WALK by Jonathon Stalls

Author:Jonathon Stalls [Stalls, Jonathon]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781623176969
Publisher: North Atlantic Books

What’s Blocking the Flow?

Thich Nhat Hanh (2018) writes:

We are not the same. We are not different.… You are life without boundaries.… We inter-are. We inter-are with our ancestors, our descendants, and the whole cosmos.… We are interconnected with all life, and we are always in transformation.

I am filled with wonder and spaciousness as I read this beautiful quote. I am also filled with heartbreak, and often rage, around all that is at work to close, twist, block, or shrink the essence of “inter-are” living in and around us. How can we possibly live this out when most systems and behaviors around us inflate our differences while simultaneously welding us to those who think, look, and consume like us? In addition to this, consider everything that isolates us from activity that would more naturally open us up: physical walls, parking lots, corporate consumption, social media, highways, and automobiles themselves.

What will it take for us to disrupt and detangle from what works so hard to tear up tender and complex relationships? Are you willing and able to prioritize more unhurried movement to nurture and tend to the wide variety of relationships around you? I love the idea of “relational flow.” When I speak it or read it, I immediately hear and feel the flowing Arkansas River in Colorado that I have sat next to for hundreds of hours. I think about the juniper trees that twist, shed, and reach in a thousand different ways for more nourishment. I think about calm sunsets as they invite me to rest an often-racing heart and mind. I think about how good it feels to move with, walking or rolling, someone I haven’t seen or connected to in a while.

I invite you to close your eyes and take a moment to be with ideas of movement and relational flow. As you lean into your imagination, what begins to show up for you? What are your surroundings like? What animals, plants, or waterways are near you? Who might be moving next to you? Are you experiencing any blocks? This will be different for all of us. Be with this experience, however simple or complex. Consider writing or drawing some of what you see and some of what might be blocking you on a piece of paper.

I now invite you to take notice of the physical environments you spend a significant amount of time in. Invite relational flow into your awareness. Are you inside artificial buildings with mostly 90-degree walls and manufactured materials? How much time do you spend idling in or moving at thirty- to sixty-mile-per-hour speeds in a metal automobile? How much time do you spend in front of screens? How much pavement or concrete is around you? How often are your day-to-day tasks, relationships, and worldviews shaped within these artificial environments?

Why do I say artificial? Invite the following questions for each of the environments you’ve pictured:

How do these spaces, interiors, structures, and materials flow back into me?

How do they guide, ground, and nourish me?

Do I

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