Listening To Thoughts

 

I went for one of my frequent walks the other day (not daily, but frequent nonetheless) and decided to not put in my earphones to listen to audio books or podcasts, but instead, just let my mind wander. I used to do this all the time (allow mind wandering while walking) during the early years of COVID (are we talking years now and not months). But in the past year or so, I got into the habit of listening to podcasts while I walked, and then I found audio books. And the rest, as they say, is history.

But the other day, I walked like a freak – with nothing plugged into my ears! Imagine. And wow, I realized I missed listening to my own thoughts. I listen to my thoughts all the time, while doing chores etc. But internal thoughts take a different shape when you’re out walking, especially in nature. I don’t know why that is, but it is.

I remember walking the Portuguese Camino with nothing except my thoughts for company. That was in 2015, and while I had a smart phone (although no roaming service), my relationship with headphones had not begun. I’m not sure I even owned a pair back then, although maybe my phone came with some, I don’t remember. The only time I plugged things into my ears was while on an airplane.

So this past week, I reacquainted myself with listening to my thoughts while I walked. I can’t say I came up with any great revelations or insights, or even any tiny ones. But I enjoyed listening to myself think. I thought about how I’d walked those paths and trails hundreds of times, knew every turn and pond. And while it was delightful to spot ducks in the ponds, the sighting of a heron was much more thrilling. The ducks were becoming ordinary, the heron more uncommon. 

And this carries through into other areas of our daily lives. We grow so accustomed to the ordinary, daily sights (and people too), that we don’t appreciate what is right before us. But when something new or rare comes along – wow, it stops us in our tracks. But it is no more beautiful or pleasing to the senses, than the ordinary duck. It’s part of our human nature, to become jaded with the commonplace, to see only the surface level. And that too is why we need to shake ourselves from our comfort zones every now and then, to allow our eyes to see anew.

And I believe that is why I travel (although it’s coming up on a year now for me). I’m not after new experiences just for the sake of new experiences. I want experiences that mean something to me, speak to me in some way, tug at my senses, my soul, my inner compass. But we need not travel far to shift our perspectives. We can simply remove our headphones and head out onto a trail.