The Key To Experiencing More Heart – On Foot

I’ve just got back from a beautiful walk. Not the kind of walk you do to get from A to B, mind you. Nor one of those ones you do mainly for exercise, or just to relax or energise. Because what if I told you that walking can bring you far juicier riches in life than this? That it can be a way to activate synchronicity in your world and enable magical happenings to cross paths with you more often. That there are walks you can do which pave the way for you to gift and experience love. Walks that offer the chance for you to practice and enhance your capacity to receive, and make you feel more alive and connected. What I am talking about here is walking as a conscious act of creation, walking as a way to step your heart out into the world on purpose. This is something I do most days when I go for my morning strolls. And it’s exciting and heart-warming stuff! Today was a case in point for me, and I guess this is why I felt to come to the computer and write to you. I want to share the magic with you, so you know what I mean…

I’d been walking for a minute or two, enlivened by the warbling of the magpie, by first light’s reminder of apricots for breakfast, and by the glitter of my breath into air stretched cool and thin. My hope today had been for solitude by the glassy waters but it was not to be. Barking with exuberance and bounding towards me was Mr Traddles, a gorgeous russet kelpie who had befriended me on my morning potters. Striding behind him with shoulders hunched and hands in pockets, came Linda, his owner, toughing the winter cold in her shorts as usual. We exchanged hellos and I asked her if she’d heard the news about Rhonda, another walker on this path, whose beloved dog Bunny Boy, had died the day before. Eyes large, Linda relayed how not five minutes before she had decided to walk this way instead of along the other track, she’d had a sad daydream about him being dead. Horrified at the time that her mind should have created such a “fantasy’’, she could now see that her walking had connected her to that higher intelligence.

We stood there in quietness for a few seconds. Then she blew out a slow breath – a mixture of sadness for Rhonda, of marveling at the synchronicity of things, and of amazement at how she had received such spot-on guidance.

As we meandered along the path and the conversation turned this way and that, I started to tell her about a fun course I had just written and created, that was all about walking and how it could gift some of the benefits we had just seen. Spluttering in disbelief, she jumped over her words to tell me she had a brilliant book at home that I could borrow, one which spoke to the very essence of my creation. Smiling, I felt I understood the second reason we had walked into one another today.

Suddenly, Mr Traddles became vocal, wagging his tail in excitement.

It was Rhonda! Plodding towards us with shoulders sagging, her baby-blue jacket and colourful striped leggings belied the broken heart of an elder who no longer had her Bunny Boy trailing alongside her. One look at her eyes, reddened and streaming as she drew near, and the only thing there was for the three of us to do was hug, right there, in the middle of the path.

Hug and be love.

Rhonda sobbed out the details of what had happened. How Bunny Boy had collapsed on the street corner, his back legs given way underneath him. How they had taken him to the vet and she had sat in the back seat of the car with him in his drowsiness, telling him that she loved him. And how the vet had gently said he needed to be put down. My heart ached in the presence of Rhonda’s weeping. But it also throbbed for Linda, who not two months before had lost her own beloved dog, Billy, who had been put down by the same vet and in the same way.

Walking had brought us to this today.

Walking had stepped us into each other’s hearts.

Walking had given us the opportunity to give and receive love.

Ten minutes later, and after Linda returned for home, there was just Rhonda and I at the end of the path. Pausing by the rough-barked tree with its arched back and limbs outstretched, I asked Rhonda if she remembered how we had stood here some weeks before, in that magical moment with Bunny Boy when we had discussed an episode she’d had with him in the house that week. She could recall the day. As we re-told that story with smiles, it brought to my mind the aboriginal Australians and their sacred songlines. How these ”songline” walking tracks are a “map” of places and landmarks with spiritual significance to them, a ‘’map” made up of songs they sing in sequence to help them navigate the way these tracks criss-cross the remote interior of the country. When they walk and sing the right songs for the right trail, they honour the Ancestors that formed that land, and they sing the land and the track and its spirit alive.

Though I knew that we couldn’t claim our walking track to be a true songline, as formed by the Ancestors of the land in that complex and sacred sense, I shared with Rhonda how this spot by the tree and our story that went with it, could be the start of our own version of a sacred “map’’ of this path. Telling our tale could be our own version of a ‘’song’’. Our own way of connecting with the spirit of Bunny Boy who used to walk along this path, still walks along it in spirit, and forever will belong here…similar to the Ancestors on their songlines.

Strolling back to my car after saying farewell to Rhonda, a little made-up song rose from within me, or through me. It was for Bunny Boy. As I sang it softly on the breeze with my voice wavering in shyness, three pelicans flew overhead. Many of you will know I consider three a magical number, the number of spirit. My song was my way to sing this path alive today, sing the spirit of Bunny Boy alive. When I pass here again, I will remember this song. I might sing it again on some days. Either way, it exists now as energy on this walking path, one that enriches the way for all walkers whether they are aware of it or not.

Walking as a conscious act of creation, connection, and love…

Now isn’t that the most beautiful thing?

 

Invitation: What stops you fully walking with heart when you are out and about? Would you like to go for walks more often or have a fun reason to get started? To what extent could you benefit from opening to more experiences of magic and connection on the path? I am excited to be launching my new online course, Walking with Heart, at the beginning of September. It’s a 6 week adventure for feeling more alive and connected wherever you step. Would you like to play with me? I’m looking for people who are ready to have fun and fully participate, and you are one of the first people to hear about that! In the future this will be a paid program but since I am still evolving and forming the content as I go, there will be no charge on this occasion. A small number of places are now available, with a short application form to fill out. If you are interested, please send me an email for more information!