Go Take a Walk

Some thoughts on walking for creative inspiration

Photo by Zack Minor on Unsplash

My friend

Sarina Bowen

shared with me an article from the New York Times The Athletic newsletter, which is about a major league baseball manager and the brain-changing power of taking a walk.

This felt like a perfect topic for today. It’s a national holiday and I am feeling so out of sorts about our nation right now. We’re all taking the day off to celebrate an independence that feels imperiled, and it all just feels kind of fraught.

I will be going on a walk today. I go on a walk almost every day. I walk by the giant oak tree in the neighborhood next to mine and right now I walk under the purple flowers of the jacaranda tress. I walk up the foothills to see the avocado groves and an ocean view, and I walk down by the ocean with my toes in the sand and the sound of waves in my ears.

I love to walk, either alone or with a friend. I never listen to music. I either talk with someone in person or on the phone, listen to a podcast, or walk in silence. It always clears my brain and leaves me grounded.

So I don’t need to be convinced about the benefits of walking. But this article gave some fascinating context useful for writers and those who guide them.

My favorite take-aways.

• Walking was found to be ideal for divergent thinking — idea generation, daydreaming, making narrative connections. “It helps us conceive narrative and make sense of the world.” This sounds exactly like writing.

• A person’s number of steps five minutes before doing a creative task was associated with an increase in the originality of their verbal ideas.

  “If a person was walking more,” said Christian Rominger, the creativity researcher and lead author on the study, “they were more creative.”

• “For those who do it daily, walking is more than exercise. It is a time machine to the past, a window to our possible futures, a tool to sharpen our thoughts and ideas, our hopes and desires.”

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