Brain Candy, also known as Candy for the Brain

Today was the first day of my new running regimen: running without music and only myself for company. To prepare for my run I'd stuffed my brain with info about meditation, mindfulness and the joy of walking.

I ran out the door with some trepidation; sixteen kilometers seemed like a lot with only me to keep me company. But as it turns out, my mind has a lot to say, it's a regular chatterbox. Keeping up a constant stream of chatter like an overly excited child.

At first I listened patiently, but it was hard to keep track, because it was all over the place. Talking about groceries I had to get, about how the kids were doing, what I would like my funeral to be like, how far I had to go before I could stop, on and on and on it went.

After a while I got tired of it, and decided to try and shut it up by concentrating on my breathing by counting to ten. That sounds easy enough but it was quite hard, because my breath, like my mind, was all over the place. Sometimes I got a regular rythm but more often I couldn't quite catch it and I had to start all over again.

Luckily there was more where that came from, so I decided to try a mantra. I'd thought long and hard about a good mantra, and decided to go with the Nike slogan: 'You can do it!' There I ran, mumbling 'Youcandoit, youcandoit, youcandoit'. I quite liked this method, but after a while my mind started rambling off again.

I looked into my goodie back of mind candy, and there was mindfulness! So I listened to the rustling of the leaves, I was aware of my feet touching the ground, of my arms pumping away. I was really into the moment, and I said to myself: 'Look at me go!'

That was a mistake because my thoughts took that as a sign to start rambling again, but since I was almost home I decided to let them.

And when I got home, I must say, I really did feel like I had come home.

I said to myself: 'It was nice meeting you again, but you sure talk a lot!'