Exercising and walking in the park have been a new found joy for me lately. In terms of health and general well-being, I’ve seen a good improvement in that area of my life. I’ve also enjoyed the quiet moments with my Maker and it can be quite uplifting in many ways. I guess, we all needed that avenue when things seemed not so positive of late. For me, even in the little joys in my life, I would commune with my Maker in whatever way I could. I wish to state that I am NOT and DO NOT have the “holier than you” attitude. In fact, I always see myself as the worst sinner and I need to repent to GOD each day for my shortcomings. That’s why I find walking in the park at my own pace and at my own rhythm to be quite comforting. It helps me to have peace of mind and certain calmness when you are in a park.
I guess, I must say that when I first started out to walk in the park, I told GOD that I would like to greet “good morning”, “selamat pagi”, “chao arn”, “vanakam” or even “satsreeakal” to every walker I meet in the park. The reason is simple : Put a smile to their faces in the morning! Nothing beats having someone greet you “good morning” and SMILE! Sure, we all have tons and thousands and one problems on our shoulders but a smile can change the whole situation. A twitch in the corner of the mouth, a smirk on the face or even a widening smile potraying Colgate white like teeth are good enough for me! That’s a change and a good one indeed rather than walking grumpily and blaming the whole world for our damn misery and people not understanding us. Yeah, it may not help solve a whole lot of world problems you are facing but at least, for that moment, it makes you smile too and light up a bit. My target each day was to greet 20-25 people each morning I take a walk in the park. So far, GOD had been gracious to allow me to greet that quantity of people and now, I’m beginning to greet about 27-30 people every time I take a walk in the park. It feels good, really. Boy! You should have seen those faces when I started out! Some replied back courteously good while some felt as though the whole world was against them, some even gave me the dirty/disgusted look while others couldn't be bothered. Surprisingly, I did not mind at all. So what if they do not reply with the same courtesy but at least, I tried to bring some cheer, right? So, I took it up as a challenge for me to make a small impactic dent in their lives with some form of goodness la! I was never that “cheery” type of person, yunno. I was one of those sour puss, couldn’t care less if the world tumbled over, grumpy and cynically idiotic person those days. But I have learned a lot during my journey of life , learnt from good friends and most important of all, having GOD in my life. That gave me a sense of purpose in my life, really.
I remembered when I first started out walking in the park, I was tired, sweaty and frustrated because I was out of breath most of the time. It was very difficult for me to walk uphill as I‘ve always hated that and it drained my energy a lot. I was physically unfit and wide. But along the path and walkway in the park, I would meet some of the most wonderful people who would smile , giving encouragement and giving me the thumbs up or even says” slow, slow. It should be okay” and so on. I was really encouraged by that , to be honest despite not knowing who these people were. At first, I was still my grumpy self ( having being dragged off the comfy of my bed to go exercise!) but soon, I warmed up to meeting these strangers who would greet me or give me a smile each time we meet at the path. I guess, GOD did put people in my path and help me see things in a different light. Now, I took the same opportunity to inspire ( if I may call the word ) others walking along the path. I was also very determined to make an 8.5km walk each time I walk in the park. When I first started out to walk in the park, I did a 4km walk on the path way and slowly increased it so that I could meet more people and walk a little further. Yeah, I don’t want to die being an overweight wide adult who is going to give backaches to my coffin carriers, yunno! Have a heart; they too have families to feed and the people needed them too!
I want to relate one incident whereby a couple warmed up to my “good morning” greetings. For weeks, I noticed this middle-aged/elderly couple with serious facial expressions. When I first saw them, this was the only couple that would wear face masks as they walked in the park. They were always by themselves and would not be bothered by whoever greeted or passed by them. Being myself, I would greet them twice with the second time being louder as usually, for I too, would be tired by the walk after the second round around. Last Monday, the wife nodded ( still with mask on ) while the husband was without his signature mask and SMILED to my greeting! WOW! What a feeling, man! Yeah, small victory but significant one because now, they can smile too. Yeah, it’s such a small gesture but it lifts the spirit in your heart, yunno. (Mine, especially!)
in a different light, I am always very encouraged when I see these 4 ladies runners. They would always greet me and SLing enthusiastically whenever we meet along the path while there is also this group of 5 lovely older men and 5 lovely older ladies who would do the same. It just lifts up your spirit up each morning as you walk the path in the embrace of the cool morning. I am just glad that more people are greeting each other now than when I first started out. I remembered one of the 5 ladies asked me the other day while bumping to me midway in the park, “ Why are you so cheery each morning with your “good morning”?” I answered that I am just happy to be alive! She nodded her head and smiled. To me, there is no better answer than this, right? Can you imagine sleeping on your bed at night and not waking up ever the next morning? You’ve changed address to No.7, Jalan Pearly Gates, Mansion Garden! What a shocker, right!
Like I said, we can never ever escape from the problems that will surfaced in our lives, troubles that may put us in such a tough situation or even difficult times in our lives. But we can take a short stroll, clear our mind a little, commune with GOD through our internal monologue as we exercise our body, mind and soul and build good stimulation of our mind and heart or even, just rest, relaxed and think clearer. Walking in the park helps you to de-stress for a moment, take a step back and just enjoy nature for a while. Draw inspiration and encouragement from the experience in nature and draw peace from the One Above. In your difficult times, look to Him as you share a time of solitude with GOD. It’s your ”ME” time – It’s you and Him, the Father.
I always have my favourite song blasting in my ears at the end of my 8.5km walk and it is “Confidence “ by Sanctus Real. My favourite portion of the lyrics of the song “Confidence” by Sanctus Real are these words:-
Be encouraged and be blessed!
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