I just got back from a run in the rain, one of my favorite activities. Though, I must confess: I never remember liking it until I go; it always seems like it will be such a drag. Beforehand, my thought is always: "crap, it's raining. There was a small possibility I was going to run this morning. But now, if I don't, I'll be a wuss for allowing a lame thing like getting wet stop me." I then proceed to change, put on my shoes, and hit the streets.
and, i always love it.
(I especially love running through puddles. There's something freeing about finding your stride and just running; sometimes that lands you in the center of a puddle, sometimes you barely avoid them, but either way it doesn't matter: you're wet regardless.)
What I most appreciate about running in the rain is the sense of cleansing it evokes. For me, the combination of physical exertion and external wet induces a strong feeling of purification. Pushing your body in activity, you release some of the stress and stiffness that has built within your muscles. Your sweat helps release toxins. And all the while, the rain cools the muscles and washes away the sweat encouraging a longer, harder run. That system, that interaction, between body and nature is part of what makes the experience so profound for me; this freshness that you feel is both something you initiate and something you receive.
As someone prone to needing a large volume of purification in multiple areas, I appreciate this living metaphor. I believe that, in partaking, I am actually going through a cleansing process deeper than just my body. At the very least, it reminds me of the cleansing I have needed and have received, as well as the cleansing I do need and hopefully one day will obtain.
3 comments:
i love too that both of those activities have a lot of rhythm to them. like running is the constant and continual motion to bring out the growth and change, and rain is a continual and constant barrage of droplets.
i think that's interesting as it relates to cleansing, because far to often i think of cleansing as a quick and total process. like a whoosh of water and then i am clean. but it seems to come more of a constant rhythm of cleansing that accrues over time.
thanks for the image. fresh and beautiful to me.
I dig that addition Luke.
Your first paragraph got me thinking about the relationship between growth/change and cleansing/purification. I wonder if growth and change bring about the recognition for cleansing/purification. Then, when the process of cleansing/purification is complete (at least for that season), we feel the urge or permission to venture forward in growth/change.
So it's like two feet walking... the leg of growth and change moves forward and comes to recognize the need for cleansing and purification. The leg of cleansing and purification then moves forward to meet the other, thus creating more space for growth and change to move forward. And that's progress!
(for the record, I stole that metaphor from Doug Pagitt, though each leg represented something different).
What do you think? Maybe Im trying to dissect something that is too interwoven to be dissected, but it intrigues me.
if running was always as awesome as it in the rain, I would weigh at least ten pounds less than I do.
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