01.22.09
Any Road Can Take You There
I went running with the dogs today. We (okay, I) had planned on running a certain path. But, because of the knee-deep snow, we couldn’t even see “our” path. We had to instead follow whatever snowmobile tracks there were in the vicinity.
This reminded me of how our sense of humor operates:
–Our sense of humor lets us enjoy our surroundings in a way that otherwise we couldn’t do. Most people wouldn’t think of going outside to run in 30 degree weather. They know that treadmills have been invented. But for my dogs and me, today was a veritable heatwave. (I only had to wear two layers of socks, and no toe warmers.) I not only appreciated the warm weather, but I had fun watching the dogs as they played in the snow and fought over deer carcasses they found along the way.
–When we can laugh and take our situation lightly, we suffer less pain. Our planned route became surprising a few miles into the run. When the snowmobile tracks stopped, we had to resort to running through ankle-deep snow for about another mile. But I was able to smile: the lead dog turned around every few hundred yards to make sure the other dog and I were okay.
–If we utilize our innate sense of humor, we can have the agility necessary to bypass the obstacles that get in our way. We may have the best plans in the world, but ultimately we are not in control of everything that could happen. If we focus too much on doing things exactly as we had planned, we lose our flexibility and our agility.
So today, get your shoes (or in my case, hiking boots) on and, “Get Your SHINE Together!”, no matter where your trail leads you!
