"What kind of crazy nut would spend two or three hours a day just running?"Steve Prefontaine's comment in Junior High when he saw the High School Cross country team running.
"Bridges!!"
My daughter's (age 4) response to the recent question, "What's your favorite thing about summer?"
In a few weeks, my running buddy, Todd, and I will be driving up to San Francisco to enjoy the unique setting of the city's marathon course. Naturally, one of the sections of the course I am most looking forward to is a first time run across the beautiful Golden Gate Bridge.
As regular readers of this blog know, I am a big fan of the spiritual metaphor to be found in the everyday. Bridges have to be one of the big five metaphors. How, for example, did Steve Prefontaine get from laughing at the thought of running and—what a ridiculous an idea that was to him—to becoming one of the running world's greatest practitioners, ambassadors, and legendary icons?
He crossed a few bridges—in his own mind, in his heart, and in his spirit. And he used his body as a means to effect and manifest those crossings.
And that's the beauty of running—by committing to a physical practice, each runner also commits to a program of emotional, mental, and spiritual transformation. You simply can't sustain one without the other. And then the cycle continues, with the multi-level changes being expressed through the change in physical level experience.
It takes courage and commitment to cross any bridge. I remember crossing some shaky looking bridges when hiking in Nepal, like the one on the left. It requires a sure foot, a lot of trust, and a clear focus on reaching the other side. Our "internal bridges" are just the same. There are, for example, a good number of shaky bridges crossed along the path from addiction to the land of sobriety.It has been said that we are never given anything in life that is beyond our ability to handle. When life feels overwhelming, we can cross the canyon of doubt by using the bridge of faith. Whenever you hold a picture in your mind and heart of how you would like things to be in the future, the goal you are working towards, imagine a bridge connecting where you are with where you wish to be.
Imagine this bridge as an arc of golden light. This bridge is your faith, your willingness to hold a vision and move in its direction—even when the way may not appear clear. It is only when you are on the other side of the bridge that you will be able to look back and understand how you made the journey to your new life.
This is the very nature of faith. As you go through your day and beyond, keep this vision of the golden bridge of faith in your mind and heart. In times when your goals seem out of reach, recognize that these are the priceless opportunities for building firm foundations for the next bridge that will take you closer to home.
In my own life, it is a time of many different bridges. In three weeks, I will complete a Master's in Counseling Psychology form the University of Santa Monica and begin an Internship as a Marriage and Family Therapist. A bridge into a new career and out of what had seemed an endless path of schooling!
I have crossed a number of long and sometimes darkened bridges with my longtime running buddy, Todd, this year. He has been recalibrating his life after the unexpected end of an important relationship. We have run hundreds of profound and sometimes humorous miles together, wondering about the workings of relationship.
We have explored the nature of love, of integrity and honesty, and about the journey of the heart. It is a journey rich in beauty, and one that also has some rocky trails. Todd is a barefoot runner, so those sharper rocks can sometimes dig deep.
Even in the midst of the sadness, loss, and search for understanding, he and I have created something new and filled with hope: a deepening friendship that has become a strong and reliable bridge for us both—and one that has carried us both further into the beautiful landscape of trusted friendship. What a blessing!
