“Walking is man’s best medicine.”
~Hippocrates
How often do you catch yourself saying that you’ve hit a wall, maybe you’ve run out of options. The current problem hovers over you, with no solution in sight.
What’s worse is that you’re getting stressed. You feel it. Your heart is racing a bit. For some unknown reason, you feel spacey. You’re having a hard time focusing. You need a solution and you need it yesterday. Each day the problem lingers, you feel it get heavier and heavier.
When a problem looms like this, other tasks will suffer unless you fix it. Chances are somewhere, deep inside of you, there is a solution. You know what to do. There is wisdom and understanding inside of you. Other distractions and noise are just preventing you from hearing what your inner voice is trying to tell you. You need a walk.
As Hippocrates so astutely observed, walking is indeed the best medicine. It cures all ills. Take that problem you have to solve. A long walk on maybe a nice wooded trail is just the cure. You want to be out at least 15 minutes, preferably on a trail so you don’t need to think about where you’re going or dodge traffic. You need time for the inner noise to settle down. Right away your mind will recognize this opportunity. All those lingering thoughts will vie for attention. This is the time to wander.
Let your thoughts wander over your mind’s landscape. Given a chance, they will find places to settle. The less important stuff will slip away. More likely than not, the problem you want most to solve will take center stage. Give it a voice. While you may not want to indulge in self-pity talk with a good listener, you can soothe your own feelings. Sometimes, try as we may, we just can’t make another person understand exactly what our situation is. No matter. You have the answers.
Walking creates a meditative atmosphere. You’ll eventually get into a rhythm of stepping forward, swinging your arms. Pretty soon, those other distractions fall into silence. It’s now just about you, the walk, and a solution.
Your subconscious mind is pretty smart. It sees your situation and the possible outcomes. It looks at things from all angles. Soon, it will whisper its thoughts—and its solution. Listen for it between your foot steps.
When tackling problems that are not easily solved, sometimes the best solution is to take it outside. Let your feet guide you to a problem solved.
