The time I confessed the real reason why I love walking in the local garden.

Hello readers of the blog! It's been a while since my last post and I'm back with a wordy entry. It's about why I love walking and that if you love walking as a form of exercise, you may relate. It is not a post to convince anyone who dislike the activity at all because why do anything in resistance to your natural inclination?

When people ask me why do I go for my evening walks, I'm always tempted to say something elaborate and smart but somehow the wiring from my brains to my mouth works at a slower pace than when it's to my hands. I write and type faster than I speak. Sometimes, speaking gets in the way of a better method which is the non-verbal natural expressions.

Anyhow, how do I even begin to describe how lovely it is to go for my regular evening walks? It's not about the walk, you see. Lately, I go there to exercise my nose. Engage the other senses besides mechanical walking. I go to the garden to appreciate these other built-in senses, which are somehow drowned out by constant use of brain muscles in the case of writing and thinking.

I go there to rest my intellect. Put away the mental grind. In the garden, off I go, where no words need to form themselves for me to simply exist. In the garden where the walking happens, I let nature do the talking and this occurs wordlessly by sounds, colors, textures, forms moving in and out of my witnessing. I go there to be in touch with something that only asks for me to be open, relaxed and receptive.

Lately, I go to walk for my nose. Can you believe it? Well, it's true.

In the garden just this evening, I was in a state of sniffing around like a dog but in all appearances, I was just walking. I didn't have to contort my nose this way or that to have it perform what it did naturally. I smelled something green and bitter and then realized, I had no words to describe the aroma. It's a combination of freshly-cut grass, drizzled-upon damp earth with something extra. In the midst of mentally-grasping for a word to label the scent, I let go. The scent still permeated the air around and in my nostrils and that was enough.

It was really beautiful to have a communication with nature this way - have it gently come to my perception and take a notice. It tells so much in no words. And yes, while everything was happening, I was walking. My limbs moved. My heart and lungs did their thang. I didn't have to be bothered about their movements for them to function. I go to walk to deepen my gratitude, to open up my heart and sense first before naming things. I go back to the rudimentary aspects of how life is constantly touching us with love every single day.

In nature, it's not hard to do.

In our world where some of us may feel uninspired or overwhelmed for whatever reasons, I highly recommend being out in your local garden or forest reserve. Allow yourselves to step away from the concrete and give your spirits a treat. Out in the green. While out there, sense the world with every bit of your being. It still is the best interactive game in town, by far.

Okay, enough about me.

What do you think of walking as exercise? What exactly are you doing while walking?

Do you like walking in nature or do you prefer walking on the treadmill? What have you come to learn about when you're doing your favorite physical activity? Share below, be candid and free - I love reading your thoughts!

A quote by Alan Watts to end this entry:

“The morning glory which blooms for an hour differs not at heart from the giant pine, which lives for a thousand years.”