You should write about that…

I was walking to the Student Feedback session on the Strategic Planning process with our Registrar, Ms. Jamie Tan and we were talking about the beauty of campus. I observed that her sensitivity to the beauty of this flower and that tree is a definition of an awe walk. “What is an awe walk?”, she asked. An awe walk, I explained, is an intentional act of noticing the details on a walk that amaze us and invite us into a place of transcendence. In a recent study, two groups were encouraged to walk once a week and document their feelings. Those who just went for a walk did not enjoy the health benefits that those had who consciously went on an awe walk. The latter enjoyed a whole host of health benefits that the regular walkers did not enjoy.

It is such a simple thing to do. Walk noticing the beauty of the world. We should all learn this skill, especially on the GTS campus: we should take a moment to notice the bird, the flower, and the tree. If we do this simple act, then we will feel better about the world but, more importantly, actually be better in the world.

As I explained all this to Jamie, she said, “You should write about that in the Commentary”. So, thank you Jamie, I have just done so.

The Very Rev. Ian S. Markham, Ph.D.
Dean and President of Virginia Theological Seminary and the President of The General Theological Seminary