Why do I walk? I walk because I like it. I like the rhythm of it, my shadow always a little ahead of me on the pavement. I like being able to stop when I like, to lean against a building and make a note in my journal, or read an email, or send a text message, and for the world to stop while I do it. Walking, paradoxically, allows for the possibility of stillness…Sometimes I walk because I have things on my mind, and walking helps me sort them out. Solvitur ambulando, as they say.
~ Lauren Elkin, Flâneuse: Women Walk the City in Paris, New York, Tokyo, Venice, and London
Notes: Photo credit: Vince_Ander via Visualhunt.com in Paris Walks. Quote: Brain Pickings
Yes! This is exactly why I walk. And how I walk…. add stopping to take a photograph to the other reasons I might stop.
I feel I am in my own world even while I am paying attention to what is around me. Paradoxical? Mayhaps….
Mayhaps. Love that.
😊
totally – I’ll adopt your word mayhaps…. may I?
Absolutely!
That is SO true; same here, just as Dale said!
Right now I TRY to send a bunch of photos taken on my smartphone to my computer, so that I can send an urgent call to our ‘Mairie’ (city council). With the crazy storms we had, a ton of weak akazias has half-fallen, is half-leaning on our electricity & fiber-optic-cable connecting us to the world…. so maybe you won’t hear from me for a loooooong time, given that nobody works here on Saturdays nor on Pentecost Monday.
Won’t hear from you? Make another one of your trips to Switzerland and camp out next to new fiber-optic-cable lines.
Will be done as requested (go to CH) but there it’s worse…. But talking about THAT particular problem is not for here and HH has peeled himself off the piano to be handed over the largest and most severe saws, shears, and other manly tools to avoid the total blackout for now… Our garden looks like after a green tornado, both bird feeders (sturdy, expensive) are smashed to smithereens, foliage is literally everywhere, branches and half-trees littering the remaining ground…. it’s fun! NOT
Wow.
I love this and walking is one of my great joys in life
Reblogged this on It Is What It Is and commented:
‘Why do I walk? .. Sometimes I walk because I have things on my mind, and walking helps me sort them out. Solvitur ambulando, as they say. ~ Lauren Elkin, Flâneuse: Women Walk the City in Paris, New York, Tokyo, Venice, and London.
Walking is a meditation for me! 🚶🏼🚶🏼
You are a poster child for Meditation.
🙂
I am in so much pain
So sorry…
I used to walk a lot. I loved the reconnect with green things and birdsong. Arthritis in one knee makes it painful now. And Oklahoma humidity is like walking in a soaked wool blanket. Excuses. I miss it and, like all things loved that I’ve abandoned, must find a way back to it.
In time, this too will come…