Excerpt from 'Mindful Walks to be in the present moment' by Alison Laycock
Here is some of the journal part of my book on Mindful Walks ‘Mindful Walks to be in the present moment’. As an e-book, there is no opportunity to add your notes in the book itself, however I have included some questions to prompt the reader to have thoughts around their walks. If this is helpful for you to consider for your walks then I encourage you to find your own way of using these questions if you wish to. Some may like to record their notes on their phone as a voice recording or typed up in a notes section whilst for others the pen and notebook is their preferred way. Your choice of technique is completely that, your choice as you will know what works best for you and if you don’t wish to make notes then that is ok too.
Journal your walks
These are general ideas for walks and then there is also a section for walk specific opportunities for journaling.
1) How often do you walk?
2) What do you enjoy about walking?
3) Do you prefer to walk alone or with someone else? Why?
4) Who is your favourite person to walk with and why?
5) When and where was the last walk you did together?
6) Why was it special?
7) What’s your favourite walk so far and why?
8) If you could choose to walk anywhere in the world, where would you go?
9) Who would you like to take a walk with if you could choose anyone in the world? What would you like to discuss as you walked?
10) What benefits do you see from walking?
During your walks there may be ideas, thoughts and feelings which arise which are all completely natural and also added to by the walking process. You may wish to take a break during the walk or at some point after the walk to:
Write down any thoughts or feelings that arise
A story, poem or song or part of it may come through to you and you may wish to record it somehow so you don’t lose it
You may have some important intuitive thoughts or ideas as you walk along which is often helped by the fact that you have let go of labels normally attached to yourself, you are walking through issues and hopefully also paying attention to the moment which provides space from any issues you are troubled with in your daily life or have future concerns about.
You may wish to draw a flower, scene or an idea which comes to mind
If you have taken photos along your walk then is there something you will do with them? Will you write a poem about it? Send a photo to a loved one? Maybe create a photo collage and frame it or frame individual photos which mean something to you.
What is your intention for this walk? Why? What do you want to think about, achieve or find the answer to?
What do you want more of in your future walks?
Are you different in any way after your walk?
