.
• As mentioned, walking helps me to focus and organise my thoughts.
• When walking, you see new, sometimes interesting things and places.
• When setting out, there is an empowering feeling that you could just keep on going.
• When it's time to turn around, there is a feeling that despite how far I now find myself from my destination, all I need to do is to put one foot in front of the other, and eventually I will arrive.
• Instagram goes with me, and I am getting shots I wouldn't otherwise get.