Bleeding Edge

Walking about has always been something that I do, and everybody knows that and expects to join me in one of my usual walkways.

But most people don’t know that I walk best in a meditative way.

I am not fanciful in doing that because I am just walking, and am not about going around wearing Saffron robes and prostrating myself every few feet, nor am I about singing mantras, or chanting incantations while thumbing my prayer beads.

I just walk.

I am not even given to walking about, while thinking grand thoughts and mighty deeds, but I choose to walk rather humbly, purposefully, and honorably, keeping my focus on placing one foot in front of another.

I walk steadily and softly, as best I can, in order to leave no footprint behind and to not trek, but rather to walk elegantly. I always walk very much like being on a pilgrimage…

I walk. Step by step, not too fast, not too slow, just right.

I walk the Goldilocks way — not too fast, not too slow, just right — and that’s just perfect for me, because like in Life we always have a healthy course of a few miles to cover.

I walk around my favorite lake in my hometown a couple of times every week, and that’s a three mile trip, and although I am a heavy dude, I also walk the long distances in between in the nearby mountains, and forest paths. I gotta do this thing because it keeps me sane through & through.

Greenlake is a good place to have a walk. It’s a good place to talk to a friend, and I’ve done that a thousand times. And it’s a great place to have your constitutional walk to build your strength for when we go for a serious walk, like walking the Freedom Trail that leads me to Washington DC for some serious meetings — and that would be between 50 and up to maybe 250 miles or more, at a time.

But this year walking around Seattle’s Greenlake, after the recent snowstorm, it’s poignantly and heart achingly beautiful.

Walking on the fresh snow and seeing the frozen lake is as calming and soul searching as any ten day silent meditation can be. In fact it is even better… for You. Dress warm and get a pair of gloves and a hat, and set out with the dogs for a great walk around and even on the lake… Walking on water has never been easier…

Walking leads to incredible things — it can even lead to your personal Freedom, as many generations of enslaved people have found walking the simply all too American Trail of Freedom. Probably by far the best trail to walk towards Liberty, and to free yourself from whatever oppresses you, your family, your community, or your country.

You can walk whatever part of it you choose to, but to get to understand the freeing power — make it a “Large Walk” a long walk that makes your body ache and your sleep at night sound. Come with your sleeping bag, and a light bag pack and be certain to assume the posture and pace of a pilgrim for Freedom, escaping the all too many kinds of “Slavery” that modern Life has thrown at us…

I do this as an extra large walk, and once a year on my annual pilgrimage, always some wise and resourceful friends join me.

It’s not a small walk by any means but over the years I’ve built the power to go the distance and to maintain a healthy pace, and so do my wiser and far better conditioned high powered friends with whom we go to DC to conduct our Business.

Walking is all about conditioning. Most people underestimate me, like when I walked the Yunnan mountain village pathways for hundreds of miles, and the locals were amazed to see me arrive without benefit of animal transport in places strictly reserved for the local mountain men. Or even every year that I walk different parts of the Appalachian Freedom Trail, or of the Tibetan plateau, or side stepping the Pacific Moonlight Trail, or the South African Transvaal, or even the most unusual St James walk towards Santiago De Compostelo.

These walks have consumed useful and significant parts of my Life and yet they were all paths of Love, and pilgrimages of Meaning. They helped me to Love and yet Leave myself. Leave the condition and the groove that I was in, and helped me move towards Love, and the next plane of my existence.

I walk mostly with strangers, but sometimes I walk with friends too. I even go for a walk with colleagues, with partners, with lovers, with children, and with ancient wizened and wise men and women. My walks are learning experiences, and moments of crystallizing realizations.

Some incredible Innovations have come about as a result of my walks too. And those are the most keen occurrences of the brain working better when walking and the heart opening up too.

And the most curious benefit of the walks is that I always walk with just ordinary and perfect strangers who happen to walk the same path in the same direction with me at the same time… and by the end of the walk we know each other as if we have been together for ever and a day.

Completely Random, and yet perfectly designed.

I have yet to say No to someone proposing a walk to me. That’s a sure way to get my attention. And the benefit is that we get to spent serious time together. Many businesses have been created in these walks of mine…

And then they have been sustained through these walks as well.

Am I crazy enough to hold meetings right there while walking about?

Maybe.

Am I uniquely gifted to be able to discuss weighty matters at depth and detail, while walking about?

Maybe.

Am I the only one that invites cherished colleagues to join me for an afternoon walk to solve serious Corporate matters?

Maybe.

Am I the only one that thrives and innovates by walking about and thinking things through?

Maybe.

Am I the only one that understands how this amazing management technique works?

Surely.

And for that, I’m very grateful for the great many strangers, random individuals, and colleagues, that turn out to become friends, after we meet through my constant and often times itinerant walks of Life.

You should try it sometime…

Cheers,

Dr Churchill,

PS:

Some people would call me a Meditator, or a Pilgrim, but I beg to differ…

A pilgrimage much like a meditation, has a beginning, a middle, and an end. Yet only the pilgrimage is the itinerant walking about act of a human being that seeks a Solution, an Answer, and a Benefit, in exchange for the time and effort of the walk.

A walk is a simple thing.

And this is how I approach my Life, and thus escape all difficulties.

And it leads to incredibly important yet simple and much needed results.

A walk gets you in touch with Nature, and Yourself, and it leads you to be with the seasons, and the times at hand…

And if you don’t like the weather — just wait a bit and it will surely change.

The days will get longer, the light will seep through the clouds, and the brilliant sunshine will resume it’s path through the Northwest.

Just walk… one step in front of another, and the rains are strong, but not strong enough to stop you from walking.

Walk about, and think of nothing — just enjoy. This is the best recipe to live by. At least in my book.

And don’t worry about thoughts. They’ll come and go. Yet your end at the end will be refreshingly salient and silent too. New thoughts will spring and new solutions will be found. But all in a rather silent way of the constant pilgrim. A perfect mind results. So this mind control, has been a totally unexpected yet much appreciated benefit of doing this constant walking about.

Because of that ancient practice of mine — I can truly say to all my Friends: Go For A Walk My Friend.

Go for a walk if you are Lost.

Go for a walk if you are Found.

Go for a walk if you are Awake, and go for a walk if you are Asleep.

Go for a walk if you want to find Yourself…

Go for a walk if you want to figure out how to find something worth doing…

Go for a walk if you want to find something worth looking for…

Go for a walk if you seek Love…

Go for a walk for whatever ails you, or whatever you want to celebrate.

Go for a walk, and you never know when You gonna run onto me, and maybe we’ll exchange a greeting, or even get to talking, or hug and recognize each other, or maybe we’ll smile and keep walking in silence side by side, for many miles to come..

Because I’ve got promises to keep, and me and you, we’ve both got miles and miles to go before we sleep…