Perfection contained in a long, leisurely walk.

Nothing feels more perfect than a long walk. A long, easy walk to anywhere.

No matter which path feet follow, which direction your head turns, to walk is to feel refreshingly alive.

With every step, the world’s infinite complexity is revealed page by page. When eyes are open and the mind is keen, the strides are through endless wonder.

That first step. That deep, expansive breath of new air. The stretching out of limbs. A touch of warmth or chill on your face. Eyes lifted to the horizon, expectant.

Joy mounting with every stride as senses register a million familiar proofs of the world’s essential beauty.

The smells from near and far.  Mown grass, the salty ocean, rain-wet asphalt, piney hills, a jasmine bush on a corner, sun-baked dirt, perfume from a cafe.

Kaleidoscope visions through which you simply, happily flow. The infinite detail of reflected light, dazzling your eyes. Patterns of leaves. Patterns of shadow. Patterns of neighbors and bustle and streets. The patterns of humanity.

And every gradation of daylight. Every blue and every green that nature supplies. A complete riot of color on painted things. Rainbows on buildings, signs, cars, jackets, socks. The whole spectrum of color, if only you see it. A trillion, trillion buzzing atoms encompass you, if only you see them. The awesome visual geometry of angles, form and depth. It’s all before and around you.

The smallest object encountered during a thoughtful walk is a self-contained universe. Even a lone bit of windblown trash is beautiful, in perhaps a thousand different ways. With a microscope you couldn’t unravel its potent mysteries. Who made it? How was it made? Where did it come from, and where’s it headed? For a moment the walker shares the world closely with surprising and mysterious companions: a bird, a grasshopper, a motorist, another walker. We all travel alone but together, encountering our own unique wonders, creating through sheer muscle and chance our historic voyages of discovery.

I want to go exploring today. I suppose I’ll just start out my door.

Got to put on my shoes… Bye!

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