The Slow Walk

Everyday Wonder #2 - A reflection on the joy of aimless wandering

Everyday Wonder is a new series that will wind through A Life of Wonder, a glimpse of the small moments of wonder I find in everyday life.

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The treasures found when you slow down.

The air at home was heavy. It had been a morning when no one's emotions had been particularly regulated, myself included, and we needed a change. Sometimes it can be so hard to shift the energy when you are still in the same place. We needed time to reset, as did our home. So I packed up the boys and we headed out of the gate, stopping at a store to buy dried fruit snacks, then drove up a hill and down into the bamboo valley.

A few months ago we discovered this place, a lovely trodden walkway through a largely bamboo forest and it’s becoming a favourite. It’s peaceful there and the bamboo and trees generously offer a shade that is rarely found closer to town or the ocean. Earlier in the week we had taken friends there and watched four boys speed along the tracks, climb agilely through the giant clumps of bamboo, and search for the perfect weapon among the fallen branches.

This day was different, it was just me and the two boys, and all of us were exhausted in our own ways. We walked only 50 meters from where we parked the bike, discovering the dry riverbed would make the perfect place for a picnic. As we shook out sarongs and placed them over the earth littered with dry leaves, a calm started to settle over us. Over the next hour, we gently explored. We lay sprawled on our backs looking up through the towering branches of the bamboo, listening to the creaks and groans as it grew right before our eyes. Sonny sat on a rock on the edge of the riverbed staring at the bank for about five minutes before calling us over to proudly announce he had found a spider cave. Under the exposed tree roots was indeed a nest of hundreds of black spiders hiding in their eroded earth cave. We walked up and down the riverbed, eyes on the lookout for interesting things to show each other, listening to Sylver’s stories of the monsters that were secretly watching us. We munched on our picnic of dried papaya, apricots and cranberries, and slowly our tight bodies and minds started to unfurl, the cocoon of nature working its magic upon us.

After a time we decided it was time to move on and explore further afield. We scrambled back up the bank, giving the spiders a wide berth, and continued along the path. As we walked, Sonny kept stopping to pick up leaves in different shades. “I really just wish I could have a book with all the different coloured leaves in it,” he said with the resigned sigh of someone who thought this dream was out of their reach. I paused to try and stop myself from laughing at his despairing tone before saying with certainty, “But Sonny, YOU CAN!” He looked up at me with wonder, “Really?” “Yes! Collect all the different coloured leaves you can and we’ll turn them into a book, I know how.” It was a smile of pure joy that met me, and we spent the rest of our time keeping our eyes peeled for interestingly coloured leaves.

Watching the monkeys hidden in the trees

Over the next few hours, we didn’t go far, but we did see a lot. We collected leaves for Sonny’s book, saw butterflies dancing together and sat and watched monkeys watching us with suspicion. We heard planes fly overhead and wondered where they may be going. “To the airport!”, the two-year-old said as if we were quite stupid.

When we had stepped foot on that path earlier, I had imagined the kids running, me stretching my legs and seeing how far into the jungle we could get. But what unfurled instead was exactly what we needed.

Some days wonder is found in laughter and the joyful bright exploration of play and some days it’s found in the tiny moments. In quiet walks and still observation. We may have in the end only covered 300 metres of ground in almost 3 hours, but the slow place felt luxurious rather than bothersome. Stopping every few minutes to sit and look up at the sky, or gaze down at the forest floor searching for a special leaf didn’t bring about impatience, because we had nowhere else to be.

The next morning we made the special leaf book together, talking over our favourite coloured leaves and reliving the memories from the day before.

Sonny's very own book of leaves

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I would like to suggest a challenge for the week: The slow walk.

• A walk with no destination in mind and no hurried time frame.

• Stop as often as your children want.

• Spend time in observation yourself, be on the lookout for your own collection of stones, leaves, flowers or insects you can share with your children

• Consider taking a basket/box/bag for this very purpose

• See if you can create something with the things you find when you get home

I find these kinds of walks to be unconscious meditations and when I have no fixed timing or destination in mind I appreciate and notice all of the little things that come naturally to children, my nervous system always thanks me for it. 

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Do you enjoy an aimless wonder? What unconscious meditations do you find yourself doing in day-to-day life? I’d love to know if there are some that come easily when you are with your kids, or when you’re alone.

Tansie

The ideas I share in A Life of Wonder come mostly from my own lived experience of being raised in a home full of imagination and wonder, my experiences parenting two boys and having 13 nieces and nephews. There are many wonderful books and blogs out there that talk about the science behind a lot of these things, but what A Life of Wonder offers is a practical guide, simple steps that can be easily integrated into your everyday life. You don’t need to be a full-time stay-at-home mum, buy certain games or toys, or live in a certain place to create a life of wonder for your children and yourself.

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