Hello Habituders! This is the last week of our walking habitude. I hope you all feel more energized and limber after this month of tending to self care. To send us into our last week of walking we have a guest post from miss Claire at Small Craft Advisory. Claire is one of those impossibly beautiful women who positively Radiate. She writes cunningly of the importance of the ask, hamster grief, and the wonderwoman power of wearing these. Why not go see what she has in her treehouse after you enjoy her words here.
I live in an older neighborhood, with tree lined streets, cracked sidewalks, and small bungalows built close to one encouraging tolerance and neighborliness. The streets radiate out from a city center, recently renovated but always having contained the basics; grocery stores, library, a handful of shops like Plaza Art and Manny & Olga’s Pizzeria and plentiful playgrounds. It is what I like to call my Urban Mayberry. Its a place where I can walk to all the necessities of life…food, books, art supplies and monkey bars. And this is the terrain of my daily Habitude walks.
Some days I walk with my kids—my ‘tween son racing impatiently ahead on his skateboard, younger daughter more cautiously at my side. Other days I’m out with just my dog who sniffs and pulls at the end of his leash. And sometimes I walk by myself. But always, always, I am on the lookout for found treasures.
I am a collector of small things. I never outgrew the love of a handful of little items in my pocket—stones and buttons and empty thread spools and interesting bits of metal. Even my art reflects this: collage, mixed media and knitting with all its notions and tiny implements and accoutrement. Whenever I am walking, I scan the ground for these little items. Amidst the cigarette ends, the crumpled paper bags, and beer cans crushed flat as leaves, I find things. I like to think of them as messages from the Universe, scattered behind like clues as carefully and deliberately as Hansel & Gretel’s breadcrumbs in the forest.
There are other things I lose and find, of course, on my walks. I lose the same notes and pins and coins as everyone else. I lose the stressed out way I pinball around my house in a storm of chores and errands. I step out onto the porch which faces the street and the hydrangea bushes. I feel myself soften and slow.
When I face the world placing one foot in front of the other, this 2 mile an hour pace offers a wealth of reflection and inspiration. I find my breath—that calming rhythm that matches my stride. I find my thoughts clear and uncluttered—“I think I’ll bake cornbread for dinner”, “the dog needs grooming”, “I miss my grandmother’s hands and her gold bracelets chiming”.
And so I offer this collage I have made containing the things I have found on my Habitude walks so far this month, along with the treasures of peace and breath and thought.
Entries
