Resources
The Road Not Taken - By Robert Frost
- Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
- And sorry I could not travel both
- And be one traveler, long I stood
- And looked down one as far as I could
- To where it bent in the undergrowth;
- Then took the other, as just as fair,
- And having perhaps the better claim,
- Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
- Though as for that the passing there
- Had worn them really about the same,
- And both that morning equally lay
- In leaves no step had trodden black.
- Oh, I kept the first for another day!
- Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
- I doubted if I should ever come back.
- I shall be telling this with a sigh
- Somewhere ages and ages hence:
- Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
- I took the one less traveled by,
- And that has made all the difference.
- Please consider these questions:
- What “roads” have you taken and not taken in your life?
- What has been the difference between the two?
A Walk - By Rainer Maria Rilke
- My eyes already touch the sunny hill.
- going far beyond the road I have begun,
- So we are grasped by what we cannot grasp;
- it has an inner light, even from a distance-
- and changes us, even if we do not reach it,
- into something else, which, hardly sensing it,
- we already are; a gesture waves us on
- answering our own wave…
- but what we feel is the wind in our faces.
- Please consider this question:
- What is it that grasps your attention at the moment, and what is it trying to tell you?
Walking Meditation Poem - By Thich Nhat Hanh
- I take refuge in Mother Earth.
- Every breath, every step manifests our love.
- Every breath brings happiness.
- Every step brings happiness.
- I see the whole cosmos in the earth.
- Please consider this question:
- I wonder, what might you see differently after taking a walk?
Jewish Legend Based on the Book of Leviticus
One who deals kindly with themselves is a gracious person (Proverbs 11:17). This refers to Hillel the Elder who would walk along with his students when he concluded teaching them. His students asked him: Master, where are you going? He said to them: I am going to perform a commandment. They inquired further: And what commandments might that be? To wash in the bath house, he replied. They said: And that is a mitzvah? Yes, he answered. Consider the image of kings that they place in the theaters and in the circuses. If someone is appointed to polish and wash them and is also paid for the service, and not only that, but he is esteemed among the dignitaries, how much greater should my incentive be seeing as how I was created in the image and the likeness?! After all, it is written: For humanity is made in the image of God. (Genesis 9:6).
Another interpretation of, One who cares for himself is a gracious person (Proverbs 11:17): This refers to Hillel the Elder who would walk along with his students when he concluded teaching them. His students asked him: Master, where are you going? He said to them: I am going to deal kindly with a guest in the house. They responded: Do you have a guest there every day? Said Hillel: Isn’t this poor soul a guest in the body? Today she’s here and tomorrow, not.
Psalm 23
- God is my shepherd; I lack nothing.
- God makes me lie down in green pastures and leads me to still waters;
- God renews my life and guides me to right paths, for that is God’s nature.
- Though I walk through a valley of the deepest darkness, I fear no harm, for You are with me;
- Your rod and Your staff—they comfort me.
- You spread a table for me in full view of my enemies; You anoint my head with oil; and my cup overflows.
- Only goodness and steadfast love shall pursue me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in God’s presence for the rest of time.
- Please consider this question:
- When have you needed someone to “walk with you”?
Like One Who Left Egypt - By Yehudah Amichai
- What is the continuity of my life? I am like one who left Egypt
- with the Red Sea split in two and I passing through on dry ground
- and two walls of water on my right and on my left.
- Behind me Pharaoh’s force and his chariots and before me the wilderness and perhaps the promised land.
- This is the continuity of my life.
- Please consider these questions:
- As you pause and stand in the middle of your surroundings, what do you see?
- What perspective does it offer?
- Does any of it reassure or worry you?