#walk2connect

[experiencingmyjoy]

Walking Within Wisdom #8 August 27, 2019

“So, join me, young leaders, join me. Let’s enjoy what we’ve been given and let’s dare to better understand ourselves, those who are different, and our surroundings while traveling at a pace we were designed to.” Jonathon Stalls: Life at 3MPH

The very first person I thought about when I got my butt out of bed and started waking was the incredible Jonathon Stalls… He is no small part of my inspiration for doing this! Although we haven’t been in each others actual presence in a LONG time (so long feelings of deep guilt came up for me when thinking and talking about it) Our catching up felt like a “coming home” to a kindred spirit who is also deeply curious and seeking in this crazy world.

We walked for more than 5 miles and although I wish I had recorded Jonathon’s amazing words I chose to be present, listening and being heard allowed for real wisdom to be shared and for those moments I am forever grateful.

At the beginning of our walk - I was filling Jonathon in on what has been happening in my life with my back to the city park lake, he stopped me and pointed out this amazing turtle just waiting for us to notice her… As some of you know my spirit animal is a sea turtle and the symbolism of all of this did not go unnoticed or appreciated … It was as if she was saying “Hey you, thanks for finally showing up (perhaps add in an expletive here) it’s about time and then made her way back to the water 💖… Thank you Your Majesty!

We discussed so many deeply important things there is really no way to translate into words right now except to share a couple of things. On our walk we not only saw this amazing turtle, we saw dragonflies (of course my Mother needed to participate in something so delightful) we spent time under a “grandmother” Hawthorn tree (so much beauty and metaphor there 💚) and then to experience JOY with a dog splashing in a puddle on one lap around the park and on the next lap a delicious child splashing in the same puddle, JUST WONDROUS!

Jonathon has written a wonderful book of poems, called “intrinsic paths poetry: volume 1” He read this to me at the end of our walk, and although there is so much more to say (and perhaps Jonathon will chime in with some wisdom) I deeply believe this poem uniquely sums up our Walking Within Wisdom this morning...

oh my soul

take me places where I’m frightened to go

holding me guiding me loving me

I can no longer keep it together I’ve been holding my breath for too long I’m done living the script that others wrote

oh my soul

I will trust your rumblings while I fall apart I will trust your demands as they rattle my fear I will accept the unknown one breath at a time

breaking chains smashing lies burning masks

into the dark we’re going together

Oh my soul we’re going together

together rising together moving together healing

towards the light

here, an open field here, rushing water here, the arms of trees

tears of pain ripping it all off

tears of joy writing my story

I fall onto the dirt naked and exposed ... I’m finally free … so completely free … to be me

oh my soul

oh… my… soul…

You all need to know this extraordinary being! Jonathon is currently creating a new vision of the world (yes indeed just that) through Intrinsic Paths...

“Intrinsic Paths is a way of being more than it is any specific project or program. It honors unhurried movement, contemplative practice, and bold relationship as gateways to all that lives within, wisdom in the natural world, and dignity for all of humanity.

At this moment in time, Intrinsic Paths centers programming and artistic exploration through Walking Invitation, Engaged Contemplation, Pedestrian Dignity, and Movement Building.”

If you want to learn more about this extraordinary human, check out his websites here: https://www.intrinsicpaths.com/ AND Here: https://www.patreon.com/intrinsicpaths/posts

THANK YOU MY FRIEND, I AM SO VERY GRATEFUL!!!

Until soon when we walk again!

[walk2connectstories]

[Larry (left) and Kermit (right) walked the 71-mile High Line Canal in the summer of 2018 with Walking Movement Leader Chris Englert, who contends that Kermit is the oldest person to have walked the entire way, at age 82!]

Kermit: We walk out of our complex right onto the High Line Canal.

Larry: We live at about mile 48. We’ve been walking and bicycling along the Canal for a long time. I’d always thought about wanting to do the whole thing, and then I saw signs about the walking series. I went online and learned about it, and we decided to do it starting in June.

I’d ridden the Canal a long time before I walked it. I thought I had bicycled clear to the end, but when we walked it, I found out I wasn’t even close – I’d gone the wrong way! My favorite part about walking the High Line was learning the history of the families who had settled here and the things they did. [Our Walking Movement Leader] Chris knew that so well.

Kermit: I really don’t have a background here (I’m from Sacramento, California), so I don’t remember all of the names of the places we saw along the way, but I really enjoyed walking behind Windsor Gardens and the Fairmount Cemetery. I had never been on most of the Canal or even visited the areas it goes through.

Larry: The group we hiked it with is still hiking together on Fridays. We’ve tried to hike every Friday since we finished the High Line in October. The idea of walking and connecting really brought us together.

Kermit: Chris says I’m the oldest person to have walked the whole High Line Canal, at 82. I had never done anything like that before. I had never hiked before at all.

Larry and I met when he was 72 and I was 74. We got together that year and I moved out to Colorado. I had a bicycle in California, but it stayed in the garage. The only thing I did was, after my partner of 30 years died, I got a notification from the American Heart Association asking if I wanted to do a walk in his honor. I had never thought about walking before, but I said yes. I trained and ended up walking two half-marathons. I met Larry about a year later, and I had no idea that he was so active – he has climbed every fourteener in Colorado! When I came out here and learned how active he was, I said, it’ll probably keep me alive, so why not? I didn’t start doing any of this until I was 74.

Larry had a group that would bicycle every Wednesday. I walked right into this group of friends – I was lucky. They were doing bicycling, hiking. Larry had a house in Breckenridge, and we would go up there and hike.  

Larry: I moved to Colorado from Iowa in 1960, after I graduated from college. I grew up on a farm, so we were always outside and doing things. I love the mountains. The minute I got here, I started backpacking. I hiked all over. I had no intention of ever climbing all of the fourteeners until I got to about 45 and I thought, well, maybe I should finish this! I really like hiking and biking and skiing – all of the outdoors stuff. I can’t do what I used to do, but I still like it.

Kermit: If I had come here on my own, I probably wouldn’t have stayed. The older you get, the harder it is to meet people because you don’t do the same things you did when you were 20, 30 or 40. You don’t go to the same places, you don’t put yourself out there to meet people the same way. Sometimes, the older you get, you don’t put yourself out there to meet people at all! So, I was very lucky to walk right into this group of people with whom I just clicked right away. It was wonderful.

Larry: It’s kind of funny – if it weren’t for the fact that I got the start date of the walking series wrong, we might never have walked the whole High Line together. I saw the date and where the group was going to meet, so I went out there when I thought it was. Turns out, I was a day early. I went home and contacted our friend Linda, who had talked about walking it. She said she would do it, and then Kermit decided to do it, too. It was lucky that I got the date wrong!

[walk2connectstories]

[Elizabeth is a Walk2Connect Walking Movement Leader in Boulder, Colorado.]

I have a public health background, and I worked with a terminally ill population in medical research. When I shifted into yoga, I thought it was going to be all candles and incense. It turned out that the yoga population – like all of us – is far more wounded than we realize. We’re not just a fitness-oriented, healthy population. It’s a healthy bunch of people, yes, but we all have a woundedness, and we’re all struggling to find our way in a crazy world. I wrote in an email to my community recently, ‘May we all hold our darkness more tenderly so that it never outshines the light.’ That really is the essence of this work for me: making space for my own limitations, finding other people to feel less alone, empowering and uplifting each other like sisters, and just reminding each other that love is visible and love wins.

I wake up every day trying to put one foot in front of the other, trying to be brighter and lighter within myself. I have to remind myself to be brave. It’s scary, and it’s not easy to face our fears, whether of politics and the crazy world or of encountering a mountain lion or a bear on a trail. How do we summon the courage to keep going? Part of that is not walking alone. So, Walk2Connect gives us that opportunity to stand beside others and find our strength a little more solidly. ‘Life at 3 miles per hour’ to me means noticing, slowing down, giving yourself time to see the beauty. It’s a reminder for me of all the joy I see when I take a moment to pause. Three miles an hour is just the right pace to breathe it all in and not miss the good stuff.

[liveyourbrandtour]

Want a Brand That Lives? Put Some Heart Into It

[liveyourbrandtour]

Earlier today, Melanie interviewed Jonathon Stalls of Walk2Connect. #brandtour