Looking Up

We have been given a reprieve- a weather reprieve. It looked like the Roadrunner of fall had plunged off the Wyle E. Coyote cliff of winter, but it is back! It was literally freezing last week. It was so cold and miserably wet that we broke our house rule of not turning on the heat until November. But the weather in Pittsburgh today is sunny and 70 degrees.

This change has certainly impacted how I feel about walking to work, if not my actual commuting habit. Last week I committed to walking at least one way to work everyday- rain or shine or sleet. I don't actually mind walking in cooler temperatures. A walk in 45 degree air gives me the incentive to walk at a good clip and when I arrive, I am not in need of a shower. But it does very little for my mood while I am walking. It is fair to say that Pittsburgh is grey more days than not, and the route I walk to or from work is the same everyday. The same litter on the sidewalk, the same buildings, the same other people rushing to work. It all feels the same at 45 degrees.

I have been listening to my favorite radio podcasts during my commutes, and, as I am fond of telling almost anyone who is kind enough to listen, they have dramatically improved my life. I am more informed and less bored. I don't always listen on the way to work, because I like to ease into the day and think about what's ahead. But I unwind with them at the end of the day, and find myself most often choosing the way home for my walking portion. You can find me grinning and laughing my way along Penn Avenue during the evening rush.

However, with sunshine and 70 degrees, I have thrown off the headphones. I was inspired by an article in Natural Home magazine called "Change Your Awareness, Change Your Life" by Carol Venolia. She is a sustainable communities teacher at Dominican University of California. In the article, she explains how she challenges her students to reconnect to their senses, many of which, she says, we mute to deal with the stress and strain of modern life. For example, we may not hear birds singing often because we have tuned out the other less pleasant noises in our environment, like car horns blaring.

Venolia says, "At the end of class, I send students home with an expanded assignment: At least once a day, stop and notice how the air feels, where the sun is, the wind's direction, the terrain, vegetation, critters; then write it all down."

She is interested in how this information may change her students' awareness, and impact their lives and their work as planners and designers.

So I have been thinking about how doing this once a day, or even once a week, could change my perception of my walks, my commute, myself. Where am I most comfortable, and why? What about the commute is unpleasant for me, and how can I change that? Do I feel happy, sad, or something else at different points or different times of the day? I have a feeling it will be easier today than next week when the temperature drops again. That may be a clue in itself.