I went for a very early run this morning. The air was clear and brisk. The sun was just coming up. No one was around. It was glorious. So I made my way to my trail and began running. Initially, the run itself felt so good that I didn’t have to focus on anything but the joy of the run. But as I came into my final eighth of a mile (all uphill), I strained to see my house in the distance. All I wanted to do was get home – my final destination. But it seemed so very far away. Everything in me wanted to stop. But then I thought about what I wrote on the blog yesterday and realized I needed to try it and put it to practice to see if my analogy had actually been accurate. So, instead of straining to see my final “resting place” and having that as my only goal, I began to look for treasures along the way – thing that I wouldn’t see if I wasn’t paying attention and looking all around and enjoying the moment.
And then I found it – the huge purple wildflower (or beautiful weed, as it may be) pictured above. It was quiet and could have easily been ignored if all I was doing was straining ahead to get home. And I would have missed it. And guess what? By focusing on the present moment and all it offered, I was home before I knew it and was invigorated instead of exhausted. So, I guess the analogy was correct! It really does work!!!!
On a side note, I have a thought for the day…there is probably nothing more irritating and painful to the ears than having your piano tuned. My tuner just left after working on our piano for a solid hour. It was needed badly and sounds great now. And I know there is a great analogy with the whole tuning process, but it irritated me so much that I didn’t really care about that. I was just really happy to write him the check and enjoy the sweet silence of my house after he left… 🙂
