Divine Peace

I have been reading a book for several months called Running the Spiritual Path. I often read it as a thought-provoking book to give me a focus for my morning runs. This morning the section I read talked about how, if you are running for a spiritual experience, a successful run doesn't necessarily depend on the weather or how you feel or your pace. It depends on your focus - on your breath or on a mantra or on Spirit or whatever you like to call it. For me, sitting meditation is hard. I am a mover! I have enjoyed this book a lot because it suggests many ways to incorporate meditation and a spiritual time into your running life. Running is inherently spiritual to me - a time to be alone, to soak in the outdoors, to be quiet, to be instrospective. This book has given me ideas on many ways to enhance that experience.

This morning I focused on the mantra, "I am divine peace." I repeated it in my head to the rhythm of my footsteps. As my mind wandered, I drew it back to those words, over and over. I often try to hold a mantra or words in my head while I'm running, but I made a special effort today to do this the entire 5 miles. I think it's one of those things that the more I practice, the more consistent I will be. I loved the feeling I had today.

Then on my way back across the bridge to my ending spot, I said a special blessing of peace to every car that passed me. It felt like I was sharing some of that "stored up" peace I had collected earlier in my run.