Keep moving

“Keep moving. If you can’t run, walk. If you can’t walk, crawl. But keep moving.”

— Martin Luther King

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I recently went for a big day out in the hills, walking. It was all up and all down so physically tougher than what I’m used to. My map reading skills and general navigation aren’t the sharpest so I wasn’t 100% sure we wouldn’t have moments of blankly staring at the map and taking detours (we did), so it was there was a definite margin of uncertainty and ‘I’m not ready yet’.

I had work galore on my plate, things to do and people to get back to. Diesel, electricity and gas prices are through the roof, so there was the temptation to prioritise knuckling down to keep the wolf from the door.

I was a little tired from a long week, the nose was a little runny, “is that a little scratchiness in my throat?” … I could have given in and ‘rested’.

But doing something different completely blew the cobwebs out of all the pipes. I came back physically tired, yet with that beautiful feeling of content aliveness.

I’d been all talk for months, and actually heading out into the wild showed me something very important. Despite the numerous excellent and very ‘reasonable’ excuses reasons why I shouldn’t, making a move made all the difference.

I came back refreshed, with a whole new perspective on life – and also all the more aware of how important, maybe even crucial, it is to avoid being static. Based on what I’ve seen, it seems to be a principle point for all of us.

Regardless if life is going well or life is horrible, keep moving in ways, small or large, that are important to you. It is the thing that generates more life, and more life means more of everything.

Every part of you, all the things you love and celebrate, all the things you find difficult and concern you, all the things you’re responsible for and want to take care of … everything takes on a different level of Good – of effectiveness, efficiency and enjoyment.

And you know what?

Inertia and being static tends to lead to the opposite.

It’s so simple to fall into a rut of the same old same old, just getting through the days, getting through the weeks, and before we know it, years have past by.

We say we’d love to do this, to go there and experience that, to make a change somehow … but how often do we actually get down and put something into the calendar?

We make dates for everything and everyone else, but rarely for ourselves and our loved ones. And I don’t know about you, but if it’s not in the calendar, it just doesn’t happen. Instead the urgent stuff is prioritised and the important stuff is left for ‘later when life is less urgent’.

But truly living life IS an urgent task – we humans so take life for granted. We’re always getting around to the business of living, but somehow forget to actually crack on and do the things that make life worth living.

So –

This is what I discovered from a walk up a hill, and maybe you want to start doing the same.

Make some dates with yourself and the important people in your life. Maybe it’s a walk up a mountain, maybe it’s a walk around the block. Maybe it’s booking that Ascension meditation course, maybe it’s actually sitting down and using that mindfulness app you downloaded months ago.

Stop thinking you would like to do that ‘one day’, and start moving forward with some movement forward. You have to take your chances and make the most of your moments, because they’re not infinite – and ‘getting around to it’ never seems to convert to ‘doing it’.

It takes a sacrifice, yes. But the payoff? So much more life. So much more.

The fact about life is this:

You weren’t born to simply pay the bills and die.

Right? There can be so much more.

Now –

Often with mindfulness and an inner path people get lost in a vague sense that plans are bad and spontaneous action is best.

I’m whole-heartedly behind spontaneity; with going with the need of the moment. That said, plans and dates are essential. They mean we move in a direction that really mean something to us. They mean we stop making excuses and move out of a zone that is comfortable in that it’s known.

We create new zones. Of progression, of adventure, of putting time and space and resources into nourishing our souls.

Life stops being a happy – or more like unhappy – accident; we start living an intentional life. Which is everything.

So as the great man said, just move. No matter how small a tweak, make this moment better than the last.

Doesn’t matter if you feel stuck and struggling or on top of the world, choose a direction and move. You can course correct as you go.

Don’t wait to be given life; generate it yourself.

Alrighty?

Thank you for reading, and go well.?

Arjuna