The Joy of Letting Go

Last night I learned that too much change on the mind can cause insomnia. Try as I might I was not able to get to sleep until some unknown hour in the middle of the night. The thought of trying to wake-up and run after sleeping only a few hours tormented me further.

At 6:30 am the alarm went of and after 11 delicious snoozes I got up at 7:25 am. For a moment I figured I would just skip running this morning because I had hardly slept. Ironically, I did not wake-up feeling totally wiped-out so I tied on my new running shoes and hit the treadmill.

Today I took a journey back to 1985 and relived the ending of the movie Teen Wolf a total of 3 times by listening to “Win in the End” for 10 minutes. Interestingly enough I did this holding my iPod which made me reflect on how much things have changed while not changing at all. Maybe running can connect you to ancient truths that transcend time and space to find you. Is this “runners high” people talk about?

All was going well until the middle of the morning when I called the owner of a company that had just fixed the A/C in my office. The A/C repair technician told me he would only charge a certain amount and his shady boss tripled the cost. When I called the owner he was anything but helpful, and not wanting to lose my newly acquired positive attitude, I hung the phone up on him (I was polite enough to tell him I did not appreciate his tone).

This incident got me thinking. I too have become a bit cynical and jaded lately (this is what a constant state of stress will do to you). If this running journey is to lift me in a new direction maybe I need to lighten the load by letting go of some negative baggage.

After work I rushed to see my son in karate class and I was treated to a wonderful vision. He had a complete look of joy and focus on his face and I bet it’s because he does not yet know how to be cynical and jaded. Made me think.

So tonight’s lesson is that unless you want to end up cynical and jaded, you need to let go of negative baggage – whatever that may be for you.

Here's a video that connects with this lesson.