I think, therefore I run

Whenever I run for more than, say, 20 minutes, it’s rare for me not to have some sort of brainstorm, idea, insight or revelation about something in my life. Often it’s related to work, because I spend a huge part of my waking (and sleeping) life focusing on The Human Potential Center. But sometimes it’s an insight into a relationship, a new way to word a letter or email I’ve been working on, a realization about the reasons why certain people act the way they do, a surprising thought about my body and/or my running, or a new way of looking at my life and my place in the world and the universe as a whole.

These ideas normally come unsolicited, even though they usually are triggered by something I’ve been thinking about during the morning or the day before. But sometimes they seem to drop completely out of the blue, apparently originating from nowhere. Either way, they are frequently important, useful concepts that help me perform better during the day, and sometimes for weeks to come. (OK, sometimes they are also just stupid ideas that don’t stand up to the bright light of noonday. But that’s actually kind of rare.)

So running doesn’t just make my body healthier and my mind and emotions clearer. It makes every other aspect of my life more effective and fulfilling. I want to continue doing it for as many years and decades as my body will allow.