running

i had every intention today of going to the gym, getting on a treadmill, and running until i had thought through pretty much everything (or the machine cut me off, whichever came first). so i tried this, once i got going, and after a few seconds of what should i think about? and the incomprehensible drivel that inevitably follows, i wound up in a rhythmic mental repetition of, my thoughts need to

S l o w
D o w n .

and so i realized: the great thing about running is, you can't think. you can't think about anything but your body: what you're doing, how you're feeling, how to keep feeling that way or change it. (perhaps this is inappropriately placed in the global second-person.) there's something reassuring about that, being forced to put one's body--and, depending on your perception, one's self--before anything else.

if i'm here in this human shell and it enables all the other things that i do, i ought to pay attention to it once in a while.