Solvitur Ambulando
Writing Challenge 2024
Posted by Chris Sissons on Jul 11, 2024
Writing Challenge ยป Chris Sissons
Now, there’s a lot of nonsense written about the importance of various body parts. The scientists tell you it’s the brain, the centre of rationality. Empathetic people will point to the heart, the home of emotions. The religious tell us it’s the spirit that matters, which resides in various parts of the body, usually above the waistline.
But in the end, the part of the body that has pre-eminence is the feet. I appreciate that most of us put our socks on and forget about them, but why not spend a few minutes paying them attention? Everything else is nonsense without your feet.
It’s where your feet are! What is? Everything. Where you are, where you live, where you go, show the choices you’ve made, good and bad. Your priorities are reflected in where you live, where you go …
You might not have noticed this but your head, brain, heart and gut are where your feet are. Everything else follows your feet around. I can hear you now “Ah yes but … I decided to live here, not my feet. When I go out, I decide where to go not my feet.” True up to a point but everything about you is expressed through where you turn up or where you hide. They are in short, the strategic part of your body. You are not a spirit, an emotion or a thought. You are a real three-dimensional person and so you must be somewhere and that somewhere is where your feet are.
Now that we’ve got that out of the way, why not take those socks off and contemplate your feet? You need to look after them. If you do, they’ll do more for you than you might imagine, that is so long as you use them.
Walking is healthy for mind body and spirit. I don’t mean staggering into the kitchen to make a cup of tea but proper walking, you know outside amongst the traffic fumes. “Ah yes but, I haven’t time to drive out into the country and walk”. Stop making excuses, get outside your front door and start walking.
It gets the blood circulating, warms you up and builds your muscles. It brings much-needed rhythm into your life. As Gracie Fields put it, “A song and a smile make it all worthwhile, so sing as you go.” (So long as you don’t alarm your neighbours.)
But even more important is that walking solves problems. You can sit and brood or walk and allow the rhythm of your feet to resolve your problem. I should point out that your feet have their priorities and so they might not solve the problem you thought you might solve but what they do is disrupt your thoughts and connect you to what you haven’t noticed.
The ancients had a term for this Solvitur Ambulando – solve it by walking. Your feet have their secrets, look after them and they just might let you know what they are.
This is Day 20 of Writing Challenge 2024. People all over the world take part in the WC. We write something every weekday for 4 weeks based on a prompt This year, I'll be sharing 21 articles based loosely on prompts about parts of the body. Do we fully appreciate the role things and stuff play in our lives? Each part of the body has certain things and stuff associated with it. (Probably!) I've no idea where this will go but hope you enjoy the journey. The introductory post was Things and Stuff. The last post was On Not Being Daft in the Head and the next is Russnostain.
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