Simply Be Quiet

"Simply be quiet. Be with Yourself in the stillness. Do this daily. Just stop. Stop all your doingness. Stop all your thinking. Stop all your thinking. Just be for a while. Take an hour every day at dawn and give it to Yourself. Meet Your self there in the holy moment. Then go about your day. You will be a different person." ~ N.D. Walsch

I love this quote. Simply being. Not feeling the need to do or think or talk or clean house or run or eat or anything. Simply being. I wonder why this is so incredibly hard to instill in my life. That feeling of guilt when I am just sitting, just being, the feeling that I "should be" doing something.

I find time in my days to take are of my family, to keep a reasonably clean home, to provide meals for us all most days! I find time to run, to read, to shower, to write, to answer emails, to write in my journal, to do my work. And yet finding - or making - time to just be always seems to get left out, to get lost in the myriad of activities that I "need" to do.

I am really drawn to the idea of meditation. I have been for years. I made a commitment to myself in 2011 that I will incorporate meditation into my days. I have done this with varying degrees of success. My daughter and I will occasionally sit and meditate together before bed, and this is such a special time. I will sit by myself - usually before I go to bed, and sometimes just sit, sometimes repeat a word or phrase in my head, sometimes just try to be aware of my breath, occasionally I listen to a meditation cd. I like the idea of moving meditation - running for me. I can easily repeat a mantra in my head to the rhythm of my footsteps or try to focus on the feeling of my body as I'm moving or try to become very aware of my surroundings.

Sometimes I get an amazing feeling of quiet and stillness and peacefulness that overtakes me - even for the briefest of moments. I feel a deepening of my Self and feel that at those times I catch a glimpse of my very Soul. I want to cultivate more of those moments into my days, into my life.

Still Moments

"Learn to pause...or nothing worthwhile will catch up to you." ~Doug King

I have felt so much better this week and though it's been a rather stressful week at work, I've had some lovely moments of just being.

~lying in bed with my daughter as she reads to me

~snuggling with my husband in a chair not quite big enough for both of us

~having a lovely conversation with my mom

~finishing on lovely book, The Lost Hours, and immersing myself in another, Angela's Ashes

~listening to a wild storm in the night - torrential rain, howling wind - I love storms!

~running and listening to the wind whispering in my ears this morning

~really stopping and seeing a beautiful sunrise

~teaching some precious 3 and 4 years olds yesterday

Running with Others

"Jogging is very beneficial. It's good for your legs and feet. It's also very good for the ground. It makes it feel needed." ~ Charles, Schulz, Peanuts (one of my all time favorite running quotes!)

I particularly enjoy running in the woods. The solitary time, the out-in-nature feel, the animals, the quiet, the peacefulness of being in the woods are so appealing to me. Dirt trails feel so good to my body, my knees in particular!

But life dictates that if I'm going to get a run in that often I am going to be running on the road, in town, surrounded by people and buildings. One of my very favorite runs in this scenario is across several bridges spanning the river. I love the bridges in all seasons - hot and sunny, cool and misting rain, covered in snow! I often run really early in the morning and enjoy the sun rising in all its glory right over the river. Each day is totally different. Sometimes the sky is on fire with pinks, red, and oranges and other times it is covered in dark clouds with only a strip of sunlight peeking through here and there. Carrying my camera along to capture these incredible moments adds a great deal to my time spent outside.

I ran yesterday afternoon while my daughter played with a friend. I had run 14 miles on Sunday and normally would have done a short run or no run at all. Many of my runs are all about the time available though so off I went for a nice 7 mile run. I felt surprisingly good and enjoyed a really windy run! I kept seeing the same people walking or running the bridges also. The running community here is nice and friendly for the most part - people nod and wave or smile and speak. As much as I like running alone and get so much out of the solitude, I also enjoy being part of something else. Smiling at someone and knowing they are out there enjoying - hopefully! - a bit of time to themselves, soaking in the beauty of the river and sky, stretching their bodies and moving and feeling their hearts beating just like I am.

Peace and Solitude

"I run because it's my passion, and not just a sport. Every time I walk out the door, I know why I'm going where I'm going, and I'm already focused on that special place where I find my peace and solitude." ~ Sasha Azevedo

A perfect, nature-filled day! I made sure to drink tons of juice and water yesterday and this morning and I don't kow if it was being better hydrated or just that my cold/cough has pretty much run its course after 2 weeks, but I felt so much better running this morning.

I ran for 2 1/2 hours and didn't see a single other person the whole time. It was heavenly! I am defintely a loner when it comes to running. I crave the solitude and the quiet. I love being able to run as fast or as slow as I want, to stop and just listen if I want, to veer off on a trail that catches my eye. Occasionally the thought of running with someone else is appealing but for the most part, I highly prefer going solo.

The weather was a bit cooler than it's been for the past few days but it felt great. I saw 2 beautiful red tailed hawks, a coyote, tons of squirrels, and about 20 deer. I heard woodpeckers banging the trees and little peeper frogs already croaking. I found a beautiful feather and saw so many pine cones.

One of the trails I chose today was covered in a carpet of dry grass with bits of green shooting up among the brown ~ a beautiful sight. The sky was overcast and the woods felt almost eerie at times. I chose a totally different path to run today - actually lots of different paths - and I will run them again as they were beautiful. I really love running in the winter and spring - no mosquitos, no extreme heat. I love the way the bare branches look pressed against the winter sky.

I woke up almost nervous about trying to make it 14 miles today after my fiasco of a run last weekend and how I've felt this week, but the morning could not have been any better. I am filled with peace and quiet and alone time to get me started on this week!

Celebrating Friendship

"Life is partly what we make it and partly what it is made by the friends we choose." ~ Tennessee Williams

My daughter and I had our 3rd annual Love and Friendship Tea today. We have the best friends in the world. Our home was filled with friends we've had for a lifetime and others who have crossed our paths just this year. People from 5 years old to those in their 70's came to celebrating friendship with us today, and I feel so very blessed.

The kids mostly played out in the yard and in the woods - climbing trees, playing hide 'n seek, running, swinging on the tire swing. The temperature was really mild with blue skies and a slight breeze, ideal of being outdoors.

The grown-ups wandered in and out checking on the kids, eating, laughing, visiting, catching up with old friends and making new ones. I love having a conglomeration of people over and seeing who enjoys talking to whom. I love the circle of friends we have attracted to us and felt so happy today to have so many of them in the same place.

Many of my friends were otherwise occupied or out of town today, but I am filled with their presence today anyway. I went through a period of time when I did not feel like I had many friends, but somehow having this yearly get-together emphasizes for me how lucky I am to have so many special people in my life and in the life of my daughter. I love setting aside one day every year to consciously focus on them and really appreciate their presence in my life. It inspires me to want to nurture these friendships even more in the days to come.

Rockin' Along

"...I heard a neigh. Oh, such a brisk and melodious neigh that was!My very heart leaped with delight at the sound." ~ Nathaniel Hawthorne

I have been feeling so poorly. Very unusual for me. I usually have too much energy! That's one thing running is good for - somewhere to put all of that movement. But for the past week and a half, I've felt really unlike myself. I am making it through my days and then sleeping tons at night. Surely it will pass soon...

In the midst of all of this, I have really had a busy, nice time. I took 2 days off work to be with my daughter during her winter break. I did really BIG things on those days which were great. On Friday, we took out literally every single thing from her room and moved in some beautiful antique furniture that was my great-aunt's and great grandmother's. She is thrilled with her room.

Then on Saturday, we spend the day with my mom and 2 of my daughter's friends almost completing a new alphabet book we have been thinking about and working on for months. It's been an amazingly fun project and I love that the three of us are working on it together. I have contacted the printer and my friend that is going to lay it out so we will have a book before too long!

On Sunday, I had scheduled to run 13 miles and I did, but it was just miserable. I was out in the woods on my favorite trails on a lovely, warmish day so it should have been heaven, but I just felt awful. I was dehydrated a bit and that didn't help. I did see some deer and lots of birds and it was not too muddy so that was wonderful. I stopped and stretched and walked a bit and even sat down on a stump at about 10 miles and rested! I made it back to my car all in one piece and had a good feeling of accomplishment that I was done!

Monday we celebrated Valentine's Day, and we went to ride horses which is always so relaxing and fun. I took lots of pictures and enjoyed being outside a lot.

And other than that, I've not been inspired to do much of anything - not reading, not cooking, just lots of sleep! We are having our annual Love and Friendship Tea tomorrow and I'm looking forward to having lots of friends over and celebrating Love and Friendship!

Reflection

This picture makes me happy :)