Church Bells in Vienna
Church Bells
in Vienna
Four and a half hours on a train from Prague to Vienna. I watched the Austrian countryside pass by the window.
When I arrived at the station I was about to call for an Uber when I saw that it was just a little over a mile walk. Luggage and all. Even with the heat. My intuition told me to walk and so I did.
And that is when it happened.
Red brick. Nestled quietly in the middle of the block. The kind of church you almost walk past without noticing.
And then the bells started ringing.
I imagine it to be a welcoming. Just for me. 😉
I stopped walking. I stood there listening. And let Vienna introduce herself to me.
What follows are more magical scenes. Children playing violin in front of St. Charles Cathedral. I happen to walk right past the Musikverein. A beautiful fountain. I was in awe at every turn that I was not at all bothered by the scorching heat and the giant luggage I'm lugging around.
It was a beautiful walk and it had only been my first 20 minutes in Vienna.
There is a growing body of research on what psychologists call embodied cognition. The idea that the body is not just a vehicle for the brain but an active participant in how we think, decide, and perceive the world around us.
When I chose to walk instead of call the Uber, I was not making a logical decision. I was following a felt sense. A pull. Something in my body that said go this way.
And what my body knew was this. The slower you move through a new place, the more of it you actually receive. Research on attention and perception consistently shows that when we slow down, when we are on foot rather than in a car, when we are present rather than in transit, we notice exponentially more. The church. The bells. The children playing violin. The fountain.
None of that happens in the back of an Uber.
This trip is an experiment in intuition. Every sign, every sound, every feeling I would usually talk myself out of. I am following all of it. And it has not led me wrong once.
Vienna introduced herself in the best possible way.
I was paying attention.
A children's book about fear, courage, and the wisdom of the body. Written for children. Needed by all of us.
Get Hello FluttersBefriending your fear is where healing begins.
These stories are proof of that. Not theory. Not framework. Just the road, and what it asked of me.
Dr. Maria Grace Wolk · mariagracewolk.com