How to take a Walk -
What we find when we truly look.
March 21, 2025
Is there anything more German than going for a walk? Well, maybe potatoes—or sauerkraut.
When I was a child, I hated going for walks. My parents would drag me out into the German hills in horrendous rain in 40°F —just to walk the same ten blocks and the same stupid forest paths as we always did. “What's that supposed to be good for?” I asked. “Fresh air and exercise!” was always the answer. Annoying. Can't you do that somewhere interesting? In Disneyland or a flower park?
What I didn't know at the time was that I was not consciously noticing my environment. I simply did not see what was around me, such as sunlight on the trees. Nor did I hear anything, like the birds singing. I just trotted along, grumping, always happy when we got back home. I didn't understand the concept of walking because I didn't know what a great walk was all about.
It's about seeing. Details. Hearing. Smelling. Using all your senses. Being there. Consciously and in the present. When I go out today, some thirty years later, I still just take a good ol' walk. If it is a long walk I call it hiking. But now I see mosses and I notice how different they are: different softnesses or different hues of green. I now see pinecones and mushrooms, I smell the sweet spring and the earthy fall, I feel the evening sun and see light bursting forth through dry, brown leaves shining like a warm lantern. Is that a river gurgling? Is that a raccoon's footprint in the mud? What is that hanging on the wall of that house? Wow! How beautiful is that electric box that someone painted a design on?
Here is “How to go for a walk”—but the right way!
Go out and find treasures - Childhood leaves a mark
“Don't step in the puddle, don't touch that, it's dirty!” I was told during those parental walks.
No, I did not grow up in a household full of adventures and wilderness. As a child, I was a small-town weed in a concrete gutter. I wanted to explore (like so many children) but was rarely allowed to. For me, going out was associated with cold, rain, residential streets and yawning boredom. My thoughts were often miles away, engaged in fantasy stories I was creating in my head. I hardly ever looked around to see anything. I just wanted to be away from there.
The trips with my grandparents were more exciting. Once I went to a beech forest with my grandpa. Before we left, we drew a treasure map together. Well, it was more of a doodle, but at least the red “X” was big and right behind a green triangle, which I called “Pirate Mountain”. So, we set off together and my grandpa interpreted my map using real hiking trails. While walking, and I still don't know how he did it, he would drop golden Werther's candies between roots and in tree hollows. Suddenly I was finding real treasures! Wow!
I often went on scavenger hunts with my other grandparents. My grandma and I would hang paper scraps in the forest and my grandpa would follow and find us.
Once we hid so well in a circle of bushes that he couldn't find us. So, he simply went for coffee because he was tired of looking. I still remember my grandma was just a bit upset: “You would have just left us here rotting!” she told him in a rather loud voice.
Another time, we walked along a path where someone had dumped broken pottery. The whole path was full of colorful, broken pieces of glazed clay that had become embedded in the forest floor over time. I dug like crazy, collecting the broken bits. Later my grandpa made a fresh spatula-shaped piece of wet cement-like material, and I pressed the shards to form a mosaic of an island with a palm tree. The slab still exists today, although slightly weathered, lying near my grandparents' greenhouse.
Slow down, look, experience, walk
So, what makes going for a walk, or just being outdoors, interesting? Certainly not walking without seeing or avoiding to get in touch with nature or dirt.
Acutally, it is the active and counscious looking and touching, smelling and hearing and trying things out. How does the leaf feel? Or the soil? What is the water temperature? What beautiful decoration is hanging on that house? What do the colorful stickers on the traffic light pole say?
“How to go for a walk” starts with keeping your eyes open to your surroundings. With curiosity and with really being outside and not constantly staring at your cell phone, making voice messages, or racing through the forest for another 5,000 steps just because your fitness watch prompts you to walk.
Going for a walk means slowing down and thinking of the path itself as the goal, not the distance or the time. As a child, I often asked: “What's the point of going for a walk? You just walk in circles!”
But it's not about how quickly you get where you're going, but what you allow yourself to experience, see, smell, and touch along the way. Without plucking plants or trampling on them of course. Walking consciously means walking with respect and awe, and with the enthusiasm of a child seeing something for the first time.
It is precisely this childlike joy of discovering something new that we should be seeking. When we slow down and, well…just go for a walk. Look left, look right, look up at the clouds and the sun and the sky. Perhaps imagine an old-fashioned cartoon of someone strolling along a row of trees with a folded umbrella and hat. Just like that.
Tips for a conscious walk
For those who don't know exactly how and where to go for a walk: A camera may help you finally get up, go out, and discover. It's almost like having a dog.
And it doesn't matter whether it's a fancy SLR or just a cell phone camera. When you start to take photos, you begin to look around. You begin to notice light and shadows and details. Cracks in the ground, graffiti on the wall, sheep's wool on the fence. Challenge yourself with a goal. Pictures that you would like to have in the box after the walk. Five photos of different leaves, ten details of asphalt, three flowers, seven faces in clouds and tree bark, five window frames... It doesn't matter. The main thing is that you consciously watch out for something.
Think of a route containing little hidden treasures. Maybe a colorful railing, a bridge over a stream, a birdhouse, a gnarled tree. Walk with friends and family and give them a tour. Show them what you've found and let them share your wonder.
Make a walking diary. Try to remember impressions along the way, objects or plants you found interesting, smells of flowers, a bumblebee. Write down what you saw, smelled, and felt. Describe it in your own words. You can even do a sketch. Or a doodle. And then go out again and take more walks. There is still so much to discover!
If you like, you can follow my stories, outdoor adventures and thoughts daily on Instagram: @squirrel.sarah.
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