Walk

WALK Fin Martens 2021

WALK Fin Martens

For the days you feel like unraveling.

Breathe.

Breathe.

You need to breathe in order to walk.

Breathe slowly.

In. Hold.

Out. Repeat.

Breathe until you are ready to stand.

This is the first step.

You will be fine.

You’ve been practicing your entire life.

When you are ready to walk, stand.

Stand however you wish to do so.

Keep breathing.

B

o

Lift up

foot. ne

n to egi

fall.

lf Catch yourse .

g an fallin

dc

tch

a

.

Repeat

walking is

ing yourself.

alright. You’ll be It’s

n e.

fi

A ll of

Someday falling won’t seem so terrifying.

Choose a destination.

It can be as abstract or as rational as your heart desires, as it is likewise your choice how long this journey will take.

You could go to the grocery store, and walk the aisles there amongst things that have also traveled far.

You could seek out a childhood memory, a hilltop where clouds just so happened to form themselves into shapes much easier, more vivid than they seem to now.

Don’t fear your creativity.

There are so many small destinations yet to be found, that a great and lofty dream, like a destination that is peace with yourself, is surely an attainable task.

Eventually- one would hope- you would get there.

Your destination doesn’t need to be set in stone, either.

Perhaps you will begin to walk one way, and find yourself naturally somewhere else.

As long as there’s no hurry, you’ve made a good choice.

This is a walk and not a run.

At some point you will reach a thresholda doorway, or an awning, or a tree with full branches that shelter you from the rain.

Take careful note of what this doorway looks like as you pass through it.

Doorways are windows to journeys and they might give you a glimpse of what’s to come.

Pay them close attention.

To walk through a threshold is to choose uncertainty, and it is a beautiful choice.

Step by step by step leave wherever you were behind.

Bring only what you need.

You have enough to carry as it is.

When you are somewhere new, keep walking.

Remember to breathe.

See how the world breathes with you.

Watch the clouds in the sky breathe with you, swirling with wind and light.

There are oceans above us in all of their weight and glory, Tides drifting across the atmosphere.

The oxygen in your lungs dances to the same refrain as the leaves falling from the trees, the wind, and the clouds, and the sky.

You are alive in a living world. You are meant to be here.

Talk to the ghosts you meet along the way. Ask them about their stories.

Who were they?

Who do they wish they were?

What did they leave behind?

Don’t be afraid when they ask you the same questions.

It’s a fair and honest trade and ghosts are good listeners.

They will hold nothing against you.

They can’t hold anything at all.

And if you’re kind enough, if you listen and watch and walk quietly with the ghosts in the dark and lonely woods, and hear their stories, and share your own, you might find them watching as you go.

And know that there are kindred spirits behind you, and friends to return home to, and perhaps

You

might

be

followed.

Congratulations.

You will never walk alone.

e si

lent long enou

gh t oh ea

rt

our Let y

fb s el

h

ew orld

over yo u

r own e

W ha

c h o i n g t h o u gh

t do you hear?

ts.

What do your footst

e ps

s o un

d like amid st th e song of e t do you hea a h verything?

W rw hen you let yourself listen?

Stop for a moment to put the world back together again in whatever way you can.

Put the leaves back on the treeseven the wrong trees, if only to give those golden sails a second chance at flight.

Creativity knows no rules, It is always better to do something absurd than to do nothing at all.

Wonder flourishes in the space beyond everything you know.

And to restore a thing to something new, to something beautiful and strange, is a gift in and of itself.

Notice the ground beneath your feet as you continue to walk.

Imagine what lies beneath.

What roots are buried here?

How many layers upon layers upon layers of time did it take for this place to become what it is?

Rest here a minute.

This is a landmark.

Today you are here (And soon you’ll move on.)

But in this moment, you are a part of it all.

Keep walking until you feel you have reached the end of your journey, or a place to rest awhile.

You will know this place by the way the world seems brighter.

Brighter and more colorful and at peace.

Perhaps you will meet someone here.

Perhaps the air is fresher, the rain has stopped.

Perhaps you feel real again.

You belong here.

Stop walking.

Look up at the stars and the spaces between them.

In all of this vastness you are alive and you are here amidst the wonder, and we are here together.

Breathe.

You are here

.