Another highly beneficial activity The Joy of Creativity talks about is… walking.

Yes, just that simple. If you want to think more clearly, or creatively, take a walk.

And, as with her decluttering claims, author Jessica Singh backs up this advice with results of scientific studies.

“According to a study conducted at Stanford, creative thinking improves while a person is walking and during the short time after they return from a walk.” Walkers were compared with sitters, and with themselves, and their creative output while walking increased 60% over when they just sat.

The Mayo Clinc also tells us that walking helps overcome depression.

It doesn’t even matter much whether you walk outside or inside. Or if you’re by yourself or with a companion—although walking with a work colleague can add the benefit of furthering your business together. Both Steve Jobs and Mark Zuckerman became well-known for their “walking meetings” where great ideas were born.

The concept, however, is not new. Note these famous quotes from the past:

Thoughts come clearly while one walks. ~Thomas Mann

“Me thinks that the moment my legs begin to move, my thoughts begin to flow. ~Henry David Thoreau

“I only went out for a walk, and finally concluded to stay out till sundown, for going out, I found, was really going in. ~John Muir

“I have two doctors, my left leg and my right. ~G.M. Trevelyan

So… down in the dumps? Or, down on ideas? Or in need of a physcial uplift? Take a walk!

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