Earlier this week, I was out running on a particularly cold, dark and windy morning before work.

My path was strewn with branches which were difficult to navigate in the dark and unlit paths, particularly in the woods I crossed.

At one point, my left foot snagged in a branch on the path and my right foot freed it at force, as it pushed through with the next step, snapping the branch just in time to release my leg and prevent a fall.

As I have journeyed through my recent years of self-development, I have learned how to thrive in the here and now, despite the challenges; the obstacles; the risks and the pitfalls which have sometimes been a significant part of my life experience.

The important lesson for me has been to learn to welcome these moments, however long they last, as an important aspect of my soul’s experience.

It is from the challenges which I have experienced, that I have developed a capacity to respond; to reflect; to bring balance and a wider context and scope, so that my previous tendency to be overwhelmed for long periods of time has been mitigated by my voice, calling me from within, to welcome it all.

The moments I spent on the path strewn with branches was punctuated by leaps and twists and brutal force to make sure that I kept going; kept focus; kept thinking; kept reveling in the joy of mental freedom in my mind, which was accompanied by the joy of movement in my body, which both were informing my soul that I am alive; that I am free; that I am me.

My next blog will be:  Nuggets of Philosophy

William Defoe