Walking into Change

Current mood: optimistic

It would not be something I think happens very frequently. Truly making change in one's life generally takes purposeful effort and energy to produce. There are plenty of circumstantial exceptions such as losing an arm in an accident, the diagnosis of a disease, the death of someone close, but that is not what I am addressing here.

Today I took the opportunity to take a walk. I love walking. I am fairly aware of the benefits I derive as I walk, since I have spent a great deal of time doing it, but am glad to be reminded of, and affected by, those benefits as often as I do.

The largest natural benefit I find is the opportunity to ponder and reflect in a distinctly open time frame. When I know I will not be able to do anything else for a given period of time(however long it takes to get wherever it is that I am walking) it seems to allow for more freely introspective examination of the things in life that I intend to improve. This can potentially be a dangerous time as well if the initial feelings are pessimistic or negative - which can basically lead to stewing, self-deprecating ideas, and all kinds of elevated negative emotions - but I am generally optimistic in my approach and find that I often have refreshed and invigorated motivations about life in general by the time I arrive. Often the positivity will linger for quite a while afterward even.

The expected natural benefits of walking - health, getting from point "A" to point "B", self discipline - are also important and ought not to be overlooked.

Today's walk was well timed I think. At least in respect to other things that are going on in my life. I have been working to become a better person, to change specific things in my habits and character, and lately been able to see some success in a few of those goals. I have been working on some of them for only a few months. Some of them, however, have been in my list for years. I think the walk today gave me the opportunity to recognize that I have been able to make some progress, even if only a little, on a few of those fronts and it was suddenly encouraging to realize it.

Beyond that I had an additional thought on the concept. Everybody has this ability, opportunity, and responsibility as well. If you want to make change in your life, do it... because you can... because you will if you decide to try... and it does take work, patience, reflection, and correction. I have never made the right plan on the first try, anyway, but I do enjoy the learning process of making new, and hopefully improved, plans.

So, today I walked into a change in my life... and I am quite grateful for the opportunity. I know it is a somewhat rare event for me.