For the last week my mind has been preoccupied by a Topic. I don't want it to be.

When I walk I like my mind to be free-spirited, bopping around loosely from one idea to another. That's healthy.

Yesterday and today while I was walking Topic kept intruding. Entirely unwanted.

But I've found a tactic that really helps me. As I walked I touched my thumbs to each finger on the same hand in turn, index finger first, and counted: 1, 2, 3, 4. Easy.

Then I started with the little finger. Still easy.

Then I counted up then down on the one hand: 1, 2, 3, 4, 4, 3, 2, 1. That was actually a little harder.

Next I tried counting up, then down without doubling the end fingers: 1, 2, 3, 4, 3, 2, 1, 2, 3, ….

Hmm, suddenly I was unsure if 4 was followed by 3 or not. Finally I reversed the direction of travel.

These tricks totally occupied my brain and Topic couldn't get a purchase. Hooray!

This all reminded me of when I started learning line dancing and my first discovery was that I could count to 1!

Perhaps this trick can help you sometime if you're out for a walk and a Topic keeps bugging you.

And here's a bonus photo of a slightly overexposed Pied Stilt from today's beach walk.

Pied stilt with reflection.