I am in Austin this week on a work related trip. A work related trip means a budget trip. There is not a lot of money budgeted for entertainment. For low budget entertainment I like to get out and about, relaxing in my walking shoes.
For me being out of town without a lot of cash is easy. I like to walk. If given the choice when out of town if something is in walking distance I walk there instead of drive.
Walking gets me out of my hotel room for a longer period than driving somewhere close will. A few minute drive can become a thirty minute walk. Two thirty minute walks to and from where I am going to have my dinner means an hour or more of my evening is taken up in an enjoyable way.
What is a walk like in a strange place? I have taken more than a few, so I will share a few stories. Walking in some places was not the best decision I could have made. Walking in other places has been a unique experience. Generally an hours walk around the area I am staying is fun and relaxing.
 I once wandered lost in the streets of an American ghetto. I was followed for about twenty-five minutes by three young men, who could not quite bring themselves to bother me, but followed me in case they had the opportunity. I was lost and it was not fun. In Israel I walked as a tourist in places where no tourist should have been walking. People were being kidnapped, and buses were blowing up. Most people with me thought it was too risky to be out and about and they stayed in their rooms, very bored. In one small town where I stopped for a night, I watched porch lights come onm heralding the direction of my walk. Porch lights lit my way for almost a mile before I returned to where I started. I was impressed with the speed of the telephone and the power of a stranger in a strange town.
Some trips like this one to Austin are very good. Today I went on an hour stroll along the infamous Austin river walk near the South Congress Bridge. I watched people jog and walk by. People cruising along on bicycles from one place to another. People walking in groups, and people walking with their dogs.
I had a interesting chat with a homeless man who had the motor portion of a ceiling fan. He was trying to turn it into a generator for his personal use. While he tinkered with the motor pondering possibilities, he shared some of his life with me. I never would have had that chat from my car or room.
I walked my way back to the South Congress Bridge, and asked around for a salad bar within walking distance. There happened to be a salad bar of sorts about eight blocks up the street. I walked hearing bits of conversations in dialects I never heard before. Possible they are tourists like myself, or perhaps business people working hard on closing the deal.
During my walk back, homeless people were staking out their sleeping quarters for the evening. The incongruity of skyscrapers worth untold millions with homeless men and perhaps women sleeping in their daytime shadow was a study of contrasts.
I arrived back on the South Congress Bridge in time to observe the nightly flight of approximately 750,000 bats starting their nightly feed. While waiting for the flight, I chatted with people standing next to me about traveling, they gave me their impressions of their Jerusalem visits. What a small world, a stranger on a bridge having been to Jerusalem too.
Over all, getting out walking, listening, and talking to complete strangers is a thrifty and enjoyable way to pass part of an evening. Walking in some neighborhoods is indeed risk taking at its best. For most walks however, being out and about on foot is enjoyable, and a stress reliever. Use common sense, leave your valuables and extra money in your room, and get out and see what the locals take for granted.
If you are fortunate, you will get the kind of comment I did last night when I wandered too far from the beaten path. A car slowed, a window came down, and a womans voice said, “You lost”, and she laughed. I turned back the way I came knowing the next vehicle to stop may not be so friendly. If you are not that lucky, you may get a little nervous. Use your head and don’t stray any farther away than you have already. Head back to where you started and walk in a different direction.
 I was out walking last evening, and thought up another use for my rule of three. Perhaps it will change the world too, or at least your little slice of it. As I mentioned before, I enjoy doing things by three.
The number three is important or valued in some areas, a powerful number. The Christian bible being a good example. When there was a battle, and the good guys won, the army is a number divisible by three. On the other hand the defeated is usually a number divisible by four. The Trinity is another good example, the Stations of the Cross, and I imagine the list goes on and on. Three is thought to be a powerful number. I happen to like using three because it feels like a little more than one or two, but not as hard to remember as four or more.
I thought late last night, why restrict doing something good to just where I walk. Why not bring that thought or act into the rest of my life? I went through a number of ideas, and came up with this one. It will take some time to get it moving, but I think people will catch on and help because it makes our world a cleaner prettier place to be.
As I walked to the park yesterday, I slowed down where some tumbleweed was growing in the rocks next to the sidewalk. As few cars approached I saw my opportunity. I bent over and pulled some tumbleweed out and placed it on the curbside of the street.
Once on the walking path, I picked up some paper trash as two people were walking towards me. For my third act, I again pulled some tumbleweed and set it to the curb as a car drove by and a walker was walking towards me. I used three timed opportunities to attempt to influence neighbors and fellow walkers. If I do this every time I am out over the summer, say sixty times over the next months, I am providing almost two hundred people the opportunity to be influenced into doing something good for themselves and their community.
That is great for the few blocks to the park and the walking path, but what about the rest of my day. That is when I decided it was time to turn it into three. Three times during my day, I am going to look for opportunities to do something positive and helpful, in an effort to influence other people to do the same. I think it is a great grass roots movement in the making!
Doing something good in front of other people is modeling a behavior we all should be doing, but for various reasons do not. Some of us have become shy about standing out in a crowd and doing anything that makes them stand out and be noticed. Being noticed for role modeling a good action is a great thing.
I think it is time to end those behaviors and do something good for all of us at the same time. The rule of three can be a guideline, but by no means a stopping point if opportunities present themselves. For example today, I told a worker at a local salad bar, that I hope their boss notices how hard they work, and what a good job they do. I commented on a pretty blouse a woman was wearing who looked up as she ate, looking tired from carrying life’s burdens.
Please join in by looking for three opportunities every day to model a positive behavior in front of others or by doing something for someone else. Pick up a piece of paper on the ground, pull a weed from a city flower bed, offer to help someone with something simple, like carrying their books as you both walk home. I do not think it has to be anything big to start making a big difference.
It may feel awkward at first, but the feelings of happiness and contentment that follow later on make up for any feelings of standing out. Plus picking up a few pieces of trash and throwing them away where they belong will make your neighborhood a more pleasant place. And you will feel good about what you are doing!
It is another full moon tonight! When I lived in Minnesota, I loved full moons in the winter months. The moon would be so huge, it always seemed bigger in the winter months for some reason. Maybe because the air was so clear the moon just sort of take s over the sky. Of course there would be snow on the ground. After ten o’clock or so I could go outside and it would be light enough it seemed like a strange day time, instead of night.
We used to do a lot of playing outside on full moon nights. In the winter it would be bright enough to sled, or ski, if what we did could be called skiing. In the summer full moon nights were good nights to play hide go seek as it was dark, but it was still light enough you were able to see so you didn’t hurt yourself running into anything.
When I was in the Air Force, I spent some years as a Security Policeman. Security Police are the Army of the Air Force. It was our job to protect aircraft and other important resources. At the base I was stationed at we had a munitions storage area we were charged with protecting. It was a lot of semi-earthed over buildings with something in them. There would be one man assigned to that area at night. He would be called every so often by radio to ensure all was well.
There were about forty men on my flight and most of us would take turns guarding the munitions area. Except the guys that were scared of the Viking Ghost. They were never sent in there at night because they were too scared to walk around in the darkness and ensure everything was at it should be. I was told he was very big, a little over six feet and he carried a sword and shield and wore a helmut with horns on it.
I never saw the Viking Ghost when I was assigned there, but about six of the forty guys had, or claimed to have seen the ghost and would not work there. I always found the idea kind of funny though. Here is a highly trained man with an M16 rifle, over one hundred rounds of ammunition, flak jacket, helmut, and who knows what else, and they were scared of a ghost! I could understand their fear if they were unarmed, without any communication, and all alone, but help was on a few seconds away if it were ever needed.
One night a man named Fox and myself were assigned together in an area. I had found a book in the library about demonic possession. After I read it and scared the heck out of myself, I told Fox about it. Fox was also a reader, so I hoped he would read it. So there we were on a full moon night talking about this book, and watching our area. As we discussed the book I could tell we were both getting a little nervous as we stared out the truck windshield into the night.
About twenty minutes into the conversation I looked at Fox, and he looked at me. The way the moon was lighting his face made him look surreal. He thought the same thing, because in an instant we were both out of the truck an standing on the ground staring at each other. After we reassured each other we weren’t possessed, and were normal, we got back into the truck and found something else to talk about. That conversation held in the daytime would have amounted to nothing.
When I did not live in rattlesnake country, I used to enjoy walking in the woods during full moons on well known paths. It was always peaceful, and sometimes I would get to see animals I do not normally see like Raccoons and Skunks. The Skunks at least always look real friendly, but the idea of them carrying rabies was enough for me to keep my distance. In all those decades of walking at night, I have never come across anything that was not made of flesh and blood. On most nights, walking on a full moon away from a city is very peaceful and relaxing. Cities are a little different of course….
I was close to my Grandparents, and it was hard watching them slowly lose mobility and the ability to do those tasks they needed to do on a daily basis. Simple tasks we normally take for granted, such as getting up from a chair, opening a jar, lifting a bag of groceries, getting out of a car. Being young, I thought it was just the way things go as we got old. Now I know that does not need to be true.
Once a decade or three went by, I noticed my body did not quite work the way it did when I was seventeen. I could still do all those things I did when I was younger, but I started finding myself sore a few days afterwards (DOMS). Once in a great while I would wake up and have the famous sore back, shoulder, or knees. I realized them that those things I like to do but did not do daily were no longer as simple doing them whenever I had the opportunity.
We grow up learning as children the basics of exercise, but after we become adults most of us seem to forget the basics until we are well into old age. Those basics are, warm up, do the exercise or task, and do a cool down of some sort. As adults I think we need to do a little more. If there is an activity we enjoy, but do not do frequently, it is a good idea to incorporate some exercise into our week, that helps our body be ready for the activity we occasionally do. If you like to ski for example, it is a good idea to do skiing related exercises between ski sessions.
Going back to my Grandparent’s, and their getting old and feeble… My Grandfather worked hard after he retired from his job at seventy. He worked harder in a day than I did. On many days I had a hard time keeping up with him. For my Grandfather everyday tasks and chores did not present much of a problem. My Grandmother was an on again off again exercise person, and she did not have a lot of problems either. A large number of their friends did have problems though doing everyday tasks.
I think we are hard wired to avoid things that we find hard if there is an alternative. We generally drive the car two blocks instead of walking. I think that is just the way we are made. For most of our life we can get away with this behavior because our bodies are somewhat young, and we can sort of cheat our way through. There comes a time if we live long enough that simple chores around the house become hard to do.
When simple things become hard to do, exercise helps, and makes those tasks easier. I believe we should not reach that point until it is near the end of our time on earth. We need to spend our lifetime doing mild exercise to ensure we are fit when we get older. Waiting until you are old is the wrong way to think about exercise. At that point, people are working on a cure, and not a type of prevention. Setting up a lifetime plan of prevention has benefits throughout our lives, and it is enjoyable.
Exercise does not have to be anything exhausting. A mile walked is about the same as a mile ran. Lifting one hundreds pounds all at once, or over twenty times is still one hundred pounds. Some stretching every day, some good walks three or four days a week and some simple strength exercises can do wonders for us. All I have found I need is a pair of tennis shoes. For the strength part, anything in the house or office works fine. Try to twist a broom handle in half for hand strength. Carefully lift a box in your closet a few times. Push apart a door frame with your hands, and try to crush the door with your grip. It does no have to be fancy, but it does make you feel better. We are all headed to old age if we are fortunate. It is a good time to start getting ready. Your body will thank you!
I was lucky enough to see synchronicity in action this morning! It is so nice to see it in action, although it always amazes me when I see it. Perhaps it is a form of pass it forward, or maybe it is just coincidence, but I am grateful to see it all the same. I went out for my morning walk and what did I see? I saw a group of people out with trash bags picking up trash along the walking path!
What a sight, there was a group of about eight people out with their bags and some sticks with nails on the end to spear the trash on the ground. They were out there with their bags half full, or half empty, depending on your personal take. As I walked along the walking path I made it a point to thank each of them. I want them to know I appreciate their time and effort making the park cleaner.
They appeared to be enjoying themselves, which is a normal feeling from knowing you are doing something of value for others even if they do not see you doing it. I hope this group whoever they are, out there cleaning up the walking path decide this is something they can do on a regular basis, and not just a one time spring clean up effort. It would be good to see more people involved in keeping their walking areas clean.
Which brings me to another sore spot of walking paths besides the trash people drop all over the place. People walk their dogs along the paths too, and do not bother to clean up after them. My guess is they don’t think about it, because for many of them they make a quick walk through and they are gone. But what their dog’s leave is not something that is cleaned up by the fairies that come out of their homes after everyone leaves, and turn dog crap into gold dust. Here in the desert where we get twelve inches of rain a year on average that dog waste is there for a long while. I suppose my point is if you have a dog and you take it for walks, it is likely a public area, and kids and other adults use that area too, so please clean up after your dog.
I have rediscovered and enjoyable way to get outside and enjoy the day now that spring weather is here. I found a book on diet and health that explains eating, health and exercise better than any book I have ever read. One of the ideas the book promotes is strolling after meals. Strolling is a slow meandering walk. You are moving, but not trying to walk for exercise. I have been wanting to actually lose weight rather than starve for about five months now, and this book came along. Synchronicity in action?
This book promotes strolling for twenty minutes after each meal. Not less than twenty minutes and not a whole lot more than twenty minutes as it tends to make your stomach stop the digestive process which is not the intent. I have been strolling after meals for a week now, and I find I am really enjoying this slow walk. Walking at a slower pace lets me observe more, and pay more attention to what I see. For example the Crocus’ are starting to bloom and walking slower gives me a chance to enjoy them.
During my work week, strolling feels like a nice a extra break after my meal, and a chance to walk away from the job for twenty minutes. In the past I would eat and cruise the internet for those twenty minutes. That twenty minute walk away from work is a nice relaxing break. I have noticed the afternoons now seem to go more quickly, probably because I have broken what was a boring pattern of lunch, net, work.
So, I really do not know if the people collecting trash was because one of them saw me out more than once collecting trash myself, or it is something they are doing because they wanted to do something for their neighborhood, but I would like to think it is sychronicity in action.
If you read my flu post a few days ago, you know I just had my flu shot. I am still feeling a little run down, and really would rather sit around and do nothing. I know in a few days, I would feel I wasted a day when I could have done something worthwhile. I have not done much, but I did go out for a few mile afternoon walk, enjoying the fall flowers that are still out and the warmth of the sun mixed with a cool breeze today.
The park where I walk shares a property line with a middle school. As I was walking a Physical Education Coach was leading his class out for some outside activity before the weather becomes too cold. As I walked up to where he was standing, I stopped and we talked for a few minutes about the kids, differences in generations, and life in general. Sort of a quick comparison conversation of our respective generations.
The kids were supposed to be running around the mile loop as fast as they could, but of course as soon as some of them were what they considered a safe distance from the Coach, their run slowed way down. Some of them were running hard, and some had slowed their run to an ambling walk. I am grateful for seeing these kids do this today, and being able to understand why their running style applies to my life.
In my own life over the years, there have been periods when I went as fast as I could. there were times when I would be wondering why life would not move faster so I could get whatever plan I had set in motion accomplished. There were other times, such as today for example, when a slow walk would suit me just fine. I was in no hurry and there was nothing to rush for. Or really like today, I feel a little run down and slow is about as fast as I care to move.
That is one of the great things about life, as you grow older! You have a bigger base of experience from which to make comparisons with. When I received the very first flu shot that made me feel run down, I was angry that I did this to myself, and I vowed that I would never get another flu shot.
I remember a few years of going without flu shots. During one of them I actually caught a severe case of the flu. The kind of being sick where you feel like you are going to die any second, then you start wishing you would, just so you would quit aching all over? That was the flu I had that year, terrible stuff! Now days, I do not mind feeling a little run down for a day or two, because I know feeling run down for a day or so is not as bad as being in bed for a week, so sick that dying does not feel like such a terrible alternative to the aching.
Now you know what I am grateful for this week. Over the years I have gained the wisdom to know that a little inconvenience is sometimes a better choice than a lot of pain later. Also along with all that gained wisdom of dubious value, I know these situations do not only apply to flu shots.
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