Long Walks On Leafy Streets

2/11/2014 Rock creek Park, Washington, DC
It is a beautiful sunny day here in NW Washington, DC. Although it is quite cold, in the upper twenties for the most part, the sunshine is always uplifting. I went for a run on my usual route. This time I left my watch at home because I just wanted to enjoy the run and not worry about how fast I was going. I have been trying to simply enjoy the scenery on my walks as well.
Running and walking can be very mindful activities. Of the two running actually requires more mindfulness. In a way it is very similar to meditation. Your body and mind are constantly telling you to slow down or complaining about a bunch of things, especially if you are tired or hungry to begin with. But by focusing on maintaining a good rhythm in breathing you can calm the mind down. It is even better if you can just enjoy the scenery instead of letting your thoughts wander around.
Nevertheless sometimes I also enjoy thinking about things on my walks.
When I walk to work I often think about what I am going to teach, or a number theory problem that I have been working on. I also chew on questions that I have been preoccupied with, both at home and elsewhere. Often I am able to clear up my thoughts about something on these walks. In this way walking to work is a lot more productive and healthy than driving or even taking the bus. In addition to being outdoors, enjoying nature and getting fresh air and exercise, I am also getting valuable thinking and planning time.
On one of the days last week while walking to work I started wondering about people I used to know and have completely lost contact with. People from my childhood, youth and even my thirties. The memories are slowly fading into the distance. I wondered what happened to them, and the nature of memory itself. Are our actions and the memories they create permanent objects? Would we be able to go back to them in the future or recreate them somehow? Or is it the case that once we are separated by time and space they don't exist anymore, and are lost forever? For if there is no contact, then as far as I am concerned they don’t even exist!
During the past few weeks I have also been thinking a lot about the fragile nature of life, often feeling melancholic about it. One of my cousins died last week of colon cancer. He was only 57 and left behind a very distraught wife and 11-year-old daughter whom he adored. I also sometimes felt despondent about the things I have not achieved in life.
At times like this it helps to have a deeper perspective about life. It helps to be reminded of the Dalai Lama’s words about the world needing more lovers and healers, not just successful people. When you are faced with the ephemeral nature of your existence, whether it is through a death of someone in the family or passing by a funeral at a church on the way to work, it really breaks the illusions of your ego and lets you reach to the depths of your consciousness. It causes one to let go of one’s thoughts and ambitions, and take time to simply wonder at the preciousness of every moment of life and every person and animal and plant that there is and marvel at the beauty of nature.
This past week I had some opportunities to do that. I got to enjoy the sight of the snow covering a sheet of ice on the lake. Nicole and I enjoyed watching the waters of the Potomac rushing through a gorge at Great Falls. We saw potholes bored in waters by swirling waters through millions of years looking almost like a gigantic drill went through them. We saw layers of ice packed on the side of the cliffs like cement on the side of a wall. We enjoyed driving on Clara Barton parkway, with the river and canal on one side and a wooded cliffside on the other, while snowflakes fluttered in the air in front of us in the quiet afternoon.

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