My wife and I like to take daily walks together during the afternoon. It is our unofficial siesta and instead of napping, we get reinvigorated by walking and talking.
Most of our discussions revolve around our daughter and the business we run together. We also manage to talk about how grateful we are. The gratitude goes beyond our health and the lives we have been blessed with but also for the time that we get to walk around our neighborhood. You see, we take the same route every day we walk. Rain or shine we make every attempt to get out and walk and on average we get about five days a week.
This commitment to our mental and physical health has benefited us in many ways. It stimulates conversations around all sorts of topics we deal with in our daily lives. This includes our challenges as well as our collective great accomplishments. We talk about how our teenage daughter is doing socially, school, and e-learning, as well as how she is adjusting to her world around her.
We also talk about our work, which is a quantum physics-based approach to life. Things like gratitude, observation, judgment, and creation. You see, we created the lives we wanted. My wife and I have been walking and talking for over 20 years now. Even when we worked for other people/companies, we made time for our walks because we wanted that time together. The benefits are great but it was knowing that has persevered all these years. Knowing, for us is simply that we enjoy walking and talking together. We came to the place to have fun and enjoyment and every day we spend together is a gift. We don't want to take our time together for granted. It is truly a pleasure for us to gear up in cold weather and it is fun to just wear a pair of shorts and a tee-shirt in the warm summer days. We get to see all four seasons come and go. The beauty is staggering.
This leads me to another unexpected gift. The gift of having others benefit and appreciate us for our activity. For example, over the years we have people who drive to and from places daily around the time Lisa and I go for our walks. Those people will usually beep their horns at us and wave.
One person works for our local school district and he always beeps and waves at us. We have never met him personally but he is like an old friend. Another is the local mailman who runs the route we walk. For years he always stopped his truck and would come out and hug us and say hello. He recently retired and moved to Florida to retire.
Certain neighbors work from home and have seen us these past 15 years and they too come outside to say hi or wave as they walk their dogs. One neighbor stopped us a few years back to say hello and told us she works out of the house in her second-floor office and has seen us for over 12 years. She said, I just wanted to let you know I really appreciate seeing you and love that you two are always together.
Over this past summer, one neighbor, in particular, stopped us during one of our summer walks and said hi. We have seen her in the past but never spoke. She wanted to let Lisa and I know that she sees us from her kitchen window almost every day and that she and another neighbor talk on the phone about the couple that walks together. One of the topics they bring up is a question, are they talking again? Apparently, she and the other neighbor are shocked that we speak to each other all the time. They love that we are always engaged in a conversation or laughing about something the other person said. This gives both of these neighbors a thrill and according to this woman, they love that feeling.
As our conversation went on the women's family came out and she introduced us to them. She also had a large garden and asked if we'd like some fresh vegetables and hot peppers. We happily said yes.
As we left and said our goodbye's I was struck by the kindness and generosity of our new friend. I was also aware for the first time what kind of an impact Lisa and I have on people we've never met before. The feelings we can envoke without our knowledge or intent.
I share this with you the reader, not as just for the love and joy I receive from others and the energetic wakeup I get from being with my wife, but for the joy you can share by doing what you know you want to do.
The energy you create by doing something you truly know feels good has far-reaching effects. This radiating energy is fun to create and fun to share, whether you are aware of its power or not.