Disclaimer: I’m also still learning how do deal with this thing called life, which sometimes for me can be quite difficult. Since there are many people like me, I decided to share some tools that help me to get the most out of life. Know that these are just tools and use them as such, they might not have the same effect on you as they have on me, but I encourage you to look for the glimmers of light, in your own life. Nothing but love. <3
You might or might not be familiar with meditation, it’s a beautiful practice, for me it has been a healing, inspiring and peaceful practice. Now when I say meditating, what comes to mind? You’re probably seeing yourself sitting in a lotus position with your eyes shut, which is a very effective way of meditating, but surely not the only! Think of yoga or sports, and for others it might be activities like doing the dishes or cooking that helps them silence their minds.
In my opinion meditating is simply silencing the ego, being truly you, childlike, pure, reaching a profound state of tranquility, not holding on to thoughts and ideas and being completely present, this for me is meditating. This all sounds very whimsical but don’t take it to serious, or to lightly, and don’t think that just because you’ve got a very active mind meditating isn’t for you, this couldn’t be further from the truth.
Now let me talk about another way of meditating, you might have guessed it from the title, meditative walking. It might be a quite walk through a park or a hike through the mountains. Do you remember those walks where you felt calm and at peace, where you weren’t held captive by the past nor the future, but truly present? Those walks where you listened to the rustling of the leaves, where you felt the sun kiss your skin and smelled natures soothing fragrance? Probably you have, and this is exactly what I’m talking about right now, it’s not rocket science, it’s the simple act of walking. I’ll share with you how and why I take these walks.
For me it has been very healing to take walks through nature, its something I have to do every single week. When I go on these walks I take of my headphones, often put my phone on airplane mode and let myself be guided by my senses. No more noise, or distractions, I focus on my surroundings, I notice the birds chirping and smell the crisp and clean air, nothing like we’ve got in the city. It’s overwhelming to be surrounded by such purity and silence, often it doesn’t take long for me to find myself in a state of silence, no longer worrying about the days to come or lingering in days past, no, at those moments I’m fully present.
Which brings me to the reason I go on these walks on the first place. As someone who’s quite the introvert and always surrounded by people it doesn’t take a lot for me to get overwhelmed, it’s very important for me to have some “me time” and process life. Nature for me provides me with all the me time I need, for a moment no one is around me, for a moment I am in silence. I’ve also had moment where I decided to go to the city, to visit some stores, feeling suffocated by all the people surrounding me, and ultimately jumping on my bike and going straight to nature, and every single time it happens it is exactly what I need! Sometimes I don’t even make it to the city.
With this I mean to say that for me it is important to be alone some times, and not only alone, but also in nature. I can’t express how important it is for me to be in nature every now and then, especially for all my city people, it is one of the most cleansing and inspiring places in the world, and free for us to visit
If you are looking for real magic you should go take a walk in nature, turn your phones on silent and try to be in the now, not judging any thoughts or emotions, just let them be. Try to observe your surroundings, what do you hear, how does it smell, what can you see and what can you feel? Try this for at least half an hour someplace quite, in a national park, dunes, beach or any other place your heart feels content and let me know how it was!
I’m not a scientist, but if there is one thing that I’m sure of is that you should always follow your heart, my heart is telling me to share this with you. This is just one of the many tools I use on my lives path, and I’d love to share many more, so keep your eyes peeled for more “tools”.
One Love,
A.J.
Leave a Reply