"uncluttered"

I smiled as I headed out the door and met the sunshine that had abandoned me for the all of the days of the New Year. It was quite a glorious site and I knew it would be hard for my "can't wait to beat the street feet" to make it through an upper body workout before heading out to breathe it all in.

Finally, I finished the workout that kept me in the gym on such a beautiful day and made my way to the door. Once again, I could see the sunshine peeping through the breezy morning...I had to take a second to indulge. I just stood there and stretched like a lazy morning cat and smiled at the beautiful blue Missouri sky. I truly can't explain what happened next, but am quite certain that it was absolutely magical...

I exhaled all of the air that had been trapped within my very soul as I raised my hands above my head stretching once more to the God above me. I could feel all of the stresses of the weeks before escaping as I lowered my hands to my sides and bent to tie my laces. And when I could wait not a moment more...I let my feet lead me down the sunlit path as my legs and arms effortlessly glided along.

I truly can't tell you the way I felt as I ran mile after mile. My body seemed weightless and my chest lighter than air. My mind almost empty without a thought but a simple peace. It was as if I'd hit delete and erased every thought that wouldn't go away; like I'd finally figured out the special code to let go of it all. I'd read of people that had practiced everything from prayer to meditation to get this feeling and I knew that I was in that place. I could feel my cleansed mind and knew that the clutter was gone.

I came to the end of my run but ran some more with nothing but the sound of my renewed inner being and the simple pattering of my feet. I didn't even need Sinatra singing in my ears today to keep running. I believe that I thought of nothing but just took in the trees and the roads before me. I smiled at the renewed me that I'd found in front of a gym stretching like a cat especially when I had spent countless days and weeks searching everywhere from books to cathedrals to find it.

I thought of all of the people that I'd seen chanting the Lotus Sutra in Sanskrit or even humming a special 'Om' to reach this stillness and I knew that I had finally found my way there as well. I felt rich and vibrant and completely free of any worries that were in my heart before. I could no longer reflect on the regrets of the past or even worry about the future. I stopped and raised my hands again above my head as I stretched and took in the world around me.

I'd stood in this spot a hundred times before but it was so much different this time. I could see the old oak tree that hung down the asphalt path as it branches reached down to shake my hand and the grass was unusually green despite many snow days in the days before. The world around me was beautiful; I suppose it was even on the days I didn't notice. And as I headed to make my way to a distracting world once again; I saw a purple flower leaning on the old oak tree. It seemed more out of place than even me. Standing there all alone but still alive...despite the winter its had to survive...it just leaned on the old tree...maybe just so I could see...that no matter how many cold days you have to endure...there is one thing you know for sure..if you can just find a place to lean...the world will seem a little less mean...and if somehow you can just hold on...the day will come when you can make it alone..so little purple flower without a care...I hope that you will stay right there..and that the sunshine were blessed with today...will warm you and keep you for another cold day...