Excess Baggage

"I scream, I scream .... ', the words repeated. Expressing my own feelings of the moment. I ran, I ran .....

Underworld - Cowgirl (Everything, Everything)

Occasionally, the start of a run is about cooling the mind down as well as warming up the body. Dislodging the unsettled feelings, thoughts, unfinished business that we sometimes accumulate during the day. Running away the frustrations and annoyances. It is because we share our lives with other people, because we are sociable animals and need to share and communicate that inevitably we meet conflict or create it. If we live in a vacuum then it is unlikely that we will have to address issues that unsettle us.

I reflected on the words of John Trudell, "I am just a human being trying to make it in a world that is very rapidly losing its understanding of being human."

Second time round the fields I became aware that metaphorically I was dropping of these little packages of "excess baggage" and felt more settled and at ease as the run progressed. As an exercise I could have "drop off" points for these negative thoughts and thereby create space for something positive.

Keeping the rhythm of the run I considered another phrase that has stuck with me all day, " ...hope is like waiting to be served. It stops us activating our intelligence/gift, that will help us to find a solution to all these things." John Trudell

John Trudell on hope.

And so I let these thoughts run through my mind with the run and felt invigorated. My intelligence had been engaged and negativity replaced with enlightenment.

 

Working through Tiredness

This morning I did a short run and a short meditation, deciding to put my thoughts to my brother-in-law who is house bound with MS. My mind drifted quite frequently as I hadn't slept well the night before and wasn't running long enough to really get myself "out of the way".

I later received a text message from him to say what a sleepless and painful night he had spent so am happy that I could at least send some positive thoughts his way.

Although this blog is called "Running Meditations", I don't think I will get by without references to Kung Fu or Tai Chi as this feeds into practically everything I do and running is in support of that, rather than instead of.

In the evening I was still very tired and didn't feel I had the energy to go to a 2 hour kung fu session but know from experience that I can train through it and come home feeling enormous benefit - so I did go and I did benefit from it enormously.

Today seems to have been about pushing through and not giving in to worldly matters. There are certainly a lot of challenging things going on in my life at various levels but remarkably they seem to be finding there own equilibrium when I don't wallow in them.

It's interesting that blogging is very much what I decide to leave out, rather than what I choose to put in and I think life is like this as well. It's up to me to decide what I want to focus on.

"Virgin Territory"

Well, after spending ALL morning trying to figure out how to set up a basic blog and include things I may need for future postings, I think I can make an initial forage into the blogging world.


The official postings will be beginning in January 2011 when I begin the "Janathon" daily exercise challenge but as I am already involved in physical activity I'm tempted to post a few samples in the meantime.


Until I get to grips with taking and posting photographs, which make blogs far more inviting, I am using some of my partners images from his ongoing project, "Beating the Bounds". www.christancock.com 


The horse photograph was taken when the local farmers horses escaped into these same fields and illustrate the sense of freedom and elation I feel when running up there.


It seems quite appropriate as I have started running the bounds of these same fields since I badly damaged my ankle running the coast path back in June and still feel a bit wary about running up there again.


For now I need to switch off as I'm rather computer dazed!


(Above all, I don't want to make a borrrring blog.)