'We will never again have the chance to be born into a body like this one' - Kalu Rinpoche.

When I read that sentence on this fourth morning of the new year, I realized how it chimed with the new year resolutions some of us will be making. 

Those of my generation - as they stir reluctant joints to greet the dawn - may respond to the prospect of losing this mortal coil with a heartfelt 'thank god for that!' But others less fortunate, hit by unexpected illness, would be grateful to find themselves in a healthier body. 

Emerson said something like 'circulation is health' and everything I've read recently about exercise says there's one easy activity that promotes sustained circulation: walking. The ideal measure, it seems, is ten thousand steps a day. 

One of the virtues of walking is that it doesn't seem like exercise. It's no punishment - certainly if you live in the countryside or near a park - to walk at a brisk pace through wooded lanes or open fields. Yet here in America so few do it; walking ten thousand steps a day is three times the national average! So no wonder half the population is overweight and forty percent of healthcare costs get sucked up by diseases that could be prevented if people took better care of themselves. 

If we can find the time to take a purposeful walk for half an hour, that one act plus the general walking around that we do, will soon chalk up the magic ten thousand. 

There's an additional easy way to pump circulation: a ten minute burst of aerobic exercise. There's a bunch  of apps like 'the 7 minute work out' that can get you short of breath without taking a chunk of time out of your day. 

Here's the thing: despite all our best efforts, health setbacks will come. At whatever age. Walking that promotes circulation is a small premium to pay to delay that day.