The zen of dog walking

This furry beast is Lance, my high energy mutt. Some of you may already know Lance (from personal encounters, or from seeing him on this blog), but I will be mentioning him again today as my faithful walking comrade.

In fact, I must now point out that having a dog is the best motivation I’ve ever found for exercising. He is relentless—every afternoon when I get home from work (and even on the weekends) he begins to sigh and stir if I delay taking him out. And so, Lance and I walk (and occasionally run when I’m feeling extremely motivated) every afternoon.

Truthfully, I love to walk—I’m not talking aggressive power walking here, I mean I love to stroll slowly through the neighborhood looking up at trees. Next to writing in my journal, walking is the single best way I’ve found to think and calm down. It is a way of working things out while moving my feet, and being outside really puts things in perspective.

So, I got to thinking the other day, while walking in the fine Spring weather, a light breeze blowing white blossoms down onto the path, what if we all lived our lives from this place–from this calm place of walking slowly in the sunshine on a March afternoon, instead of living from the frantic place of trying to get the next thing done, trying to fit everything in? Wouldn’t our quality of life be so much greater? Wouldn’t it be so much easier to follow our hearts if we took the time to listen?

I know we all live from that place of pureness, at least sometimes, but the thought of living from that place all the time is inspiring and freeing to me. I am thankful to Lance for taking me out every day, so I can find it, at least for a moment. It helps me work my way through life, learning and remembering what matters. In the end, it’s all about sunshine, good company, and calm expansive thoughts.