Freeing the Beast

Recently I have taken up the exercise of running. At one point, five years and thirty pounds ago, I would run two miles daily. These daily runs at the time were a thing of magic and I often looked forward to them throughout the day.

Over the weekend I changed gears in my running routine, if you call one week of participation a routine, and took the jog outside in lieu of the gym. It was this jog in my neighborhood, nowhere near two miles by the way; that I realized what I had been missing this past half a decade.

There is something so natural and basic that emerges in the person who is exerting themselves by running/jogging. It is as if the world slips away and you are able to become just what you were meant to be: a living, breathing, adapting creature.

All too often we humans muck everything up with our complicated way of doing things. What we need to do is just step back and remember that we are all just here for a season and we need to enjoy the world in which we live.

We need to experience the sun shining on our face and the moon cooling the air. We need to find shade under a tree and allow the grasses to tickle our feet. We need to feel the adrenaline of an exerted body and the peace from the rest that comes after. We need to stop and remember that none of it matters as much as we think it does.

Today I challenge you to go run, maybe not in the physical, but at least in the spiritual. Let your spirit run before you and experience the world in which you live in a new way. Experience it in the way that you have forgotten.