In a day and age where most of us don’t need to walk all that far, the art of taking a long, simple walk and the power of doing just that has been forgotten.
I’m not talking about a “power” walk or a short trip to the store around the block.
I’m talking about the long, leisurely Saturday or Sunday late morning/early afternoon hour walk throughout your neighborhood on a bright sunny day with no agenda on your mind other than taking that long, simple walk.
That’s it.
No dumbbells. No power walks. No purpose to the walk other than to simply take a long walk.
What’s the power in that?
Plenty.
Obviously you have the exercise element going for you – the release of endorphins to elevate your mood, lower blood pressure, reduction of stress and anger, etc.
But the real power in walking is the mental aspect of it.
It’s one of those rare times when you are truly alone with your thoughts.
Just you and your mind. Nothing else.
No screaming kids.
No CNN blaring on the TV.
No Internet.
No radio.
Just you and your thoughts.
So you can listen to them very clearly.
When you’re walking, the left side of your brain is occupied with running the “walking routine”, something you’ve obviously done hundreds of times before so it frees up your right side to do some creative thinking and it’s in those instances when you get those brilliant flashes of insight on how to solve any problems you might be currently experiencing in your life.
It’s the same mechanics behind getting that brilliant idea in the shower, or while driving or while mowing the lawn. Your left brain is just occupied with doing all the steps of those routines so it “releases” its clamp on the right side because it’s busy carrying out those routine steps of showering, driving, mowing, and in this case walking.
With the increased blood AND oxygen flow to your brain due to walking and the fact that you have no distractions, the right side of your mind is free to do what it does best.
Think creatively.
And when you mix in the element of dopamine release due to walking, thereby helping you to think more positive, you can see how walking provides the perfect environment for the right side of your mind to do its thing.
Whatever problems you’re mulling over, even if it’s not on your mind when you’re walking, your mind will come up with some pretty revealing and beneficial insights you can use to help solve those issues. Just make sure you bring along a recording device to capture those brilliant thoughts.
And since you’re feeling good from all the dopamine your body is producing because of the exercise and you couple this with the fact that you’ve got some great ideas you can use, you’re going to be in a pretty damn good mood when you get back home because now you have some practical action steps you can take to solve the problems you have instead of feeling out of control.
Not only that, because you took such a long walk going forward and covering the same distance going back, you’re going to be pretty tired when you go to sleep that night and the result will be one of deep, relaxing, delicious sleep that will leave you refreshed when you wake up early in the morning.
Try it.
It’s simple.
It’s free.
It’s one of the best things you can do to help solve any problems you might have in your life as you’ll soon see.
