What I Learned from 31 Days of of Running

Several months ago, December 2012 to be specific, I challenged myself to a daily run for the entire month to mark my fourth anniversary of running (see previous post for a chronicle of those days).  On January 2nd of this year I summed up the experience.  It is worth reading again for me whenever I'm feeling low motivation.  Hope others find something in it too. I plan to expand on several of the points in later blog posts.  So here goes:

Some of what I learned during my month of daily running (in no particular order): 

1. Clutter will, if I let it, crowd out what is important. I must focus and be vigilant and protective of my time. 
2. Using time in important ways renews and increases my capacity for everything else.
3. Breath is the root of it all.
4. It takes very little effort (what's a month, really?!) to make enormous changes in body and mind.
5. Even a treadmill can teach me something important if I open my heart and let it.
6. It's 95% in my mind. If I approach life with a negative attitude, then I will continue to be negative about it. If I tell myself I love it--like I did 4 years ago after 25 years of telling myself I hated running--then love it I will.
7. Joy is without bound and can be found in the strangest places.