Learning the walk

“Our culture invariably supposes that action and accomplishment is better than rest, that doing something–anything–is better than doing nothing. Because of our desire to succeed, to meet these ever-growing expectations, we do not rest. Because we do not rest, we lose our way. We miss the compass points that would show us where to go, we bypass the nourishment that would give us succor. We miss the quiet that would give us wisdom. We miss the joy and love born of effortless delight. Poisoned by this hypnotic belief that good things come only through unceasing determination and tireless effort, we can never truly rest. And for want of rest, our lives are in danger.”

From Sabbath: Finding Rest, Renewal, and Delight in Our Busy Lives, via.

Today i took 3 walks, 2 short strolls, and just now, a wonderful 30 minutes walk. This might sound ordinary, but walking is nothing ordinary when you had to stop doing it, and hardly re-learned this simple gesture.

I hurted my knee during our last holiday, and today, almost 4 weeks later, i was able to walk freely and safely again. Walking feels magical — such a basic and grounding movement — allowing us so much freedom.

After watching (and learning to keep faith in) the process involved in healing my knee, i feel more confident in my body’s ability to heal himself — maybe this step was needed on my way to heal my back pain.

These last 4 weeks, confined home and unable to walk, were spent reading the memoirs of Gertrude Stein and Simone de Beauvoir. I could not think of a better place to be reading these books: in our flat, on the 6th floor of the rue Froidevaux, with a beautiful sky view over the Montparnasse cemetery and one of Simone de Beauvoir’s appartement.

In my despair and frustration, i felt grateful to have found these books at this moment of my life, for the universe to allow me another way to freely travel trough this city, it’s history and it’s great spirits.

It is a pure synchronicity that we found ourselves here, we had no idea about this area of Paris, and it’s history, before moving in. Back in march when we arrived, walking boulevard Raspail was nothing exotic, but then, after reading these 2 memoirs, my walk on Raspail today took a completely new twist: my view of this boulevard, the people who have lived here (SDB, Picasso, ..), the historical events that have taken place, it’s bars and coffees that hosted and inspired so many — all this scenery is totally taking me, and talking to me.