5 Ways to Leave a Lasting And Unique Impact
Plus: The Art of Japanese Walking
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Discussion:
What do you think about Japanese Walking?
5 Ways To Leave A Lasting And Unique Impact
1. Write a memoir
Write a memoir or series of memoirs. It’s a good way to leave a legacy for future generations of your family to know what your life was like. There are several ways to publish your manuscript. The traditional route is to submit a query letter to an established agent and wait to see if they take you on. You might have to apply to many agents, which can take time. The quicker way would be to pay to publish - what’s known as ‘vanity publishing’, or to self-publish. Most people know of Amazon KDP for self-publishing, which is a print-on-demand service, but it’s not the only such platform. Other print-on-demand publishing platforms are: IngramSpark, Barnes & Noble Press, Draft 2 Digital, and Lulu. Here’s an article I wrote about how I self-published my book via Amazon KDP.
2. Create a painting, craftwork or photograph
Create an artwork or craftwork, or have a photo taken and framed, and give it as a gift to a family member to pass down through future generations as an heirloom.
3. Research your family tree
To start your family tree, gather as much information as you can from the older members of your family. Ask for all they know about grandparents, great-grandparents and their siblings, and start a basic handwritten tree with what you find out. Then take the search online. Websites like Ancestry.com, Ancestry.co.uk, Find My Past and My Heritage are all good places to start. Wikitree.com is completely free.
The others can be searched for free but when you want to access records you need to pay. You will also need to buy birth, marriage and death certificates from the central registration office of your country. In Britain, it’s the General Register Office. You’ll have much pleasure in the research of your ancestors and your family will appreciate knowing who contributed to their gene pool.
4. Plant a tree
The National Trust in the UK offer a scheme where you make a donation and they will plant a tree in memory of a loved one, or as a gift. You could also have your name attached, so your family will have a tree to remember you by. The World Land Trust offer a similar scheme but I’m not sure you get your name mentioned anywhere. It’s still a good thing to do and your family could be told. The Woodland Trust in the UK will dedicate a tree for you and send you a pack.
5. Have a rose or other plant named after you
The Royal Horticultural Society in the UK have an article about how you can get a plant named after a loved one or yourself.
Rose Names takes the work involved in the process of naming a rose for you, and will supply a plant duly named.
The Art of Japanese Walking
Walking is a free and effective way to keep fit. Everyone is urged to walk as much as they can these days, now that science has established the importance of staying active in our older years. There are many ways to walk. I mentioned some of them in a post not long ago. Now, here’s another one. Japanese Walking, or ‘the 3-3 walking workout’. It’s the equivalent of interval training in the world of walking, and originates from a 2007 study. It was developed for the study at a university in Japan, hence its name.
It involves bursts of fast and slow walking as a type of HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training) workout. The same benefits as other HIIT workouts are achieved, it increases your heart rate and improves fitness levels. Participants in the study completed 3 minutes of very brisk walking, followed by 3 minutes of slower walking. This is how you are recommended to do it. The brisk walking should elevate your heart rate and your breathing rate. You do 5 rounds of each speed alternately.
In the study, 60 men and 168 women took part in exercises over 5 months. They were divided into three groups: no walking training, moderate- intensity continuous walking training and high-intensity interval walking training. The high-intensity group took part in 5 or more sets of 3 minute interval walking training. The moderate-intensity group had to walk 8,000 steps a day. Both groups had to walk 4 or more days a week.
The high-intensity group were found to have the greatest improvements in leg strength and reduction in blood pressure. Researchers in the study concluded that this type of walking can also protect against age-associated increases in blood pressure and natural decreases in thigh strength and aerobic capacity. Four times a week is recommended but once a week could be enough to create change.
So if you’re looking to take your walking to the next level, Japanese walking may be the answer. You just need a stop watch, or method of marking the time. Though, as it’s strenuous you should ensure you are medically cleared to do so.
Discussion
What do you think about Japanese Walking?
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The art of Japanese walking with its alternating faster and slower walking is a great method for improving your speed and fitness. I have been doing it for years. But 3 minutes is quite a long time if you are not used to speeding up or have lost your fitness. I developed a method I call one lamp post two posts (although it actually involves 3 of them - I describe it in my book Go Walking). It was very helpful in getting me going after a long bout of Epstein Barr/glandular fever. As I was recovering, I started walking regularly and walked a bit faster between two of lamp posts, then dropping back to my original rather slow pace between the next two. Just that one faster section was how I started off. As I improved I started alternating fast and slow between successive lamp posts. It took me quite a while to build up to a adding more and more of the alternating fast and slows. But over a year, I managed to get back to a consistent faster pace as well as increasing the distances that I could walk. So if you are just starting out on improving your fitness, or if you are older, have been illl as I have been or are older and not quite so athletic as you were, you might find this a gentler and more encouraging version than the Japanese version.
living in a walkable city has made the world of difference for my mental and physical wellbeing