A change in philosophy and thinking

Ever since I was introduced to the writings of Dan Millman's Peaceful Warrior, it really has made me take a good look at my own life. It has allowed me to focus more on the present instead of the past or future. I've taken this approach to my running and today it really paid off.

I travelled to Ancaster today where I will be running my 100 mile race next Saturday. I've done the course 2 years ago but haven't been back since. It was an opportunity to run the course and get a feel for what I'll be doing next weekend. I used to do a race/run with the thought of finishing it and what that would look like at the end. I had this mental picture of myself crossing the finish line, hands held high and having a smile on my face. In my quest for that "picture" though, I realize that I've been missing out on enjoying the journey to get there.

This is not an easy philosophy to grasp as it's so easy for me to work from goal to goal. I don't want to miss out on the excitement that getting to that goal brings though because then I'm living in the future instead of the present. When I did my 20K run this morning I tried to focus on just my running and not on things in the past or future. When the rain started to pour down it became harder not to focus on just finishing as fast as I could but when I started to let my mind drift too much I realized that my running became harder. The more I focused on other things, the harder it became. We all have so much "junk" in our heads so I'm trying to "take out the trash" so that I can concentrate more on the here and now.

In a nutshell, that's what I get out of being a "Peaceful Warrior." It's something that my clients are going to hear about so they'll either have to get with the program or bring earphones to their sessions (LOL). As I've done with running, I want to plant these "seeds" in as many people's heads as I can as I think it is a philosophy that can increase peoples' inner strength. Finding the power from within is something that many of us refuse to do. It's not that they don't have the capability to do so but rather I think it's because they are afraid of what will happen when they let go of their own fear of what will happen in the future instead of worrying about what is happening right now.

The more distance running I do, the more I feel that this philosophy will help me. If I try to worry about how long this race may take then I won't appreciate the steps I'll need to take to get there. Instead of waiting for the finish line to come, I want to be surprised at when it gets there, only then will I have succeeded in living like a true Warrior.