On Walking

Last week I wrote about slowing down, and since then I’ve been trying to reflect on the ways in which I actually do that. I recently heard an interview with Kari Finstad, a sailor from Norway who lives aboard her boat. She said “I lovingly call my way of sailing ‘snailing’. You’re like a snail – you’re carrying your home on your back, and you’re going very slowly…” It goes without saying that if you want to get somewhere fast, you don’t sail. And this quote really stuck with me because that’s something I love so much about sailing. It’s not always about a destination, it’s just about existing where you are. And not just existing at home within your boat, but existing at home within your own head.

I began to contemplate: what compares to this? What else can slow me down and allow me to think?

 Then I came across this quote:

 “Nobody has yet found a better way to travel slowly than to walk. It requires two legs; nothing more. Want to go faster? Don’t bother walking – roll, slide or fly: don’t walk. But once you are walking its not performance that counts but the intensity of the sky, the splendour of the landscape. Walking is not a sport”

-Frederic Gros “A Philosophy of Walking”

Of course. There is truly no better way to get your mind right than wandering. 

Walking is so much more than just a mode of transportation. When I was a teenager living in Boston my friend and I would go on long wandering walks through the city quite often. It never mattered where we went, there was no goal. We were bored and it was just something to do. We covered so many miles throughout those years. And as we walked we babbled. We covered so many ideas, discussing anything that popped into our minds.  It was beautiful – our city walks. And back then it felt so meaningless, but those walks will stay with me always. 

At the time I didn’t appreciate the magic in walking. But nothing surpasses its ability to slow me down than meandering through the streets with absolutely no objective. There’s something meditative about the rhythm of moving while allowing your thoughts to just be.

At the end of these posts I often encourage something. There is no surprise that today I urge you to walk if you can. No destination, no goal. Just get up and go. Walk slowly. Notice the intensity of the sky. Slow yourself down and get your mind right. 

I’d love to hear about it.

hannahgob@gmail.com