| > | | | | can swing your arms to raise your heartrate. |
| Walking with Gratitude | | | | You will find that your legs have to move as |
| Joyce Moseley Pierce | | | | fastas your arms. Even if you’re |
| During this season of gratitude and thanksgiving, | | | | uncoordinated, it isimpossible for your legs not to |
| I wanted to write about something we do every | | | | follow your arms. |
| daywith very little thought. Something | | | | Try it. |
| we’ve beendoing since we were very | | | | 4.Peace of mind — You’ve heard of |
| small. Most of us didit before we even talked. | | | | the fight orflight response? When I am |
| I’m talking aboutwalking. | | | | upset or when I havethings to work out in my |
| The way I see it, there are basically four | | | | mind, I go for a walk. |
| reasonswe walk | | | | I may start out stomping as I try to |
| 1.Travel — To get from one place to | | | | releaseanger, but by the time I get back home, I |
| another. | | | | haveworked through it and my mind has been |
| We don’t even think about getting up each | | | | clearedso that I can think rationally. Instead of |
| morningand walking from our bed to the | | | | sittingin a chair stewing about a problem, or |
| bathroom, but Iwatched my elderly grandmother | | | | gettinginto a fight with someone, walking can be |
| as an invalid formany years and gained an | | | | great therapy,and you may be able to find a |
| appreciation for my abilityto get up and go | | | | rational way to resolvethe problem. |
| wherever I wanted without help fromanyone else. | | | | I suppose walking is one of those things |
| 2.Pleasure — I remember taking walks with | | | | I’m especiallygrateful for because when I |
| mygrandfather and my dad as a child, and | | | | was a year old my motherrealized I |
| thattradition has continued with my own | | | | wasn’t walking properly. It lookedlike one |
| grandkids. | | | | leg was longer than the other, but the |
| When the grandkids come to visit, they love | | | | actualproblem was that the leg hadn’t |
| towalk down to the lake in our neighborhood to | | | | joined the hip properly. |
| feedthe ducks. Part of the enjoyment, I believe,is | | | | After tearfully pleading with other family |
| just being away from everyone else. We walk,we | | | | members whowanted to deny there was |
| talk, and we just enjoy one | | | | anything wrong with theirlittle girl, she made an |
| another’scompany. When I was in Las | | | | appointment with an orthopedicsurgeon and I was |
| Vegas for thebirth of a new granddaughter, I | | | | put in a body cast that went from undermy arms |
| walked the othertwo kids to school one day. My | | | | to my knees. I spent the next year in thatcast. I |
| granddaughter, | | | | probably weighed as much as my mother did |
| Olivia, who was 5 at the time, stopped other | | | | withthat plaster cast. As an adult, my aunts and |
| kidsalong the way to say, My grandma is | | | | uncles toldme about how horrified they had been |
| walking meto school. She was so proud, and I | | | | when they saw |
| am so thankfulto have the health to be able to | | | | "the horrible cast" and feared it would keep me |
| walk with her. | | | | from doingthings other one year-olds did. They |
| 3.Exercise — Walking is one of the best | | | | told of their joywhen they saw that I not only |
| ways toexercise. You can walk at the pace you | | | | learned to walk, but run andclimb in spite of the |
| need toreach the desired heart rate. All you need | | | | challenges I had. |
| is apair of good walking shoes. No clubs to join. | | | | Probably the most valuable lesson from that |
| No classes to attend. You can walk during theday | | | | experiencewas that I learned that with |
| or at night. Inside or out. In the mall oron a | | | | encouragement, I could notonly walk, but I was |
| treadmill. If you need more of a challenge,you can | | | | given the confidence to believethat I could do |
| carry a backpack with additional weight,or you | | | | anything. |