Day Eleven: Benefits of Walking

It may be one of the few forms of exercise available. I have even heard that people have made a run on animal shelters just to get a dog to walk!

Day Eleven

Benefits of Walking

What are the benefits of walking? Apart from the obvious physical benefits, the biggest win-win is realization. Realize the good in each morning, the morning in each day, and the happy result of each shared smile. If you weren’t walking, you might miss it all!

As you run your hand along the green fern-like tops of the hedge that grows along the path, realize just how fresh and tender new life can be! A sensory drink of life! Here is the contrast between dead blacktop and fresh new growth!

You meet and observe people out walking. We suck up joy from others and then dispense it again to still others. Isolation can be crippling to the soul. Out and about can be the therapy. We are social creatures. We have our nests and often retreat to them. The value of a nest is heightened in the sharing of it. The creating of it. The maintaining of it. But those things are interpersonal. They are not unilateral.

Saying good morning, and sharing a smile is an experience. I have said good morning more in this hour walk, than in the years since I retired from teaching. Then I said good morning to anyone between the ages of 5 and….well, I guess age is relative! I used to say good morning to dogs. It was so ingrained. I would even say good morning at night! Now that’s embarrassing. It was a reflex. How did I loose that?

It is a wish. The "good" part is very clear. Everyone’s day can do with a little good. It is subjective of course. Some people need a lot of good. Some people’s good comes from inside and they only need a little encouragement and reminder each day. As a teacher I was always mindful that my good wish for the day might be the only positive encouragement given up to that moment. Stress levels can be high. One smile, one good sent to the right person at the right time might mean more than you think!

Morning! A beginning, A new day. A new chance to be that smiling, encouraging person, a wish for more that is still to come. The sun travels through the sky and we are here to see it. Even on a rainy day, the sun is still there each morning, just above the clouds. And if you look in just the right place, there will be a rainbow!

So "Good morning!" Feel the fresh new growth of the hedge, spread a little good, start the day with the morning. Start the day, the week, the life-- fresh. Send out a little love with your smile and if the rainbow ends at your doorstep, celebrate!

____________________________________________________________________

This is the eleventh of a 14 article series. It is a chronicle of the first 14 days of the Corona Virus quarantine on the island of Maui, Hawaii. The twelfth day will be published tomorrow. Click to read it on https://karenmac1999.wixsite.com/website-1 or enter this address on your computer on Favorites. Do you have comments or additions. Send them to Karenmac1999@hotmail.com. They are welcome.