out of all places... or why I run.

Feeling the asphalt and gravel under my feet again. My heart is screaming from joy as I start plugging away up Pali road, passing one of the Heaiaus on my way.

My IT band, my left quad, my knee cap, my left hip flexor are all being pulled up and pinched by the stainless steel screws and plate but the pain is so settle compared to the explosion of my soul at the moment. I AM RUNNING.

Rolling hills, dips,downhills and even a dead boar on a side of Kapaa Quarry as I am preparing myself for the last 3 miles of this run. Trees hovering over narrow road with no shoulder but plenty of work trucks and beautiful smells.

I pass another Heaiau and pretend I am here 40 years ago where all the roads were this small and swamps surrounded the area, cars were few and far between, banyan trees spreading their fingers, luring you into their world.

I take a turn, inhaling thousands of hibiscus flowers at once. Running on a narrow ledge of brush and gravel. I am content. I am running in this moment. This breath. This exhale is all that exists for me. The touch of my foot and the heat of the ground is all I can feel.

Suddenly, there is a green station wagon which slows down and stops right next to me. Oh, a bald move from my secret fans. Window rolls down as I continue leaping forward. "Out of all the roads, this would be the last one I would chose for running"- pair of giant pearl earrings, red lipstick and flowered haole face says to me with a smile.
I turn my head. My chicago instinct yells: "Get the Ef out of my face and mind your own efin business, you white dummy."
Yet, my content island self utters the following:" Well, you are not running, are you? you are DRIVING! See ya!". I smile really big and wave as her jaw drops and she speeds away into the horizon. I take a huge leap forward over a giant cut down stump of a tree.

Many questions arise as a surf boy drives past me in VW bus with a long board strapped to the roof top, giving me a huge smile and a raised eye brow.
My spirit is calm again and I wonder what I find so compelling in "out of all places" to take the most beautiful road, the most difficult journey, the exhausting trip down many roads less traveled by others, to follow the passion for real freedom, where nothing stands between the heat of your body and the energy of this earth?!

I suppose that after all the pain which I caused my own self, the one thing which will never change is my longing for that connection with the ground, the ground which heals your deepest wounds, the roads which are endless, the journey during which you discover the darkest and deepest fears and find most simplest and most pure joy.

There is no longer the obsession with more, but rather the uniqueness of each moment. Each moment that my foot strikes the ground. Each moment my lungs feel like collapsing. Each moment my blood pumps into my heart. Gratitude for being free to have this connection with most sacred places in my soul, most sacred places of this ground...
Journeys, which "out of ALL places", others would even fathom to start.

Definition by default

Default logic was proposed by Raymond Reiter, canadian computer scientist and logician. We have programmed ourselves to come to quick conclusions, a lot of the times, and assumptions not only about others but also about ourselves.

I plead guilty. I judge myself every second, every breath, every blink of an eye. Sometimes I judge others without being aware of it. Something snapped during my yoga practice this morning.

I took my time to unwind after it at the beach, embracing the nature, submerging my heart and my head. The definitions of myself which i repeat constantly and silently have surfaced. So often I define myself as so and so and feel the need to fill those positions. I am a runner. I am a warrior. I am tough. I am unbreakable. I can not be hurt. I am not weak. All those nouns and adjectives are then linked with definitions: some harmful, some strong and upright but mostly completely unnecessary.

Letting go of what is "known", what is "established", something you are so used to that you become your own robot. Functioning versus living. The challenge is most exciting.

299,792,458 metres per second

My brain often moves with the speed of light and for the longest time I made it my priority to physically catch up to that until I realized how pointless this race is.
The problem with the rat race, as famous quote goes, is that even if you win, you are still a rat.

In yoga, my instructors often say that there is no competition. It's just you and your mind and body. You are pushing only as far as your mind/body allows and accepting and breathing... One move at a time.

It's what I am learning here, on the island: to slow down. The noise of street, of neighbors, of barking dogs, of moving trucks, even of rain pounding on the sidewalk as palm trees whisper loudly by my window... all that fades and it's just me and my mind.

Things are always hard, always challenging. They always have been- ever since I remember myself. Last month or two, I have been saying things out loud:"what is the message? what am I supposed to do?". The challenges became, what I thought, impossible and I saw no way out. The answer was to not "do" anything but rather to accept, wait and learn. Even what seemed impossible at the time ended up being a great lesson and a rewarding obstacle.