Walking toward happiness

Happiness is a hot topic. I guess it always has been. In these crazy times of flat screen HD televisions and spa retreats, it's an even hotter topic as we have so many leisure choices that discovering what makes us truly happy can be a dizzying challenge.

Yesterday morning, with no specific race on the immediate horizon for which I need to train, I woke with no reason to rush out the door to meet training partners or follow the training the schedule. Still, walking does make me happy. So, I put on all of my walking gear and drove with my husband to town to drop off our son at work. Then, we went to our favourite local coffee shop where I indulged in my caffeine boost of choice – a large bowl with espresso filled with lots of hot, steamy milk called a “Parisienne”. While I never once saw a Parisian drink this concoction during my visits to Paris over the last 14 months, I’m happy to indulge in the illusion.

As we sat there, the tables started filling with groups of people returning from their walks or runs. Not one of them looked sad. Now I imagine many of them have sad things happening to them, and some of them may be predisposed to be unhappy by nature, but at that moment all I could hear around me was laughter.

After an hour of enjoying my husband’s company and the relaxing environment around the town square, I headed home on two feet while my husband returned with the car. I wandered by the lake and the boats (see photo) and then walked as many side roads as possible on my way home. I have walked these streets a thousand times over and I continue to delight in new diversions. Yesterday, I walked by three cherry tress in full fruit. Ninety minutes later I arrived at my street. It wasn’t one of my record setting walks but I felt invigorated and, yes, happy.

Settling in to read the paper later that afternoon, I discovered that the Saturday paper had an entire section devoted to happiness. Several thousand words on happiness. According to the paper a google search found someone who touted happiness is a Dyson vacuum.

While I’m skeptical about the vacuum, another idea did stand out for me and it came from Enrique Penalosa, the mayor of Bogota in Columbia who radically changed the priorities of his city to encourage citizens to walk or cycle whenever possible. “There are few things we can agree on about happiness,” the paper quoted him as saying. “You need to fulfill your potential as a human being. You need to walk. You need to be with other people.”

Mmmm…that might explain all the happy faces at those finish lines. People fulfilling their potential as walking athletes in the good company of other people.