I recently took a "big walk" inspired by a podcast I watched with Rich Roll and Craig Mod.
Craig takes these epic walks across the country side in Japan and elsewhere that span 20-40km per day. He doesn't use any social media, music, podcasts, calls or anything that would take him out of the present moment.
I thought I would give it a go. So I left my place at 10 and got back at 6. I stopped for coffee, lunch, and dinner. I walked almost 5 hours, for 32,000 steps and about 20km.
I did not expect the physical demand. I slept like a baby. My legs were tired.
But the biggest shock was the lack of phone. As soon as I sat down for coffee, I felt myself reach for my phone. It was like a puppet string. I was suddenly aware of an instinct, as if I was watching animal behavior.
I stopped myself. Stuck my hands between moving cogs and jammed the machinery.
Forcing myself to face the present, resisting that shiny pacifier, I suddenly saw more. No one else was noticing. I was the only one looking up.
I wrote a little something to try to capture this whole experience:
I think what I noticed is how much I noticed.
The birds,
bugs,
and flowers.
And how little everyone else did.
It's like I was the only one looking.
Most of my time was spent thinking
yes.
But I had plenty of moments of
ah, look at that.
I stopped
frequently.
I allowed nature to reveal herself to me.
I wasn't blinded by my screen or mind.
Although my mind went on and on
for steps and steps,
it was a release.
I let it run its course
venting the fumes.
At some point I realized
huh, I'm truckin'.
Like when you run and finally stop feeling it
and start enjoying it.
There was sunburn
and blister.
Sometimes a desire to stop
or go home
or back to the usual.
I was enticed by a cafe to sit and read or watch.
But the big shift really
was sitting there
and not looking at my phone.
There was the urge
a habit
or addiction.
The muscles begged to reach for it.
But no.
I stopped
and was rewarded.
Boredom
momentarily
was a worthy price to pay.
I saw birds,
bugs,
butterflies,
And flowers.
You have to try it. You'll be amazed. Take a long, long walk. You don't have to go crazy. Maybe you'll see the effects within the first hour or two. But to make it count, NO PHONE. Google Maps if needed, but as little as possible. Turn on Do Not Disturb. And what helped me was putting my phone in my backpack, so I couldn't feel it in my pocket as a constant reminder that it's there, ready to comfort.
And oh yeah. Put on sunscreen!
To the blog.
To the podcast.
To my contact.
To the main page.
Enjoy!