Welcome to Wednesday. We have made it half way through the week and that is something to celebrate! Today we want to introduce you to a weekly routine we have found to be instrumental in our journey towards essentialist living.

Wednesday Wellness Walks.

Here’s how it works.

1. Carve out 30 minutes from your day and schedule a specific time to walk without distraction. If you use a calendar, block your time as “busy” and build the rest of your day around this.
2. Choose a theme or a question to consider during your walk. Focus on inspirational or introspective questions to begin with.
3. Begin walking during your scheduled time. No excuses.

As you begin your walk, focus on the repetition of your stride and your breath until you find yourself in a rhythm. This helps transition your mind from your prior thoughts and refocuses your energy into a simple task. Place one foot in front of the other.

When you find a consistent stride, open your senses to the sights, sounds, and smells around you. Take a moment to express gratitude and center your thoughts.

Allow yourself five minutes to complete this exercise, then introduce the question or theme you chose for the day. As you walk, think about the question and explore the answers in your mind. Allow your mind the freedom to wander off, but remember to always return to the question. Spend fifteen minutes on the question.

We can conduct an advanced search and ask three questions: “What do I feel deeply inspired by?” and “What am I particularly talented at?” and “What meets a significant need in the world?” – Greg McKeown

In the beginning, fifteen minutes may seem like an eternity. That is ok. Give yourself permission to be distracted by what surrounds you. Training your mind to focus for an extended period of time on one solitary theme or idea takes time to

Spend your final ten minutes navigating your way to your destination and allow your mind to reflect on your experiences – both physical and mental – from the last twenty minutes.

As the walk comes to an end, express gratitude once again for the seed that has been planted in your mind and revisit your theme throughout the next week. It is only once we allow our thoughts and our minds to be free from clutter and distraction that we can begin to identify what we are truly capable of.