“Moreover, you must walk like a camel, which is said to be the only beast which ruminates when walking.”
— Henry David Thoreau, 1861
Is something bothering you?
Maybe it’s job-related. Or a personal relationship. Perhaps you’re struggling with a problem that needs your attention.
We have known this for decades: we think better when we walk.
The Latin phrase solvitur ambulando makes it clear: “It is solved by walking.”
Whether because we distract ourselves and let our minds wander or simply find inspiration from the things around us, there is a link between great thinking and obsessive walking.
“It is the best of humanity, I think, that goes out to walk. In happy hours all affairs may be wisely postponed for this. Dr. Johnson said, ‘Few men know how to take a walk,’ and it is pretty certain that Dr. Johnson was not one of those few. It is a fine art; there are degrees of proficiency, and we distinguish the professors from the apprentices. The qualifications are endurance, plain clothes, old shoes, an eye for nature, good-humor, vast curiosity, good speech, good silence, and nothing too much. Good observers have the manners of trees and animals, and if they add words, it is only when words are better than silence. But a vain talker profanes the river and the forest, and is nothing like so good company as a dog.”
— Ralph Waldo Emerson, 1857
Beethoven found inspiration in his walks. So did other historical figures.
For many, a regular daily walk was essential to brain functioning.
Soren Kierkegaard found his constitutionals so inspiring that he would often rush back to his desk and resume writing, still wearing his hat and carrying his walking stick or umbrella.
Charles Dickens famously took three-hour walks every afternoon — and what he observed on them fed directly into his writing.
Tchaikovsky made do with a two-hour walk, but wouldn’t return a moment early, convinced that cheating himself of the full 120 minutes would make him ill.
Erik Satie took lengthy strolls after lunch, carrying a pencil and paper with him in case inspiration struck during his long strolls from Paris to the working class suburb where he lived, stopping under streetlamps to jot down notions that arose on his journey; it’s rumored that when those lamps were turned off during the war years, his productivity declined too.
Close that laptop. Stow your phone. Put on some shoes and go outside.
You might be surprised at what you discover.
There’s so much to learn,
Scott, this so hits home. I took to walking in the woods during COVID. My wife calls it "forest bathing." Gurcharan Das, when embarking on the spiritual journey that would result in his masterwork, "The Difficulty of Being Good," was told by his mother that he was entering "vanaprastha," or "one who goes to the forest." Those long walks helped me put together so many explorations, most recently the work on fraud and ethics. Walking is good for the soul. We are meant to walk - it's in our biological heritage from the most ancient times.