Today's Focus Your Day reflection was on "Natural Pleasures":
Unfortunately too many people in our society try to capture euphoria through pills, alcohol and other forms of drugs. It never completely works. Those who see euphoria through drugs find that the experience eventually betrays them. And yet, everyone needs some pleasurable moments in life. We owe it to ourselves to find those pleasures that can bring us good feelings in natural ways. Life offers many such possibilities, if we pay attention to them.
I'm grateful this afternoon because I was able to do just that this morning. I was able to get out in nature and run a beautiful fall half-marathon in Middlebury, Indiana. We started out at Loveway, a horse facility for therapeutic riding. Horses are close to my heart because they got me through a lot of my childhood. At the start of the race, we went up to get a picture with one who was feisty about getting a photo with us. Then he just nuzzled his nose right against my shoulder like a good friend. It brought me right back to why I loved them as a kid.
As we left the course, we saw a few around a bend just staring at us as we rode by wondering what we were doing. The hills of this "Haunted Hilly Half-Marathon" were brutal but the scenery made up for it. The crimson color trees, the rolling hills of which at every turn you'd see another landscape, and the horse and buggies driving by once in a while made me feel like I was back home in Pennsylvania.
Nature is healing for me and to combine it with horses and gorgeous scenery was just out of this world. I'm blessed that I can run a distance today like a half-marathon in a different way than I used to. I used to do it to purge the calories I'd eaten the day before and to beat my body into fitter shape. Today when I get to run a distance like that, it's a gift. My body is able to move and my mind can soak in the surroundings instead of being filled with thoughts of hating my body. Thank you God, for surrounding me with natural pleasures I can appreciate today...
