This morning I took a walk. Not for my physical health, but my mental health. I’m sure it did my body a little good, but I wasn’t walking to log miles and get my heart rate up. This was a reconnect, slow-down, and smell the roses kind of walk. And it felt so good. I’m thinking of adding a regular mental health walk to my self-care routine.
What is Mindfulness and Why Should I Try it?
I have been trying to practice mindfulness on a more regular basis. Mindfulness is a technique that includes focusing your awareness on the present moment, acknowledging and accepting your emotions and thoughts, but not dwelling on them. Practicing mindfulness can help with anxiety, depression, high blood pressure, and improve our immune response.
Mindfulness includes practices such as yoga, meditation, tai chi, and prayer. I have always been a prayerful person, but last year I added meditation to my routine. The Headspace app is my go to source for help. There are other apps out there, but I really like this one. Normally, I spend 10-15 minutes a day sitting quietly, breathing, noting, and focusing. It makes a big difference and I can see the change if I skip even a few days.
I love the app and use it regularly, but today I tried something new. I tried being present as I walked a nature path near my home. My family has lived next to this trail for 18 years. It is like an old friend in many ways. I brought along my camera in hopes of capturing a few moments to bring home and share. I find that photography can help me focus on moments in time and look for the beauty around me. But, mostly, I just breathed in the fresh air, listened to the the sounds and took in the smells of a morning walk after several days of rain.
My Mental Health Walk
Let me share what I saw, heard, and smelled today. It was a wonderful walk. I started out my front door and down the side walk, stopping to take a photo of the morning dew on the plants in my yard. We’ve been having a lot of rain, so the remaining trickle of last night’s downpour was still making it’s way down the sidewalk drain. I passed a neighbor’s home where someone was cutting lumber in the garage. The sound of the power saw was jarring, but the smell of freshly cut wood was heavenly. It reminded me of my dad and our garage when I was growing up. I breathed deeply as I walked along, feeling the cool morning air on my face and the hardness of the sidewalk beneath my feet.
I noticed the first blossoms coming out on a tree. Maybe Punxsutawney Phil was wrong and spring isn’t 6 weeks away after all. I saw the beginning of what looked like daffodils pushing their ways through the soil too.
As I left the neighborhood and made my way along the trail, I realized I should have worn better shoes. The trail was wet, slippery, and even squishy in places. I decided to be more mindful of where I was stepping. One bad step and I’d be covered in mud and limping home. But all the rain has brought so much beauty to my neck of the woods. I don’t remember ever seeing so much moss on the trees and rocks or so much water in the creek. Everything was so green. It’s that special spring green that only lasts as long as the buds, blades, and sprouts are new.
There were more dangers on the trail that I needed to be mindful of. Another tree was blooming. This is the one I have nicknamed the “evil yellow tree” because it makes my allergies go crazy. And sure enough, it has started to bloom. It is a really pretty tree, but the amount of pollen that comes off it is terrifying. Someone told me it was an acacia, but I’m not an expert.
This being California, there is another thing I had to look out for. Luckily, it’s too early in the year to worry about rattlesnakes. But you can get into poison oak year round if you’re not careful. Even if the leaves are gone, the rest of the plant can get you. There is a ton of poison oak near the trail and because I was avoiding the mud on the trail, I was more likely to be off-trail and into the brush. There is a marker warning hikers, but it marks only one bush and it’s everywhere you look out there. Just remember, leaves of three, let it be. Unless the leaves are dormant, then just stay on the trail and don’t touch anything.
Dangers avoided, I went back to enjoying my surroundings and being in the moment. Luckily, with such beautiful scenery, it was not hard to do. I remembered to breath in deeply, walk slowly and deliberately, and appreciate the little things. Since I was trying to stay in the moment, I avoided other walkers. Some may have thought me unfriendly, but this was not a social outing. Normally, I smile and greet the people I pass, but today I avoided the busier routes. It was refreshing to have some quiet alone time.
Although I tried to avoid human visitors on the trail, I did look out for visitors of the feathered kind. I saw several large groups of California quail with their cute bobbing head feathers. They were like me, avoiding contact with others so I did not get a photo of them. I also saw a pair of mallard ducks on the creek who were similarly anti-social. There are lots of blue jays to be found on the trail, and I met one who was having his breakfast. I also saw several red tail hawks. But the biggest encounter I had was with a great blue heron. It was not particularly shy. Maybe that’s because of it’s size. I saw it flying, resting in a tree and walking on the path a head of me. What a majestic bird.
Among the other things I stopped to appreciate this morning were the fresh air, the low clouds that seemed to muffle sounds, and the hints of spring being on its way. I even saw the first ladybug of the year! Now if that isn’t a sign of spring, I don’t know what is, except maybe a robin sighting. I did not see a robin, so maybe Punxsutawney Phil wasn’t completely off.
Along the way I did get distracted from my purpose. I found myself wishing, more than once, that I had better lenses to get better shots. My mind wandered once or twice to things I have to get done today and I had to remind myself to stay in the present moment. But as I have been practicing mindfulness, this has gotten easier to do. Redirecting my thoughts comes quicker.
I left my house feeling a little stressed and out of sorts. My shopping list was left half-finished, and I had a blog post to write. There were bathrooms needing scrubbing and kitchen counters needing wiping. None of these things seemed remotely inspiring or uplifting to me. The blog post just wouldn’t come and I needed a new idea, some inspiration. I returned feeling refreshed and much calmer. My kitchen is still waiting, but my post is almost done!
Meditation and prayer will still play important roles in my mindfulness journey, but so with my mental health walks. And if my physical health improves too, all the better. What do you do to include mindfulness in your life?
Thanks for reading and please share!
