Let’s Talk About Walking
Photo by Aaron Burden on Unsplash
Friedrich Nietzsche isn’t everybody’s cup of tea. But he did get one thing right when he said, "All truly great thoughts are conceived while walking."
People often focus on the obvious health benefits of walking. Yes, I understand what the research says. Regular walking is effective in everything from improving your metabolic rate, to managing stress and reducing your chances of early death through diabetes or heart disease.
Sadly, an awful lot of people don’t seem to have got the memo. Recent research by Public Health England revealed that four in ten middle-aged adults are failing to manage even one brisk 10-minute walk a month. The reasons given revolve around lack of time, insufficient motivation or simply being too tired. I’d guess that poor health education plays a part in this. Along with having to deal with all the crap that life throws at us. But this isn’t good enough.
Drifting down the byways
There’s an old Russian proverb: “Life is not a walk across an open field.” It’s difficult. You might take the wrong turn. Stuff happens. But you’ve got to fight for things. With a bit of luck and a bit of effort, you can often get there. And then it all makes sense.
I live in the country. And I’ve got great walks on my doorstep. But I lived in London for twenty years. And cities offer a fabulous environment for walking. Outlining his psycho-geographic theory of the dérive, the French Situationist Guy Debord remarked, “Wandering in open country is naturally depressing”. I happen to think he’s wrong there. Walking in nature does wonders for our mood and mental health as we reconnect with the world around us and focus on what is happening in the moment.
But it certainly is different. And Debord, brings me, finally, to my real point. He defined the dérive (literally: “drifting”), as "a mode of experimental behaviour linked to the conditions of urban society: a technique of rapid passage through varied ambiences." Journeying through the urban landscape, the goal was to create new “Situations”. New possibilities and new meanings would emerge as participants subverted everyday life and "let themselves be drawn by the attractions of the terrain and the encounters they find there".
This is what fascinates me about walking. Its link with creativity and a heightened state of awareness. And its capacity to spark contemplation and reflection. Something rather wonderful occurs when you go for a walk. Without prompting, the mind wanders down the byways of your consciousness and starts making some surprising connections between things.
Balm for the soul
We’re in good company here. Philosophers and writers have been making the connection for centuries. Thomas Hobbes spent a lot of time walking and thinking. And, bizarrely, had an ink-horn and penholder built into the head of his walking cane to ensure he didn’t lose thoughts as they occurred to him. Call me old-fashioned, but what’s not to like?
Søren Kierkegaard said, “I have walked myself into my best thoughts, and I know of no thought so burdensome that one cannot walk away from it.”
Jean-Jacques Rousseau also got it: “I can only meditate when I am walking, when I stop, I cease to think; my mind only works with my legs.”
Henry David Thoreau took it very seriously indeed. “I think that I cannot preserve my health and spirits unless I spend four hours a day at least – and it is commonly more than that – sauntering through the woods and over the hills and fields absolutely free from worldly engagements.”
Walking liberates you from the pressures of day-to-day life. It allows you to enter a meditative state which cultivates mindfulness, connectedness and awareness. If that sounds a bit New Agey, just think of it as a way of tackling writer’s block. The next time you’re stuck for a creative solution to a seemingly intractable problem, don’t just sit there worrying about it. Go take a hike. At least while we’re still allowed out (and following social distancing rules)!