It is Ash Wednesday, and, yes, I have the ashes on my forehead now as I write. I will go up and wash them off before I go to bed, but now they are there, dark black with a big +. That means Lent has officially begun as of today and this is my only goal for Lent this year: walk for 20 – 30 minutes a day. Not much, but I am aware that if I don’t build this habit into my life, then I will not live to the ripe old age I have in mind.

Writing is a sedentary occupation, as is teaching students one-on-one, which means I sit on my ever-widening rear end a large portion of every day. In the past, I had kids to tend and lots of clothes to fold and put away and a busy household that kept me running from morning until night, but those days have shifted now, and so has my body. No longer am I lean and mean, but rather pudgy and in not-so-good-a-mood. Yes, it ain’t pretty.

Never mind that my New Year’s resolution was this same one and I have failed at that. Never mind that we’re only talking less than 30 minutes a day. I have found that the longer you sit the more you want to sit even when you know that you would enjoy being out and about. Some sort of brain freeze sets in and you find yourself – I find myself – frozen. Couch Potato Central is a less philosophical way to describe it and if I keep this up, honestly, I will simply fold in on myself within a few years. The organs will shudder and give up the ghost, as my mother used to say.

And speaking of mother, the woman who had three heart attacks in her sixties, uh-oh, I’m nearing that age myself. So, what else do I need to motivate myself to get off my ever-loving ass? A plan, that’s what and this is it. I will walk my beloved dog Cordelia every day before my students arrive – no later than noon – and then I can bask in the knowledge all the rest of the day that I have done something positive for my health each day.

So, hello Lent and hello dog leash and hello world. Time to open the front door and venture outside. I hear it’s warm out there since I live in Southern California where it was 75 today. And, yes, I went on a walk today to begin my new habit and guess what? It felt remarkably easy to do and actually good. Good enough to get me up and moving again tomorrow.

Okay, that’s it. Nothing grand. Nothing that spiritual. Just a good practice to keep the heart ticking. On that note, I’m heading to bed. After all, I have a walk tomorrow and I need to rest up.