Last night spouse and I checked the Snowman Trek Training Calendar and confirmed that this morning presented the longest training day of the intensity period. We agreed upon our 16-mile hike. We would start early for the quadrupled-hill session in order to finish before noon.
Unfortunately, by the time the morning rolled around I was experiencing a matrimonial dip – not exactly alien to a thirty-year marriage. As a result, I was not happy to walk the trail with my training and trekking (so-called) buddy.
Then I pulled to mind a truth I often discuss with clients. That is, that we can only experience one thought at a time. While most people have about 60,000 thoughts a day, which pushes the notion that that we are juggling many thoughts at once, we really can manage only one thought at a time. With this awareness, I decided to replace my negative thoughts (either of the past: what he did to aggravate me; or of the future: how that aggravation would manifest itself) with present thoughts (just not of the man next to me in this case).
I grabbed my headphones on the way out of the door, and tuned in to some up-tempo music on the first hill. (Ever tried staying mad through a smile?) For anyone who’s been reading my blog, you know that music is important to me – good for me. Like some weird magic, once the music encouraged a smile, I started to notice things: fat pollywogs along the edge of the lake, a fawn pausing on the edge of the woods, frogs diving for a muddy ditch, changing colors in the berries. When I took off my headphones from a place of full presence, I heard spouse talking. I mean I really heard him without any filters of ire or judgment. He made sense. He was actually quite likeable and charming. I had managed to change my mind by changing my thoughts.
The rest of the day? Peaceful and productive.
When your inner voice starts to tug you off track, try changing your thoughts. Replace what is causing turmoil and draining energy with something that makes you smile – then come back to the present and breathe.
Snowman Training Notes: After we got back from a mountain lake weekend with friends yesterday, we added a 1:45 climb endurance workout (6.5 mile) to my early morning swim. Then today we were back out early for a 16-mile, hill-centric hike of 4:15. Tonight we are a little tired, recharging for tomorrow. Adding lots more stretching to pre and post workout time now.
Thought for the day: “Once you replace negative thoughts with positive ones, you'll start having positive results.” ~ Willie Nelson
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