from Hacker News

How to Take a Walk

by thunk on 8/10/10, 2:53 AM with 185 comments

by neilk on 8/10/10, 5:48 AM
Tangent, on "having a life".
I met a woman from New York who was visiting SF. We both had been to Burning Man. She expressed her distaste at how much time San Franciscans spend on their art projects. According to her, New Yorkers "have a life".
So, that bar conversation ended pretty quickly. But later on I got to thinking about it. There might be positive senses of "having a life", but I think she meant it in the more common way -- a horror of getting too enthusiastic about anything.
Oh yeah, we could plant a rose garden in our backyard, but you know, we have lives.
It makes me feel tired just contemplating it.
by rdtsc on 8/10/10, 5:17 AM
This is very important for programmers. You need to take a walk to recharge your batteries. To clear you mind. Well, it works for me anyway.
Do it during lunch, after work, after dinner. On the weekend , for a longer walk. Parks and trails work best. Less crowded streets in the city work as well.
Don't rush, just walk slowly.
Observe things.
If you end up thinking about the problem your are working on, that's fine, if you notice a bird's nest, that's fine too.
Walk like you have no place to be, look around. You will feel weird at first, but that's fine. Try not to care about that.
Think of it as something between meditation, relaxation and exercise. Sort of a all-in-one.
It's easy. There is nothing you have to do to plan for it, no special gear to buy, all you need to do is to say "I want to take a walk" and then ... take a walk.
by nhebb on 8/10/10, 5:47 AM
I grew up in a SW Portland neighborhood with no sidewalks. The road shoulders were narrow, unsafe, and often muddy. I never saw people out for leisure walks. It just wasn't enjoyable.
Now I live in the outskirts of Portland, in a place with modern suburbs grown up around a quaint old town. Sidewalks are everywhere. I take walks all the time, and I see other people out for walks daily.
It's seems like common sense that urban and neighborhood design can have a huge impact on the livability of an area, but a lot of the suburbs created in the US abandoned the sidewalk to save a few bucks and cram more houses per acre. I don't know if the tide has turned, but I'd never live in a neighborhood without sidewalks again.
Home buying tip: Look for a neighborhood with a strip of grass between the sidewalk and the street. It's a small detail that has a big impact on "neighborhood" feel.
by jasonkester on 8/10/10, 6:38 AM
I started disagreeing with this immediately, since I take walks all the time. But it occurs to me that I do it a lot more now that I've moved to Europe.
It's just a lot more walkable here. In Pamplona I could walk out my front door and be blasted with the fact that I was in a medieval walled city with cobbled streets and narrow alleyways. Any direction I went had some guaranteed Cool Stuff to pass by and probably would end me up perched on some 600 year old military fortification looking out over the farms.
Contrast that to living in a typical LA suburb with no sidewalks and nothing to see apart from apartment complexes and possibly a Starbucks if you press on far enough. It sorta sucks the fun out of the experience.
I've definitely done my share of walking in the 'states too, but then I've made a point of living in some pretty walkable places. NW Portland and Venice spring to mind as places I spent a ton of time simply wandering around.
Other places I've lived... San Gabriel, Tigard, Gresham... Not much walking.
I think maybe it has more to do with where you are than who you are.
by euroclydon on 8/10/10, 3:06 AM
Sometimes I'll go for a long walk, maybe six miles. I don't walk fast or listen to music, I just look around, maybe at people's yards. I like to see who has a bird feeder or interesting landscaping. When I first start, my mind is full of thoughts and my muscles and legs are full of bounce, even tight, but after four miles, my mind is nearly empty, except for the kind of slow easy thoughts that someone who works the land all day, someone who sees the sun rise and set, might have, and my legs are heavier, yet loose, and ready for many more miles. After five miles, my gut feels lean and empty, my body feels purged of something.
by vgr on 8/10/10, 4:15 PM
I am pretty darn surprised that THIS post has gotten vastly more discussion than just about any of my ribbonfarm posts that's gotten on HN.
A few quick adds, since I seem to have mildly offended some of you.
0. The tangent on "having a life" here is fascinating. Nothing to add, but I am now seriously curious about the ethnography of that phrase.
1. Is this anti-American? I don't really think so. There is research (see Robert Levine, "The Geography of Time") that shows that cultures have characteristic tempos, down to typical walking speeds. Yes, the vastness of America has something to do with it, but I think 80% of the dynamics are social, not physical, and also relatively recent (cellphones etc. have helped Americans express this preference a lot more clearly). Back before Thoreau's time, I think this wasn't so characteristic of America. There are no better celebrations of idleness than the works of that uber-American writer, Mark Twain. The disease is fairly new.
2. "If you are thinking about blogging about your judgments of how others are not taking a walk, then YOU are not taking a walk." Very fair and Godelian critique, but I am talking about idle foot-and-mind wandering here, not meditation. I'll leave that kind of walking to the Zen monks. My model isn't a Zen monk, it is Tom Sawyer walking along kicking a can or something. The xkcd Bored with the Internet strip http://xkcd.com/77/ is sort of my point as well, except that I still take walks anyway, despite the irony.
3. If I came across as judgmental or telling people how to actually take walks... sorry. Meant to be mostly tongue-in-cheek :) Poor writing execution, not intent.
by techiferous on 8/10/10, 5:35 AM
I took a stand-up comedy course a couple of years ago. I found out that it takes a long time to come up with material. You can't just sit down and start writing jokes. They come when they are ready and you'd better be ready to write them down.
When I had some time in the evenings to come up with material I would sit at home without much inspiration. However, I found that when I walked to the convenience store to get a snack, I would inevitably return with at least one new joke idea, maybe more.
Walking was such a predictably good way to loosen up my creativity that when I got stuck I would head for the door and tell my wife, "I'm going to the convenience store to buy a joke."
by JacobAldridge on 8/10/10, 5:20 AM
There's a quote that comes to my mind, on occasion, which I love, and which sums up the attitude I want toward life and that which is expressed here.
"Some people walk in the rain, and some people just get wet."
Be someone who walks in the rain.
by docgnome on 8/10/10, 6:13 AM
This reminds me strongly of a John Muir quote I've recently been finding to be very true.
"Thousands of tired, nerve-shaken, over-civilized people are beginning to find out that going to the mountain is going home; that wildness is necessity; that mountain parks and reservations are useful not only as fountains of timber and irrigating rivers, but as fountains of life."
I find more enjoyment in a simple hike through a forest than I've had at work for a very long time. Also, I find that when I go back to work after a trip to the forest or even just a walk outside the city, I feel better and am less crabby about going back to work. I think this is something that is sorely lacking in many people's lives. Not recreation but just being out in whatever wild we have left. Aaand now I sound like a crazy hippie.
by bootload on 8/10/10, 7:32 AM
I like walking. [0] I like it a lot. It's my preferred mode of transport but I also do it to keep my observation skills sharp and mind clear. I used to like running, but that requires a whole different level of concentration and preparation. You also get injured more. Less so walking. Walking is one thing pretty much everyone can do. I've kept up walking ever since I was a kid at school. From Primary to High to Uni I had to hoof it [1] and the one thing I noticed from High School onwards - "I stopped seeing my peers walking".
The author is correct observing nobody walking any more. I see a lot of runners who I join occasionally and the only consistent walkers the elderly (fit) and ethnic (fit). Why? Well people don't see the value in it and simply write it off as wasted time. Here's the thing, the benefits are cumulative so it might appear a waste of time but the advantages (fitness, psych, clean air, thinking) roll on, the more consistent you are.
[0] Last year I clocked up 2000K ~ http://www.flickr.com/photos/bootload/sets/72157623445003205... This year I walked 240km from Canberra to Mt.Kosciuszko (9 days) ~ http://www.flickr.com/photos/bootload/collections/7215762379... This month I covered all of the city of Singapore on foot in 2 days ~ http://www.flickr.com/photos/bootload/collections/7215762454...
[1] Because every time I saved up enough money for a car I bought a new PC.
by frobozz on 8/10/10, 10:30 AM
I strongly disagree with this point:
> If you pass anybody, you are not walking slowly enough for it to be “taking a walk.”
There are people around who walk painfully slowly. When I go for a walk, I let my legs swing at a natural cadence, with my natural stride length. If I have to change that, to ensure I don't overtake some dawdler, it places a stupidly unnecessary restriction on the definition of "taking a walk". IMO, it removes some of the idleness from it if you have to actually think about how you are walking.
by gcheong on 8/10/10, 6:57 AM
If you are walking around and getting caught up in judging to what extent other people are not taking a walk so that you can later write a blog post about it, then you are not taking a walk.
by derefr on 8/10/10, 4:01 AM
A re-quote from the comments:
> If you need to listen to music while walking, don’t walk; and don’t listen to music.
I tend to never listen to music unless I'm taking a walk. I have no anxiety about idleness, but I do have an acute anxiety about others' opinions of my taste in music—it is such that I can only stand to enjoy music when there is no one close enough to me to hear it. Seeing as I live in an apartment with thin walls, this means going for a walk.
by balding_n_tired on 8/10/10, 1:36 PM
"In my 13 years of taking walks in the United States, I could remember only ever seeing one native-born American taking a walk."
Where in the world does this man take walks? Down the median of I-5?
I have a hard time coming up with a reason that "taking a walk" must exclude walking the dog; taking with a friend; even chatting on the phone, though that's not my habit. Nor can I see why one may not pass anybody--in a walking part of the world does one end up with large queues of walkers with the tail end going slower and slower?
I write this having just walked in to work, a bit less than an hour, right around half an hour slower than riding the bus. Yes it is purposeful, but it is not the most time-efficient way of accomplishing the purpose.
by pjscott on 8/10/10, 5:56 AM
Taking walks is an essential part of how I program. They're like garbage collection pauses to clear out irrelevant details that were clogging my thinking. You know how a lot of people say that they do their best thinking in the shower? Walks work the same way.
They're also good for just relaxing.
by michaelfairley on 8/10/10, 5:26 AM
"You will not sweat."
The author has clearly never lived in Texas during the summer. (A decent-length leisurely walk around Austin at midnight during this time of the year will inevitably result in more than enough sweat.)
by dchs on 8/10/10, 8:20 AM
"Nothing, to my way of thinking, is a better proof of a well ordered mind than a man’s ability to stop just where he is and pass some time in his own company."
- Seneca
by neutronicus on 8/10/10, 2:34 PM
I bike.
Something about the scale of the American suburb makes walking totally infuriating for me. I need the wind in my hair and the landscape sliding by to really relax - inching by the same cookie-cutter houses every day kills me.
I enjoy walking in the city or the park, but I can't just impromptu do that.
by johnfn on 8/10/10, 4:44 AM
I liked the article; it expressed something that had been lingering on the edges of my subconscious, but that I had never brought to light - like most good articles do.
What I don't see is why it had to have an anti-American bias. It doesn't help make your point, and all it does is antagonize your American readers. I am an American, I also take walks.
by jleader on 8/10/10, 5:35 AM
I found the article interesting, but I thought it was somewhat overly argumentative. In particular, the claim that immigrants take walks and Americans don't struck me as an implausible over-generalization. I liked his points about the right attire for walking, but the "your walk doesn't count if..." part bothered me.
by leftblank64 on 8/10/10, 5:35 AM
This guy here knows what it's all about: http://imjustwalkin.com/
by d0m on 8/10/10, 4:12 AM
Beautiful article. Quick summary for the lazy hackers: people don't walk for the sake of walking anymore.
The last few paragraphs were the most interesting in my opinion if you don't have the time to read it all.
by k3dz on 8/10/10, 5:42 AM
The Americans never walk. In winter too cold and in summer too hot. ~J.B. Yeats
by kalmar on 8/10/10, 5:49 AM
There can be something akin to meditation in walking, or "taking a walk". An approach I've taken in the past is attempt to hear all the sounds. Not to listen to, just hear. Wherever you are, there are likely enough sounds for this. If you catch yourself focusing on one sound, gently let it go back to the level of the rest. If you find yourself not hearing sounds, gently let yourself hear them again.
I believe this is quite similar to bringing your mind back to the breath in sitting meditation in Vipassana and similar practices, though others may correct me. The difference here is that it's perhaps somehow more obvious when your mind has strayed from its object. In fact, there are forms of walking meditation in Vipassana and other practices. These focus -- again, I believe -- much more on the walking: the walking and its sensations are the object. Generally you would walk up and down a short stretch; this avoid the worry of a route, or how to return to the starting point.
by araneae on 8/10/10, 1:54 PM
He's claiming that he's somehow better than all of us because he takes walks with no purpose. I really doubt that there's any additional benefit to doing so over say, walking your dog. I hate when people try to tell me the "right" way to do something, especially when its benefits are more a superiority badge than tangible.
by warwick on 8/10/10, 4:29 AM
I've made a habit of taking a walk around 2 pm every Sunday. No matter how busy things get between school and business, an hour or so walk helps keep me grounded.
In much the same way that starting the day with breakfast gives my days a sense of rhythm, walking once a week gives my weeks a good demarcation.
by joshu on 8/10/10, 4:15 AM
The ribbonfarm guy really impresses me.
by foxtrot on 8/12/10, 6:33 PM
I am amazed at how may people are saying they grew up with no pavements (sidewalks), is it because they found no need for them as the location was too remote for anyone to walk to anywhere they may need to go or that they thought no one bothered to walk so why spend money laying down something that no one will use?
I take "walks", however not in the sense of the article. I find that a walk before work is great and on your lunch if you have had a crappy morning. However I walk with a purpose, I think about thinks I see, get my brain interested in stuff I wouldn't usually think about. It gives inspiration and helps figure out problems that otherwise seemed impossible to overcome.
by newmediaclay on 8/10/10, 11:48 AM
Amazing read. This also demonstrates another benefit of living near a college campus - acres and acres of beautiful land and architecture just begging to be walked through. It is no surprise to me that one of the few places he saw Americans walking through was a university. I live in Chapel Hill, NC just two blocks from the college and I find time almost every weekend to just stumble through campus to clear my mind, check out new buildings, and enjoy myself.
by city41 on 8/10/10, 5:08 AM
I'm American and I take walks all the time. I rather enjoy walking quite a bit. My favorite was when I used to live in Chicago. The never ending expanse of sidewalk and streets meant I could leave my apartment, and just walk ... for hours. I used to walk home from work at the Field Museum, just because I enjoyed it. Although I guess that doesn't fit his definition of "just taking a walk", as about 3 hours later I'd arrive at a destination, my apartment.
by dionidium on 8/10/10, 5:24 AM
This sense of needing a purpose, a direction, a reason for doing something is certainly not unique to taking a walk. In a diner I frequent I was recently asked if I were a student by one of the servers who has often waited on me while I was reading. I'm not. And his reaction to my answer conveyed a sort of disbelief or at least a hint that I am wasting something, that I am throwing away a chance to convert this time into something tangible, beneficial.
by eitally on 8/10/10, 10:36 AM
The author's implication "taking a walk" as somehow preferable to those other ambulatory activities is more than a little biased. Walking for the sake of walking is still a conscious decision to act, and whether the act of leisure is superlative is a completely subjective decision -- as neilk positive in his reply.
by kristiandupont on 8/10/10, 7:43 PM
I am reminded of Steve Pavlina's article "Go for a Presence Walk". I have submitted it here: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1592732
He takes walks with 100% attention to the immediate sensual inputs. It's basically a kind of meditation.
by jiganti on 8/10/10, 5:24 AM
Immersing yourself in a problem for a long time often establishes a number of assumptions in your brain about how said problem should be solved. When stuck, withdrawal from the direct effort of work can free up some of these assumptions, letting your mind entertain other possible approaches.
by wallflower on 8/10/10, 12:34 PM
A random walk is not just of benefit as an algorithm to software developers but in real life.
by acgourley on 8/10/10, 5:56 AM
I don't take walks. It's not because I'm afraid of how I will be perceived - that's crazy, how could everyone else know? Why would they care?
I just have a lot to do, and when I do have downtime, I prefer to spend it on sites like Hacker News. That's all.
by rue on 8/10/10, 11:47 PM
Me, I like walking. Or going by bus/tram/train/airplane.
I think what I really like is the going somewhere part in general, although not necessarily somewhere in particular.
Walking in itself is one of the more pleasant ways of going somewhere nonparticular.
by prs on 8/10/10, 7:31 AM
I love the energizing effect a walk can have on my mind. What I also love is to have a smartphone and a notebook with me. This allows me to quickly jot down notes and thoughts once I get kissed by a muse.
by Harj on 8/10/10, 5:26 AM
i often take walks, especially in SF. as strange as it may sound i can't think of another activity that gives me as much of a sense of pure freedom as purposeless walking (and thinking) in a city
by themanr on 8/10/10, 7:27 AM
I feel very lucky to live very close to a promenade - a space designed for taking a nice little walk by the sea. As others have said, walking is very helpful for problem solving and creativity.
by dugmartin on 8/11/10, 2:50 AM
If you really want to learn to appreciate slow walks go with a couple of young kids. My wife and go walking most nights after dinner with our two daughters. We call them Zen Walks.
by Qz on 8/10/10, 5:18 AM
I went for a walk today. The fact that my car was in the shop being repaired had absolutely nothing to do with this. Nothing. I swear. I should go check out my new tires.
by karlzt on 8/11/10, 3:14 AM
“All truly great thoughts are conceived while walking”. ~Friedrich Nietzsche
by adnam on 8/10/10, 9:58 PM
Or: how to be patronizing.
by karlzt on 8/11/10, 3:05 AM
why walk in the street? I walk in my house everyday, it's save and I can walk naked.
by jasonwilk on 8/10/10, 5:15 AM
Walk hacks. Definitely a first.