TALES

Ikigai: iki means Life. Gai means reason  Ikigai: reason to live

The Ingenious Low-Born Noble Don Quixote of La Manche is my all-time favorite novel. I re-read it several times. Not liking the changes he sees around him, Don Quixote begins a quest to bring back chivalry only to discover that people have moved on from his antiquated ideas. His adventures led him to realize the value of people from all walks of life who have adapted to new ways of dealing with the uncertainties experienced every day.

I think of the friends who have gone on a long walk and how they have been enriched by their adventures. They have completed the Camino de Santiago in Spain, hiked the Pacific Coast Trail, or just walked from one end of the Iron Horse Trail in Danville to the other or just around the block. The length of the walk doesn't matter as much as the silence or companionship or alertness these walks bring. Like journaling, a long walk is a way to sort out ideas and aspirations. After reading Walking the Kiso Road by William Scott Wilson, Japan-ophile that I am, I thought of doing the same. The Kiso Road is part of a longer route that spans from Kyoto to Tokyo and is another path taken by wanderers who stay in a different inn each night along the route. I haven't done the walk, but I was glad to share Wilson's experiences while reading the book. It's never too late to dream.

Some journeys are not so much about physical exertion as a way to change mental awareness. In her eighties, Florida Scott-Maxwell wrote her book The Measure of Our Days about life and the effects of aging. At her advanced age, she was still asking questions about the meaning of life. One phrase caught my attention, "Love your strengths." I thought that the second part of that phrase could be "Live through your weaknesses," because so often our weaknesses turn into our strengths.

The novelist Amy Tan has found a new source of inspiration, not so much by walking, but by looking out her windows to observe and draw birds. Her book The Backyard Bird Chronicles is another example of how we can slow down and observe time passing by watching the actions of other creatures, who give us a glimpse into their lives. Through quiet observation, we can find inner joy and a better understanding of how the world works.

Taking a walk can be more than stretching muscles and grabbing fresh air. A walker may quest for insight, sort out spiritual motivations, and reflect on the passage of time. I recently read the novel The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry by Rachel Joyce. Harold Fry sets off on a walk across England to reach a dying old friend and meets people at each stop who open up his compassion and bring new ideas to him. Harold went from bewilderment about his own unexpected choice of walking to making time to listen to the people he meets to despair about his belief that he isn't good enough to complete his journey to acceptance of his past. All are themes that run through our lives.

These books about quests remind me that we all have common desires and questions. That we can all do the unexpected. That we can change and adapt. Throughout our lives, we continue to search for answers. A simple thing to help ourselves: go for a walk.

Some of my favorite books about walking:

The original novel of pilgrimage: Chaucer's Canterbury Tales (if you didn't read this one in college, you may need some help with Middle English)

Robert MacFarlane's The Wild Places

William Scott Wilson's Walking the Kiso Road

Rachel Joyce's The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry

Robert Moor's On Trails

Paulette Jiles's News of the World

Elizabeth Farnsworth's A Train Through Time

Kathleen Dean Moore's Wild Comfort

William Glassley's A Wilder Time

Amor Towles's The Lincoln Highway

Read more about Don Quixote here:

https://www.spainthenandnow.com/spanish-literature/cervantes-what-is-it-about-the-title-don-quixote

Check out Brad Andrews' version of a walk:

https://www.shambhala.com/journey-japans-kiso-road/