Walking at night is one of my favorite activities for thinking things through, going deeper, and seeing the bigger picture. So many insights have happened for me while walking after dark.
Walking around cities, neighborhoods, and parks are all good.
The very best? Forest or country roads!
Several things happen in the night. Our eyes change and our navigation shifts from mostly eye-based, to being guided by feet and senses.
Forest trails or dark roads? There is often a sense of a path of light up above, where there is a bit of natural break in the canopy, or a better view of stars. One can feel through the feet, the distinct shape of a trail, worn by many steps, or the more even ground.
The ears open. Critters are more active. Fascinating, sometimes mysterious sounds, abound.
And whoever walks through the forest trail first in the summer time may also be who clears the spider webs with their face!
Walking in the city means there are generally fewer people around. The dogs are mostly indoors. And the later it is, the more that the humans are sound asleep. I consider all the thinking, focusing, eyes glued to blue screens, intimate conversations, and creative inspirations, that might be going on in the homes and in the state of people, in the bars and clubs.
You get the picture. Way less psychic clutter.
My nightwalking career started on Cortes Island in my mid 20s. No street lights. Gurgling brooks. The owls. I was famous for grabbing someone and “want to go for a night walk?”
Then to Nashville. I was already enamored of walking in the night in a remote rural area, up trails to viewpoints, and down to the ocean sounds. Ambling through the city was a whole next dimension.
My best buddy Mark, now a highly successful provider of homes, neighborhoods, and community in Nashville, loved this activity too. He’d been a marine biologist and an outdoor man of adventure. He was a natural. This talent of Mark’s, made us deep, close friends.
We schemed visions that turned into career accomplishments, civic contributions, astonishing outcomes, satisfying self examinations, and remarkable insights. We embedded permanently in each other and together, our views, methods, styles, and this personal development practice thrived.
We seeded business, politics, fun, satisfaction, love, and we were each other’s personal coaches, sharing all the most intimate parts of our lives, inner and outer. This being the fluid and fuel, of both of our advancing maturity.
So find a pal. Walk at night!
You’ll be amazed by what transpires.