I like to go out walking most days. It’s become a kind of meditative practice for me. I enjoy being as present as I can. This typically means I don’t use my phone, listen to music, or head out with anyone else. I’m a lone traveller (well, apart from my dog).
We take several different routes. Sometimes, it’s a long old ramble, others, a shorter burst. She knows these routes well, by now, as do I. Over the years, as we’ve walked, I’ve become aware of a pattern that has established between and within us. What occurs during our time together is fascinating to me. Here’s why……………………………
Once my dog knows which route we are taking, she likes to walk the exact same way each time. The EXACT same way. No deviation, not one tiny bit. Sometimes, I attempt to switch things up, just to watch her reaction ……….. “Let’s walk to the stream first and then across the fields.” At this, she stands, frozen to the spot, utterly stunned (and pretty horrified) at the mere suggestion of me moving in the opposite direction of the way we usually walk; the way she is used to, the way she likes and knows. Often, she’ll refuse to move, watching me through half shut eyes as I set about this ‘change’.
We couldn’t be more opposite, my dog and I. I LOVE a ‘new way’. Enjoying the rush of finding a secret part of stream I didn’t know about, an embankment I hadn’t realised was there, a fresh sitting spot, a different perspective. I’m in my element here, excited about new possibilities, open to potentials. Sometimes, we go my way, sometimes, we go hers, each time, falling into a pattern after the initial choice has been made.
Why am I telling you this? Because BOTH of us are (in our unique ways of experiencing our walks) okay here. None of us are ‘wrong.’ We just see, feel, hear, experience, sense things differently. People might look at my dog and think, “Take a new path, enjoy a new experience, you shouldn’t be so stuck in your ways, you’re missing out on so much.” Others could look at me and think, “You need some routine in your life. Why are you always going off the beaten track? Why can’t you stay with what you know and appreciate that? You could do with some order and discipline.”
Maybe there’s something in what they’re thinking. Maybe, research has shown X, Y or Z about walking and what is ‘best for us on our walk’. Maybe that’s helpful and we could benefit from it. But, you see, the thing is, that doesn’t really matter to us. Other people, other minds, other hearts, aren’t me (and they’re not my dog). We know what makes us feel good, what lights us up. We don't need anyone else to tell us that. We choose, based on our own felt senses and experiencing. We get to take leading roles in our own lives.
Maybe one day, we’ll give other peoples’ opinions a try. Maybe we’ll read all the books, explore all the research and do all the things they suggest are good for us; ‘best’ for us (such information and research can be vital in lots of ways).
Or maybe we won’t. For now, we’re happy, me and my girl, figuring things out for ourselves, as unique beings in the world. Me, in my seeking and energy for exploration and her in her comfort of the known and the routine.
None of us ‘wrong’.
Both of us living.
Isn’t that what life is all about?
J X
