I have been out for a 5 kilometer run, virtually every early morning of my life since September 2015.

The 25 minutes which this physical effort takes my body to complete, affords for me, a precious time to think.

In recent weeks, I have noticed a difference between “cold” and “cold”.

The first “cold” is the below freezing, cold still air, which creates a fog in the air around me, into which my exhaled breath hangs.

The second “cold” is the type I am experiencing in temperatures which are above freezing, perhaps as high as 9 degrees centigrade, which is caused by the cold wind blowing over me as I run.

This second type of “cold” feels the coldest, and this is a surprise to me because my head is telling me that Spring should be warmer than Winter.

Perhaps the effect of the cold in these late days of Spring, has something to do with my expectations not being met. My head is expecting something warmer, but my body is experiencing something sharper and less comfortable.

This depth of thinking, this increasing ability within me to discern the difference between “cold” and “cold” is  a positive sign to me, of my increased capacity to experience and explain and separate out in my mind, the different aspects of each moment.

Living my life in the present, as I now try to do, has been for me a journey of expansion both horizontally (i.e. to accommodate a wider understanding of the experience of others) and also of depth (i.e a wider and much deeper and more compassionate understanding of self).

My next blog will be: Tears at Dinner 

William Defoe