While relaxing after the 2006 Sunflower Relay, I got some great food for thought from John, a massage therapist from Tacoma.  He classifies things into two categories :

• Things that continue your process of living.  These are activities that expand your horizons, and keep you moving and feeling vital.

• Things that begin your process of dying.  These are negative thoughts or actions, apathy, or resignation.

The idea is wonderfully simple, but can keep you engaged for hours.  You can carefully turn over different aspects of each thing you spend time on and decide whether they're worth expending energy on.

Our energy and time are precious.  Every minute I spend doing something I dislike, is time spent away from the people I love, and the activities that continue my process of living.

This is a wonderful allegory for intentional living.  As I get older, I try to live more intentionally all the time, even if it means consciously loafing when loafing feeds my soul.

As you run, you discover that everything is connected.  The shoes you wear influence how your back feels.  What you eat and how much sleep you get determines how fast you're able to amble up a hill.

Your emotional state, spiritual well-being, and how you feel about yourself all influence your physical well-being.  Everything is connected.

I'm working on balancing my desire to keep my legs moving and blood pumping with my desire to achieve specific running goals - faster times for example.  There's great power in being able to let go of specific goals, but there's also great fulfillment in achievement.  I've found that I need both - but want to understand better when each is appropriate.