I recently had a need for one of my "thinking" walks lately. A thinking walk is when I leave routine behind and go out on my own to ponder over things and, hopefully, work through whatever has been on my mind.

No deliberate path is planned, although a general area for walking may be pre-selected, for I do want to enjoy my surroundings and draw from them if needed, but I do not want to knowingly encounter major distractions or disruptions to the flow of my walking or thinking. Unless weather or conditions are severe in some way, nothing else will keep me from taking such a walk because I need the alone time, the freedom to do what I need to do as I need to do it, and a sense of "it did me good" when the journey is over.

Years ago, I used to walk with determination every single day, regardless of what the weather was like, where I was, or what else might be going on, all for the purpose of losing weight and getting exercise...and, definitely, as a means to get out of and away from the dreadful life I seemed to be in the middle of. I soon discovered that the walking paid off in the ways I was hoping, but that they had also become a valuable means for releasing emotion, analyzing situations, mood adjusting, realizing my real feelings and beliefs, reaching answers, and so much more. As time went on and more turbulence in my life appeared, walking (including the thinking and escaping) increased so much so, that I often walked 1-2 hours on each walk and up to three walks a day. At least three walks a week would cover 5 miles each, seldom without any stops whatsoever.

Walking tapered off over the years, as I felt better and better about my life and my schedule changed. I still do enjoy walking, for pleasure and exercise, and will take frequent walks when my mood and conditions are both favorable, but I had completely forgotten the other therapeutic benefits I get from walking until reading a post by fitmommas (and some of the comments and replies that followed). That's when I realized what I had been missing and needing. And, with so many different things weighing heavily on my mind, it dawned on me that I had been needing to take some real thinking time, for myself to sort, analyze, answer, and plan.

The first chance I got, I put on my walking sneakers, planned my walking area, grabbed some water and my camera, and headed out for my however-long-it-will-take-until-I'm-ready-to-go-home walk. (Yes, I had my camera because I take it with me everywhere I go, but I had no real intentions of using it because I didn't want the distraction to become the purpose of the walk.)

It was a wonderful experience. I walked for a little close to an hour and a half before thoughts of returning home ocurred to me. I must have been oblivious to my pace because I was quite surprised by the distance I had covered, yet I had noticed the trees, birds, flowers, and other sights along the route. And, I did think about a lot of things. I didn't solve all the world's problems, nor did I settle all that I personally needed to consider, but I did get a lot of my feelings sorted out, get some things prioritized, and I reached the conclusion that panic and confusion were now considerably replaced with some inner calmness and relief.

The walk that I took for thinking was exactly what I needed. All the good that came out of it can only be summed up here by the beauty, brightness, colors, and all that is shown and suggested by the only two pictures I took during my journey.