Planting the Flag

I spent a wonderful afternoon yesterday at Shore Books in my native Long Beach, meeting other runners and readers at a book signing. At the end of my reading a couple of chapters from the book, we got into some interesting territory.

Many of the runners present had their own inspiring stories of how running had—and has—given them access to the very best of who they are. Running has been a doorway through which they have discovered new ways of being in their lives. I know it is true for me. I have run my way out of cigarette, alcohol, drug, and sex addictions. I have run my want INTO a deeper awareness of myself as a spiritual being and into a deeper appreciation of the preciousness of life and those around me.

We talked about how running has given us the opportunity to reclaim the very best in ourselves. Abilities, aspects, and positive attitudes that had somehow got left behind on the trail of our lives before we ran.

I came away from that conversation, filled with the images of "claiming." Of that first flag planted on the moon. Clint Eastwood's current movie brings to mind the timeless image of a flag being raised at Iwo Jima. I thought of the way in which gangs display colors to let others know they have claimed a certain territory. I though of all the wars and the flags that have flown over them, as different nations have sought to claim and reclaim different parts of our planet.

And I come to wonder, if all this divisive activity has been a misdirection of a deeper longing in all of us. That what we all long to do more even than claim a larger stake of land in our neighborhood, our nation, on the planet, or even in space, is to claim the precious landscape of our hearts as our own. To reclaim dominion in the sacred territory of our own consciousness. To plant a flag for ourselves, IN ourselves, in our hearts if you will, and say, "I am precious, valuable, and worthy of love. And you are too." Now that takes courage.

So as you run today, allow your breath and the rhythm of your stride to carry you into that wonderful meditative space. As you pass through the particular setting of your run (and if you are on a treadmill, you can do this just as effectively as a visualization), seek to connect with the inner landscape of your being. Perhaps you see it as a field, a pathway, rolling hills, a beautiful beach (I'm often inspired in this to think of the beach landscape that Jodie Foster arrives at in the film, Contact.)

Spend time in your inner landscape as you run. Perhaps your inner garden can benefit from a little weeding. Perhaps the paths are overgrown. Perhaps there is some clearing up to do on your inner beach. When you take dominion over your inner landscape, as you raise a flag in your inner world that says, "I am here the need to plant flags in the outer world may recalibrate. As we each make this shift, each time we shift our focus in this way, we increase the opportunity for peace in our world.