Over the past few years, I have grown to like blogging. I collect ideas and images, think about what may interest my readers, and jot my thoughts down – sometimes, I can even read my writing! Recently, I was asked if I accept Guest Bloggers on my site. I have mulled this over, and I have decided that the idea is good. Because bringing in other voices and hearing different stories is what we need now – we are all living more reclusively, and we cannot mix with people as we once could. So I will be selecting writers and bringing you their voices over the next few months. I have already persuaded the Devon-based writer and composer Sam Richards to write about Gustav Holst’s daughter Imogen. A further piece from Sam about the sounds of nature is also in the offing. As artists and writers, it’s a time to pull together and share our work as much as we can.
I was asked to review a book last week for the author, Paul Evers. His book, “Tree Medicine: A Guide to Understanding Trees and Forests as Natural Pharmacies”, will be out next year. I think Paul’s book is very timely and will become a book of vital importance. Paul lives in Fiji, so maybe he will also agree to be one of my guest bloggers in 2022 – I will certainly be asking if he would like to take part.
I only opened up my blog to guest bloggers last week. And I am delighted to bring you my first Guest Blogger – Sabrina Balin, Sabrina was born in Italy, but she now lives in Austria and she is one of my readers, which I wasn’t expecting.
I love what Sabrina has written for me; I love her honesty and the way she shows us that we are constantly changing and growing and that we like different and perhaps simpler things as we grow older. She teaches us that embracing that idea is very rewarding.
I hope that you enjoy Sabrina’s blog as much as I do.
Is Walking Boring? Written by Sabrina Balin.
For almost all of my life, walking has been a meaningless word for me. I have always considered that walking is boring, and I never felt that it could be an activity that could improve my health.
Why should I take a walk? For what purpose? And to see what exactly?
When I was a young woman and I was wandering in a group with friends, I did not feel any joy or happiness during those minutes or hours spent moving my feet forwards.
But when I moved to Austria twenty years ago, something started to change in my mind. My house was some kilometres away from the town. I was surrounded by woods, hills and fields. I also had a dog, which was a very new experience for me. Plus, I had that precious commodity – TIME - because I was not working anymore. As a mother and now a dog owner, I was forced to spend more time in nature. At first, I started to explore the neighbourhood only when I needed branches, leaves or fir cones to decorate my house. Then, I discovered a kind of pleasure walking alone with my dog in a lonely wood. The silence, the trees, the different atmospheres that are created by the changes in the weather – fog, snow, sunlight – they began to give me a peaceful feeling. New aspects of nature were revealing themselves to me. Although walking was not yet a routine in my daily life, I stopped considering it as uninteresting and tedious.
For many years, while the children were small, walking was always like the poor relation to our other outdoor activities: we went skiing, swimming, bobsleighing, biking, or we had real walks only in cities; because when we visited a new city, we always wanted to learn about the monuments, churches and museums. Then I could walk until my feet were about to go on strike without any complaint!
More recently, I have completely changed my view of walking. I am now alone at home with my husband. My children are grown up, and they are living independently. So, as a couple, we have begun to look for things that we can do together, something gentler perhaps to suit our age and fitness levels. We have found that taking long walks together, talking about different topics, or just remaining silent in front of the beauty of nature, feeling cold or hot, walking in the early morning or the evening has become a big part of our lives.
Walking is not boring anymore. On the contrary, it is engaging and sometimes enthralling.
Moreover, when I am sad, depressed or angry, I can go out for just thirty minutes or so on my own, and when I come back, I always feel a kind of relief. I have observed that nature can absorb my negative emotions.
In the last ten years, I have taken myself on a new interior journey, starting from practising yoga, then treating myself with alternative medicines, meditating, reading philosophical books, and seeing human beings as part of the complex system of nature.
All these things help me to appreciate walking more and more. As part of this new way to look at the world, I read Amelia’s book “Walking into Alchemy" and I found a new perspective. The book offered me a new consciousness. I have learned that I can discover unexpected precious little gifts every day. I am trying to reduce my bad attitude to have big expectations from my life and take joy from the small yet beautiful experiences that I can have in the place where I live.
From Amelia’s book, I have learnt to be constant. Or at least I’m trying! Amelia walked the same walk every week for a year and never gave up. I probably won’t even walk for a week if I follow my instinct. But I know that constancy is helpful, especially when one sets oneself a final aim. I have one, and now I need the perseverance to reach my goal. So my plan for December and January is to walk up to the Castle in Griffen, which I can see from my house, every day no matter how terrible the weather is! Wish me luck!
Walking is becoming a significant factor in my life. It gives power and energy to my body, vivid and clean thoughts to my mind, and peace and serenity to my soul.
Sabrina Balin is Italian by birth, but she now lives in Austria. Sabrina teaches Italian; she is also the most fabulous cook – you can even take part in one of her special courses – where you can learn to cook beautiful Italian dishes and learn Italian at the same time!
Please see her website for more details.
My book “Walking into Alchemy” is just two years old today and the German edition – “Alchemie des Gehens” is a month old. I hope that the book in both English and German will continue to be read even when it’s as old as me because walking is not going out of fashion - I think it is here to stay, don’t you?
If you want to sharpen your skills and write a blog for me, please visit www.ameliamarriette.com/guestblogger
If English is not your native language, I am happy to help you and edit your piece for you; as well as being a writer, I am an English Trainer affiliated with the Sprach Institute Sprich Dich Frei in Wolfsberg, Austria.
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