Sunday, June 08, 2014

Walking at Daybreak

Starting in June, I begin my morning walks at 5 am.  I walk 4 miles in the morning.  Today, for example, the morning temperature was 69F; the expected temperature at 4 pm today will be 106F.  I want to walk during the coolest time of the day.  Also, the flies and mosquitoes are less bothersome in the early morning.  

I wear lightweight long pants, a light white long sleeve T shirt, a light white cap, New Balance 423 cross training shoes, socks, and, of course, my earphones and a Sony Walkman MP3 player.  Today, I listened to the Mendelssohn string quartets No. 1 and 2, and Kitaro's Mt. Kukai, No. 2.  

It was a beautiful and energizing early morning walk.  Delightful.  







"An early morning walk is a blessing for the whole day."
-   Henry David Thoreau


"There is an intense but simple thrill in setting off in the morning on a mountain trail, knowing that everything you need is on your back. It is a confidence in having left the inessentials behind and of entering a world of natural beauty that has not been violated, where money has no value, and possessions are a dead weight. The person with the fewest possessions is the freest. Thoreau was right."
-   Paul Theroux, The Happy Isles of Oceania



"Who will tell whether one happy moment of love or the joy of breathing or walking on a bright morning and smelling the fresh air, is not worth all the suffering and effort which life implies."
-   Eric Fromme



"And I walked, I walked through the light air;
I moved with the morning."
-  Theodore Roethke, A Field of Light



"To find the universal elements enough; to find the air and the water exhilarating; to be refreshed by a morning walk or an evening saunter; to be thrilled by the stars at night; to be elated over a bird’s nest or a wildflower in spring — these are some of the rewards of the simple life."
–   John Burroughs 



"Take a two-mile walk every morning before breakfast."
-   Harry Truman (Advice on how to live to be 80.)



"The morning woods were utterly new.  A strong yellow light pooled beneath the trees; my shadow appeared and vanished on the path, since a third of the trees I walked under were still bare, a third spread a luminous haze wherever they grew, and another third blocked the sun with new, whole leaves.  The snakes were out - I saw a bright, smashed one on the path - and the butterflies were vaulting and furling about; the phlox was at its peak, and even the evergreens looked greener, newly created and washed."
-  Annie Dillar, Pilgrim at Tinker Creek


"In the morning a man walks with his whole body; in the evening, only with his legs."
-   Ralph Waldo Emerson



 


 The Ways of Walking: Quotations, Facts, Methods, Spirituality, Meditative



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