Walk Slowly.

Tabula 1

I learned this lesson on April 4, 2016 over dinner with Ellen Langer, the first woman ever to be tenured at Harvard in psychology. She’s known as the “mother of mindfulness.” As we chatted she clearly argued her career thesis: the simple act of noticing the new (or “re-noticing” the old) can revolutionize and improve your way of being in and appreciation of the world.

When I asked her how to practice mindfulness, she responded with a simple challenge: walk slowly, and notice. As I exited Harvard’s Dunster House, I began to notice the Smell of the leaves. The cracked Bricks in Harvard’s facade. The Feel of wet spring grass molding around my thin shoes. In my classes and conversations, I noticed my own biases and began to slow down to truly create meaningful and thoughtful comments.

In our modern world of get-rich-quick and rushing immediately from one packaged digital experience to the next, I find it cathartic to walk. Slowly .

Ever since, I’ve walked slowly: both literally and figuratively.

- MB

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