Walking & Thinking

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Thought a bit more about nostalgia today on my morning walk. (I blogged about the same theme years ago.)

Perhaps I enjoy nostalgia because of having, as best I remember, an idyllic childhood—wonderful parents who had a middle-class income, a healthy mind and body, a good education, a physically safe environment, and all in the midst of a bustling economy with wealth distributed relatively fairly (much more so than it is now) and a polity still somewhat united in the aftermath of WWII. Had I not been born with that genome in that environment, I may be less nostalgic. I wish everyone had an excellent past to look back on, and an infinitely good future to look forward to.

It is not surprising that such ideas took hold while walking, which provides the opportunity for and is conducive to, uninterrupted, reflective thinking. Many have extolled the virtues of walking: Lao Tzu, Aristotle, Rousseau, Dickens, Freud, Piaget, and former US Presidents Thomas Jefferson and Harry Truman.1 2 The physical and psychological benefits of walking make it even more appealing. I encourage everyone to walk if possible and if you cannot, then move your body in whatever way you can.

And if you cannot move for some reason, then move your mind and explore its space. There you can travel as far as your imagination and sense of wonder allow; seeing sights and thinking thoughts that the able-bodied may miss.

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1. http://blog.ted.com/2013/04/29/walkin...
2. http://www.laweekly.com/2008-10-30/ar...