Straight From the Heart 

Well, here we are in February. The New Year isn’t so new anymore, the fresh starts of January may not be feeling so fresh, and spring may not be springing for a couple of months. So, I got to thinking about the month of February and what it means for me.

A lot of people I know say that February is a dark month. We’re still feeling the sting of winter and - according to a groundhog - here in Ontario we have six weeks of winter left. The weather is cold and the days are short (although as I write this it is bright and sunny outside!). Despite all of this, I like February. I like that it’s a relatively quick month. I like that it’s so very dark at night because I don’t feel guilty cozying up on the couch with a good book or watching a movie or going to bed early. I like that we’re one month closer to spring. And I usually feel that by February I’ve gotten into the groove of the New Year.

And of course there is Valentine’s Day. I have to admit, I love Valentine’s Day. I don’t love the commercialization of it, but I do believe that love deserves to be celebrated. Just as Father’s Day serves as a reminder to recognize all that our dads represent in our life, Valentine’s Day (to me anyway) serves as a reminder to recognize love. I don’t mean recognizing love in the form of chocolates, cards or carnations, but instead through our thoughts, words and actions. When we confuse recognition of love with gifts and gadgets, Valentine’s Day becomes empty. Acknowledging love to those around us from the heart is, I believe, when Valentine’s Day becomes a true celebration.

As I planned the ClearSpace calendar for the year, I was tempted to explore the theme of love for February. But the more I thought about it, the more I felt that the Heart should be the theme.

Our heart keeps us alive, physically and mentally. Our heart gives us signals - whether we pick up on them or not – that can alter the course of our lives. Our heart is a powerful organ but also a powerful partner to our soul.

As we travel through February - whether you celebrate Valentine’s Day or not – I encourage you to tune into your heart. Listen to it, in whatever way you are accustomed to. Let your heart be open to all that you’re experiencing.

And may you clear space for the things that make your heart happy and healthy.

Finding Flow 

Traveling through this month with fresh eyes focused on my running practice has been inspirational. I’m reconnecting with and remembering why I have always loved to run. I love the energy it gives me, I love how clear I feel mentally, I love how the runner’s high can stay with me throughout the day, and I simply love getting outside regardless of the weather. I never regret going for a run, even if it’s a challenging one. The rewards are just too great.

And this brings me to the final installment of my Fresh Starts theme for January at ClearSpace. I’ve been talking about the concepts I find fundamental to any fresh start or new beginnings. (For more on this, feel free to read my previous posts)  They are:

1.    Clarity

2.    Intentions

3.    Tracking

4.    Goals

5.    Finding Flow

While the first four are essential to keeping us connected with the hows and whys of our fresh start, I think the final one – Finding Flow – is perhaps the most important.

When I talk about finding flow, it’s probably best understood if you look at what is implied in the opposite of flow. The opposite of finding flow is the idea of “pushing” or “forcing” something. And when I refer to pushing, I don’t mean the healthy push where we are challenging ourselves to broaden our minds, or stretch our physical selves, I’m referring to the kind of push where we’re forcing something on ourselves or our bodies that isn’t healthy.

Take a yoga pose, for example. If you’re holding a pose - even if it’s a challenging one - allowing room for deep breaths and aiming for a sense of ease in the pose, your body will respond by letting you go deeper into the pose through the breath. If, on the other hand, you try to force or push your body into a pose, it will be more difficult to connect with your breath and your body will resist the force in order to protect itself from injury. This results in a rigid pose with no room for movement. By finding flow, you can find strength and depth in a pose while also maintaining a sense of ease.

If you bring this concept to the idea of a fresh start or new beginning, it has the same effect.

My hope for a fresh start in my running practice was intended to help me rediscover my passion for running. And while I wanted to let go of expectations when it came to speed, I felt it was important to have a goal to move towards. That’s why I committed to running a half-marathon in May.

In the past, I would force myself to follow a rigid training plan regardless of whether I was injured or tired or not enjoying my runs. I had expectations of myself, and I gave greater importance to those expectations than I did to listening to myself and my body.

Now, as I aim to find the flow in my running, I’m learning that: as long as I’m getting out the door and putting my mileage in; as long as I’m feeling energized by my runs; as long as I am realistic about my circumstances; and most importantly, as long as I’m compassionate with myself, I love my runs. This is what I had hoped for. This is why I needed a fresh start. And finding this flow has allowed me to finally let go of the runner I used to be and embrace the runner I am now.