Freud's process of psychoanalysis has been called "the talking cure." I noted, back in 2013, that a kind of "walking cure" seemed to help me to recover from a badly wrenched back. 
A week or so ago, walking around my own home town (Santa Cruz, California) on a Sunday, I suddenly had a flashback to my periodic and very purposeful "walk abouts" during my electioneering days. During the period between 1974 and 1994, I ran for a position on the Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors five different times. "Precinct walking" was one of the major facets of each one of those campaigns.
I learned to love to go, by foot, into the various neighborhoods of the city, which let me see how people lived, up close and personal. Plus, you both "walk" and "talk" when you venture out to do "precincting." The more I think about it, the more I think that this kind of person-to-person, and home-to-home visitation is just the right way to cure our currently dysfunctional politics. It's definitely worth a try!
Image Credits:
Gary Patton - Personal Photographs
Walking is a "cure" for most all the ills of humans, individually and collectively.
ReplyDeleteWalking through our neighborhoods puts us in touch with our neighbors in a way impossible cooped up in an automobile or even on a bicycle. We see things we don't otherwise see, talk to neighbors we would otherwise not encounter, smile and say hello to everyone we meet on the sidewalk.
Daily walking is the best form of exercise, simple, requiring no paraphernalia or costume, good for the eyes, good for the heart, good for the mind.
Walking is a democratic exercise.
Amen!
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