Living a Good Life is Also Like a Good Brisk Walk

Quick Good Fortune

The first thing I tell newbies in walking is to make sure they have enough cash in their pockets before they start hiking, walking or jogging.

Even if you'd just walk around the block near where you live.

You never know what road emergency you will meet on the way. For instance, you're brisk walking and then suddenly a cyclist or another jogger injures himself and needs to be taken to a hospital. You need to take him in a cab and rush him to a hospital.

Here's my ebook on how to keep fit effectively. Click here.

When a situation requires it, we need to be ready to act as good Samaritans.

It's pretty much like real life. It's hard to "walk" through life without enough cash in hand and in the bank. Emergencies can suddenly happen. So it's important, too, to have an additional source of extra income.

Extra income source is for sudden emergencies and for investment. These are two things you should always prepare for. I never get satisfied with my regular income stream. I always look for ways to get extra income---for helping others and for investing.

I trust God as my Provider and I have faith in him. But that faith also teaches me to help others when I can and to do my best to be able to. It's like when I'm brisk walking. I take time to stop and help people I see along the way who need help. And to be able to do that, I should do my best to keep healthy and fit so I can help others more. Invest in health.

Get it?

We're not here for ourselves alone. Neither are we here just to work hard for our families. We need to have a life principle to reach out to those in need---even folks we don't know. That's why I make it a habit to befriend other brisk walkers or joggers I see around. A good walk through life means looking out for people who want to walk but are hindered from doing so.

It will be a lonely life to be keeping fit just for yourself---just so you'd not get sick. It will be more fulfilling if you keep fit also for others.

Learn to always share what you have with others. Life will become happier.

For more walking inspirations, just LIKE US on Facebook!

Walking in a Rice Field

October 30 to November 2, 2016, I and my family spent some time in Agbanawag, Nueva Ecija for my wife's family business and to take care of some stuff left behind by her late dad. After a four-hour bus travel we finally got there at 11 am.

We were in the middle of the rice field. Her dad built a 2-level concrete house there, though we all preferred calling it "kubo" which means a small native house made of bamboo and nipa.

So from every direction, you'd see nothing but rice fields with some occasional small makeshift huts here and there in the distance. Oh yes. there's the Sierra Madre mountain range in view.

At 11 am, it was cool and windy. As a full-fledged brisk walker, my first instinct was to walk and survey the surroundings. But I remembered that I haven't had lunch yet. So we sat down in front of the house, under the huge shadow cast by the house, and ate some egg sandwiches. Before us was an immense expanse of rice fields with the steady wind blowing from the mountain ranges before us.

After a few minutes, a tricycle came and took us to the town center (bayan) where we had our lunch. Then we bought fresh meat and vegetables and rode back to the kubo. After some rest, I started brisk walking around.

What was really exciting was when my boys and I brisked walk around the rice field at night after dinner while my wife was chatting with the house caretaker, Janet. We took along a strong flashlight and roamed around the black darkness. It was cold and quiet except for some insect chirps and the noises from barking dogs and passing vehicles along the highway in the far, far distance.

It was a good brisk walk, and the darkness behind you (that seemed to go after you to swallow you) helped a lot to make our strides faster and wider. That was superb aero workout. Soon, we were sound asleep at 8 pm.

For more walking inspirations, just LIKE US on Facebook!

A Jogger's Dream Bedroom

houzz.com

At first I thought of titling this article, "A Walker's Dream Room," to share what a typical brisk walker might like in a bedroom. But I didn't want to scare my readers into thinking this was about zombies. A zombie's dream bedroom? All they dream about is eating us.

Anyway, a jogger's dream bedroom is probably something that has a high ceiling to fit a loft or mezzanine above and a matching high staircase. Something that looks like the picture above---well. to me that is. I love to have a bedroom with, of course, a comfy bed for me and my wife, huge windows offering a good view of the world outside to greet me in the morning and lure me to go out and run, and a high staircase.

Why a high staircase? First, to reach the loft high above me and second, to serve as my "track" (as in track and field). I love to run up and down a high staircase now and then, especially when it's raining and I can't go out to brisk walk or run. I also love to do the same during my "walking breaks" when I need to get up from my PC desk and stretch out a bit.

I also want a reading corner or small work area where several levels of bookshelves are fixed and an area for my desktop is allotted. I believe runners and brisk walkers should also be readers and bloggers. I mean, they ought to exercise their brains as well. And since they go out on a regular basis and see a lot of things outdoors that mere mortals don't, I feel they also ought to be bloggers.

I don't go for bedrooms with a lot of furniture. I prefer my bedroom to have some built-in cabinets and drawers for our stuff. That's so I can move freely around and do some floor exercises like leg stretches and push-ups. And yes, I'd love my room to have a firm fixed pull-up bar, plus perhaps some weights. Not really a weights set, just a few weights.

A huge flat screen on the wall would be ideal, too.

Plus a white colored heavy bag for a few punching workout now and then, aside from the one I have in my home mini gym.

I think every jogger and fitness buff should have a big mirror in his room. It's important to see your fitness progress each day. And mind you, mirrors help a lot to develop your social projection and personality. Moreover, you can easily check your walking or running form. Even the way you stand.

Finally, I want a bedroom that isn't too big but isn't too small either. I want it just spacious enough but not too spacious like a mansion bedroom. I hate the idea of a mansion. The bedroom picture above is actually too big for me. Make it much smaller but with a high ceiling and it would be ideal for me.

For more walking inspirations, just LIKE US on Facebook!

Sleep Miracles from Leisurely Walks

islamiclife.com

Do you stop working out because of lack of sleep? Not exactly. You stop rigid workouts but you have to maintain movement. To be sure, you have to sleep after a period of lack of sleep. You can't replace lost sleep even if you sleep a lot after. Lost sleep is lost sleep. So, as much as possible, sleep well daily, 7 to 8 hours.

But there are times when sleep lack is inevitable---like when a loved one needs extra care at the hospital, or something like that. So, the first thing you do after a bout of sleep-lack is to sleep at home. After sleeping well enough to somewhat recover strength, then walk slowly, like a leisurely walk.

Leisurely walks (as long as you can endure them) are a good way of gradually recovering strength from a bout of physical weakness. Don't stress on it. Just enjoy them. It doesn't matter if you're doing them very slowly. The idea is not to remain idle. Idleness adds to physical weakness. Walking to enjoy the surroundings promotes good circulation, safely challenges the heart and lungs, tones up the leg muscles and creates positive thinking.

Even if you can only walk within your hospital room, make it an adventure. Appreciate what you see--the nurses and aides that visit you now and then, the small scenery out the window, the air conditioning, the visitors---anything. It just requires a little imagination.

Better if you walk out to the garden. I used to enjoy walking around our small backyard, going around it over and over, when I was sick with muscle trauma and a bit of anxiety. I appreciated the cats and dogs and the birds perched on our mango tree. That was how I started recovering from the trauma.

In fact, life is like that. Don't remain idle. You may let yourself some moments of idleness now and then just to relax and meditate. But be mobile soon after. Find something to do and make sure it's easy to accomplish. Then do another simple task. That lets you easily get to one success after another. Staying at home or in your room all the day every day, for instance, can do a lot of harm---physically, emotionally, and mentally.

Go out and see that the world is big and provides lots of possibilities. Now and then we all need that realization especially when boring or stressful work makes us feel confined to a small room or corner and makes us think there is no other reality but that. It renders you lonely, hopeless and conscious of nothing but your problems and miserable life.

So you need to go out and walk awhile to get some fresh air.

Back to lack of sleep, many people don't realize that their inability to sleep may be remedied simply by walking. If you remain lying down because you cannot sleep, it may only make matters worse. Try to get up and walk around your house or garden or roof deck, if you have one. The fresh air and blood circulation is probably what you need to get a good sleep. Nothing tiring or stressful. Just plain leisurely walk. One you enjoy.

Finally, if you can't sleep due to overeating---which sometimes happens to me---a little leisurely walk does the trick. Again, it should be nothing strenuous. We just want to give some help to the digestive system. First, stand up and relax. Better if you have someone to talk to about pleasant things. Then, after 20 to 30 minutes, walk a little here and there, like you're just enjoying the place and ambiance. After 45 minutes to an hour, drink a glass of water.

You'd be surprised that, after that short walk, you'd feel sleepy enough once you sit down. Sit for 3 minutes and then lie down to sleep.

Basically, the idea is to keep moving with your feet.

For more walking inspirations, just LIKE US on Facebook!