Run
No swim yet today – lush sunny morning – short of time – so ran instead…through the trees of the forest in the crisp air it was literally a run in Heaven. The world uncannily silent with the winds of yesterday having finally gone away.
Strange as you run, always have the sense that I am as much running the dogs as running my own body, feeling slightly detached from the physical doing and more aware of my head/thoughts as a separate entity. Head today was running its usual program…what to ‘do’ next, ways forward, how to juggle energies and time, keep everything running (excuse the pun) smoothly and still have energy and ‘space’ for new things to manifest into my life… and how to do that…. – nothing major!!?
It’s ok when you are out running in a forest on a wide open track…out for the experience… firm footing, sunny day, everything appearing bright and optimistic…
Ever tried running in a bog?
Running in a bog is hard graft…the ground literally sinks beneath your feet and rather than finding a firm footing you find yourself sinking into squelching stinking mud up to your calves. Not pleasant and quite scary, all your energy is drained into staying upright and not staying in one place too long for fear of sinking so deep that you get stuck. It is really tough and go nowhere…fast. To make matters worse the mud is heavy, a slog, and after a while the motion of picking up your feet to run hurts, muscles burn, trail shoes stick in the mud and come off… emotions kick in adding to the minefield…slog-city.
Pretty much what it feels like when you feel that you cant see away forward and try and extrapolate what you ‘should’ or ‘ought’ to do. Emotions can implode and you literally get stuck, just like the bog, stuck in a quagmire of heavy emotions.
Yet if you can take a breather and cut yourself some slack…there is always some movement forward however slow the progress appears on the surface. We have all done it, procrastinated, self-judged, beat ourselves up for being stupid, useless and a ‘failure’…all well and good but it doesn’t change anything – doesn’t help us get out of the bog…
Only thing that does is focusing on each small step and doing those…keep moving… eventually you do get out the bog and onto that enjoyable open forest track…with the birds singing and everything feeling bright and cheerful… still may not know exactly where you are going, but does that matter? Surely after all it’s the experience of the actual ‘journey’ that is as important – if not more so – than any ‘destination’?
Food for reflection… whilst running….
Enjoy your journey X