123. Why I Stopped Wearing Headphones on My Walks

These past couple of days, I have been taking my dog, Frank, out for walks. It had been a while since I had done that. Ever since the injury almost 6 months ago, followed by the surgery, walks weren’t a part of my days. Now that I have recently gotten that ability back, I have been enjoying this time.

I did take him out for walks before I got injured. However, that would only be possible when I could find a small window between meetings and my sedentary hours.

There is a stark difference between the pre and post injury walks.

Earlier, I didn’t pay attention towards the road very much. I’d have my headphones on, listening to music or a podcast on the days I was feeling particularly productive. I’d get annoyed when Frank would tug on the leash because he found something interesting he wanted to sniff. I’d tug back, eventually giving up to let the kid do what he wanted.

Nowadays, I’m obviously slower. I’m more attentive to the road. I consciously sidestep uneven surfaces. Most importantly, I now let Frank take his time. I’m not tugging on the leash anymore. The movement is smoother, more intentional. And the results for me, are priceless.

“If you are not in alignment with the moment, life is a struggle. Really, all you have to do is take responsibility for your inner alignment with now.”

— Eckhart Tolle

I can feel Frank’s happiness while walking. I take him out right after he wakes up, so he enjoys the sunlight a little with his eyes squinting, getting used to the brightness. I feel better, because I get some time not having to think about routine problems. The improvement in blood circulation is a big plus also.

After the walks, I’ve seen Frank be completely rested. He lies down, and takes his post walk nap. That, to me, looks like the way walks are supposed to be done.

I guess it was the silence of not having my headphones, or the slow pace during the walks, which caused me to be reflective. And this reflection, brought an interesting insight to light.

There are things we are supposed to be doing. Then, there are things that we want to do.

Our likelihood of success in any pillar of life increases drastically when what we want to do finally aligns with what we are supposed to do.

Frank is supposed to get slower walks, more time outside and freedom to explore the vicinity he walks in. I wanted, rather needed, slower walks & outdoors time. This happy coincidence and alignment has led to positive outcomes for me.

This looks like a fairly insignificant notion in this context. Extrapolating this to bigger contexts, however, still holds true.

Any pillar of our lives where we are looking for success, we can easily apply this notion.

This could have a couple of interpretations.

One, is that we should automatically start liking everything we are supposed to be doing. If we want to get healthy, we should start liking working out for hours, eating exclusively healthy food, sleeping and waking up on time. If you’re like that, nothing better than that.

Most of us are not like that. Brute forcing your way through life works very well for some of us. Most of us are usually looking for simpler ways, middle ground to a desired outcome.

To me, that middle ground can be found by identifying small things, which we can fit into our current lifestyles.

Instead of exclusively eating healthy food, we could choose healthy food 51% of the time. Instead of sleeping 9 hours everyday, we could consider maintaining a weekly average of 7 hours. Instead of working out for hours on end, we could start with slow walks with your pet. Seeing those squinting eyes is just an added advantage.