DAY EIGHT January 5, 2011

My healing journey inspired by the book Healing Walks for Hard Times by Carolyn Scott Kortge

I don’t know why, but many Christians have trouble with the concept of meditation. My favorite uses of the word are found in Scripture, mostly in the book of Psalms, which encourage us to meditate on the words and works of God. Other times the concept of meditation is presented in the Bible, but the actual word isn’t used. My favorite example of this is Philippians 4:8

“Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report, if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.”

To me, that is the very definition of meditation…choosing to think on things that are beautiful and positive.

One of the main themes for the book Healing Walks for Hard Times is meditation. Basically, she encourages us to stop the clutter in our minds that often leads to negative or oppressive thoughts by mentally repeating simple positive phrases as we walk. I find that when my battle to continue walking is mental because my heart is heavy or my mind is worried, inspirational phrases from hymns or scripture work best to encourage me. One favorite is, “Jesus lead me all the way.” When the battle seems more physical, I resort to simple physical suggestions. I recite “In, one, two, three, out, one, two, three” to focus on breathing, or “left, right, step light, left right, feels right to focus on my actual steps.

Another lesson I have learned on my walks, is that not all clutter is negative per se’, but it can still be clutter. At risk of totally losing you, here’s a sample of my cluttered mind space:

“I can’t believe how good I feel. I wonder what my time will be today. I will make an extra pass around the recycling bins to increase it. I really should teach Sam about recycling. He would have so much fun looking for number 2’s on all our plastic containers. Speaking of which, I need buy some more plastic shoe boxes for storing my silk threads. I love that silk thread. I believe this skyline is Silk N Colors, winter sky. I think I could paint that. I wonder how Will is doing this morning? Now there’s an artist. He’s going to illustrate my new children’s book. Oh, yes, today is library day. I hope Gayle is there, I have been wanting to invite Micah over to play with Stephen……..”

You get the idea! Now play an upbeat Christian song in the background, and marvel at every single bird or other evidence of wildlife that that crosses your path, and you might have an inkling of how scatterbrained I can be, and it is a fast-paced scatter brained, not a rambling meander kind of scatter-brained. Many times people have told me that just reading a newsy email from me makes them feel exhausted. My mother has told me that it will actually make her breathless trying to follow my conversation in person. Kortge is teaching me that the key to successful walking for me is to clear my head and slow this 90 mile an hour brain down to the essentials.

I experienced unexpected joy today on my walk by changing my course to walking the country road away from my house. I was dramatically reminded of the benefits of living out in the country. I have always been awed by nature. Walking in the center of it with trees overhanging my path and not a single car to disturb my peace was indescribable. I walked 33 minutes.