Stillness and Illness

Recently I've been making a conscious effort to practise 'stillness'. Not merely the act of being physically still, but more taking a step back; giving yourself a chance to stop and reflect. It might sound very simple but in the hectic and busy lives we lead we very rarely give ourselves the opportunity to be still. I read an interesting quote the other day from someone that quite rightly suggested we should call ourselves 'human doings' rather than human beings, because we tend to define ourselves by what we do, rather than who we are.

Warming up at Brockwell

"What do you fancy doing when you visit?", my friend asked.

"Well.. I'd quite like to check out your local parkrun.. but other than that.. anything!", I replied, hopefully.

She was dubious that I was only visiting so I could tick another parkrun off the list, and she wasn't sure about this 'getting up early' business on a Saturday morning either. When you spend most of your time with runners, triathletes, cyclists and other sporty types, it's easy to forget that there are other people out there with zero interest in your sporting endeavours. My old school friend is one of these people; she generally just rolls her eyes when I tell her what I'm up to and thoughtfully serves me up an extra portion of whatever tasty meal she's making.

A Year Off, A Year On

I was going to say that "I'm not making any resolutions this year", but Google states that the definition of resolution is "a firm decision to do or not do something". Therefore anyone who insists they are "not making any resolutions" is either a liar, or silly, or too scared to share! I was very nearly silly. Surely everybody has made some sort of decision about something they do or do not want to do this year?!