Beautiful February

I empathize with the majority of the country that is blanketed in snow - I know what those harsh winters are like. To my great fortune, I am in an area that is more beautiful than I can explain, and on February 6th, it is 73 degrees and gorgeous outside. So, in honor of such a day, I am sharing some more lovely pictures of the area near me where I love to run/hike/look out the window.

My only advice would be - come visit me. 

Battering Ram

I had a strange encounter with myself the other day while I was running. Recently, I've been experiencing some hip pain after running and I've been trying to figure out how to alleviate the problem. I determined that I must be running incorrectly and my body has been experiencing undue pressure on certain joints and muscles because of this. Therefore, I decided to make this run about figuring out what I was doing.

I think the best way to share this story and the surprising effect of the experience is to try to tell it as a train of thought, as I was experiencing it.
________
I'm running, trying to pay attention to the distribution of weight that I am putting on each foot as I land on it.

It seems like my right foot is getting a little more weight on the outside of the foot. That's probably not correct. I don't think running on the toes or the heels would be right, but it also seems heavy-hitting to land directly on the middle of my foot. And of course, my left foot isn't doing the same thing - my left foot is hitting the ground pretty much straight on.

Ok, let's see.

(I start running with my right foot turned in slightly, making it strike on the ground in perfect connection with the middle of the foot)

Hmm, yes that does seem to make my hip feel better...

(About a minute later)

I'm starting to feel my hip again, I wonder why.

Did I fall back into my old running position? I thought I was paying attention and holding onto it correctly.

Oh.

Wait.

I'm holding myself up from my hip muscles. That must be why I'm feeling this pain in my hips.

Am I compensating for putting full weight on my right foot?

(Releasing my hip muscle and putting the full weight on my right foot)

I feel like my hip is twitching! I keep trying to release the muscles that are holding, and they keep trying to grip again. Grrrr.....

(Thirty seconds later)

Man, now there's a pain in my right foot.

That's kind of familiar...

Oh - I have a fallen arch in that foot, don't I? I remember that was a pretty big deal when I was a kid, but it went away.

Or so I apparently thought.

Huh. I must have been compensating by holding myself up at the hip so I wasn't putting full pressure on my right foot and causing pain. Must have thought I didn't have that arch problem anymore, but really I masked it with masterful 'throw-a-newspaper-over-the-spill-and-it's-not-there-anymore' skills.

I have shoes with good arch support, but I think I'm going to need something even more supportive in my right foot.

Ah ha, that's an interesting discovery.

(One second later)

Ack! Whoa! Jeez, mud! You almost made me slip. It's been so rainy lately. Falling on my face would have been unpleasant.

(Ten seconds later)

Ow, my hip is hurting again. Jeez, I can't keep putting so much weight on my feet. I need to hold myself up by my core.

(Tighten my hip muscles)

Yeah, that's what I should be doing but, ow...that hurts more. Maybe I'm not squeezing tight enough.

(Tighten and release muscles, tighten them more)

Um....

(Start walking)

Wait a minute....
______
Ok, so here's where we come back to third person narration. Either you're thinking I'm a complete moron, or a goldfish. And yes, I realize my hip muscles are not the same as my core. However, I won't give myself the benefit of the doubt and assume that I'm either (although I do agree that I could focus better, as a general rule). What I recognize here is that beloved enemy of mine - my logical/left-brained mind.

Somehow, I seem to think that I should just stick with what I know. Apparently my logical mind thinks that any information it has is the correct, and best, information, and trying to replace it with something else is inefficient and offensive. Therefore, anything that comes onto my radar suggesting that I have to change that which I've made deeply habitual is not worth listening to - well, maybe it is worth listening to for a short period of time, to experience wonderment and excitement at solving a problem to appeal to my ego, but then Lefty just convinces me to revert back to business as usual.

I'm a little miffed at my logical mind, to be honest. But I also have to accept responsibility for letting it run so wild. I was shocked that a simple jolt, or distraction, was enough for my left brain to manipulate the disturbance almost instantaneously and put things back the way it wanted it.

It's much harder to catch instantaneous switches like that, but now that I'm aware and on the lookout, my hope is that these behaviors will become easier to see. And then, I will be able to run correctly and stop upsetting my hips. And I will stop reverting to habitual emotional behaviors that are equally detrimental.

Running is becoming a great analogy for how I'm living my life. I love when unexpected circumstances are what teach us about those things we've been looking for in a seemingly more obvious place.

Grubbs Artist

As a side note, there aren't many Google-able paintings out there of runners. Just saying. 

A challenge of experience

My challenge to you this week: Re-learn an experience in your life that has become routine.

Tonight I went running along the winding, hilly path that I ride down every day in my car. Normally I don't like to run on pavement and prefer the woods, but it was late and raining and I didn't want to have a nasty, muddy incident.

It's amazing the experience you can have when you are seeing the usual and comfortable from a new point of view. I experienced the shape of the road differently, I learned cracks and bumps in the pavement that I had never walked on before, I saw the architectural diversity in the houses along the road more acutely than I had before.

When routine becomes a habit and you are on auto-pilot, it's beneficial to jump-start the ordinary and experience what already exists in your life in a new way. So this week, I challenge you all to just that. Re-learn the life you are living, and find new things to be inspired by.

The Immediate Mind

As a runner, it would only be natural to share a metaphorical anecdote (can you use 'metaphor' as an adjective? Can those words be paired together as one noun? Probably not, but anyway...) about running - in relation to my thought process.

While running today, I decided that I was going to try not to think of anything - use a simple meditation to allow my eyes to see the woods that I was running through, my nose to smell the air, my lungs to take in breath regularly, and generally be present with a quiet mind.

I think I lasted a few minutes. Then, maybe 10 minutes later I realized that I'd started thinking, planning, calculating, and I missed the transition somehow. So I reign the beast in, tugging harshly on the leash of my giddy thought-tangent-puppies, and work on calming my mind once again. Suddenly I'm back, but this time I feel the switch. I am deeper in my body, my body feels more real, and I'm present.

The interesting thing: suddenly my lungs and body set off "I'm-not-going-to-last-as-long-as-I-just-thought-I-would!" and "Woah!-sudden-intensity-added-to-this-process" alarms.

Where this lead me is to an understanding of productivity. When I am present and focused in the moment, I am working hard and getting results. At this point my process also involves the increased work of constantly having to reign my mind in and remind myself, "you can be enjoying this more fully!". Regardless, when I accomplish something in this mindset, it is from a deeper place - a place of strength, power, and creativity. It is harder, and it should be.

What I accomplish when I'm scattered/busy/work-driven and in what I am going to call my "Immediate Mind" is excessive and seemingly productive, but shallow. I can think about meaningless scheduling, details, numbers, and sketch out ideas I don't follow through on, running for two miles without realizing it, but I'm not getting the same workout as I do when I begin thinking about something more powerful. Then my body is more fully engaged; I might run less of a distance, but the quality of my run has vastly improved.

Quality, not quantity - I can sum this entry up into those three words.

The word "quality" is quite amusing to me. In 6th grade I had a teacher who always was licking his lips. He must have had some sort of Dry Lip Syndrome or something, because every other word he was sticking out his big ol' tongue and circling it around the front of his face. And I'm not just talking about a dainty lip moisten. This was a face lapping.

And his favorite word to say to us - Quality.

It might have been his favorite word because he could do the face slobbering while saying the word at the same time: his tongue would emerge while saying the 'L'.

So anyway. I guess the tongue was distracting me from the validity of his respect for quality.

If it takes longer to gain knowledge and skill, so be it.  I'm going to find my creativity through re-learning patience.

I want to more consistently drink from a much deeper well.

Breathe Deeply