Some of my favorite quotes about running:

“I always loved running. It was something you could do by yourself, and under your own power. You could go in any direction, fast or slow as you wanted, fighting the wind if you felt like it, seeking out new sights just on the strength of your feet and the courage of your lungs.”
- Jesse Owens

“The only one who can beat me is me.”
- Michael Johnson (Even though he won 12 Gold Medals and has a world record that hasn’t been touched in over a decade, I think he’s talking about how you compete only against yourself in running–probably the secret to his success, confidence, and perseverance.)

“Running is the greatest metaphor for life because you get out of it what you put into it.”
- Oprah Winfrey

“To give anything less than your best is to sacrifice the Gift.”
- Steve “Pre” Prefontaine (One of the most intense runners ever!)

“Enjoy it. After all, there aren’t many animal impulses that we can act on in public without getting arrested.”
- Mark Remy (hahaha)

Love Always,
Nathan

I have hundreds of paper scraps and computer files with future blog posts. I recently browsed through almost everything I have ever published or scribbled about self-improvement, spirituality, and happiness. Almost everything comes down to these ten lessons:

10. Laugh at anything and everything. Go into everything with an adventurous spirit. Find the joy in every situation.

9. Slow down. Sleep and relax. Simplify and focus. It’s okay to have an easy schedule, to say no to people, to cut responsibilities, to decline big titles, to buy fewer things, and to refuse to participate in the madness of this fast treadmill we call the world.

8. Be present. Take in and really savor whatever is right in front of you, whether it’s a friend, a conversation, a dish, a sight, or a song. Let everything else fade for the moment. No matter how often you talk about it or how elaborately you plan it, the future never arrives–it’s always a step away.

7. Love and accept everyone. Better to overdo it than underdo it. Better to do it early than do it too late. Life is about people. They make your world go ’round. Abuse them and your world stops. Cherish them and your world soars.

6. Trust what’s natural. Never forget that we are a part of that beautiful thing called Nature, not apart from it. Look to it for answers. As long as you have a kind and honest tone: Don’t force things, don’t fake things, don’t cover up things. You have the right to think and feel the way you do. Trust instincts. It’s in you already. Be real, raw, intensely human, intensely genuine, intensely natural.

5. Be the best you. Be different. Go your own way. Don’t ever trap yourself into a title, age, race, or sex. If people can predict you, you’re failing. Be free-flowing. Accept your weaknesses and develop your strengths. Focus on your passions, find your purpose, and leave your legacy. You are a gift to the world. Don’t ever shred that gift by living someone else’s life.

4. Everything is a lesson. Everything is a chance for growth. Take risks. Dare yourself. Try. Look backward to see how much you have learned from failure. Look forward with the comfort that no matter what you do, you have nothing to lose and another lesson to gain. Keep learning, keep growing.

3. What you give is what you get. Karma. Friendship. Work. Health. Everything. The universe is interconnected as if everything were a predictable input-output system. Don’t like something in your life? You need to give more. It’s the simplest recipe. Believe it.

2. Balance. Keep everything in moderation. Listen to everyone, listen to no one. Lessons overlap, lessons contradict. Keep switching gears, changing levels, and tinkering with the scale until you get it right. When you do, mess it up and go again. It’s more fun that way.

1. Let go. Let it be. Life goes on. When you’re giving everything and nothing’s changing yet and you’re searching but seeing no lesson yet, just remember that things happen for a reason. Be grateful for the cards you’re dealt. Have hope. Someone once said, “Everything will be okay in the end. If it’s not okay, it’s not the end.” With everything: do your best, sit back, and wait for the end.

Love Always,
Nathan

Every morning I am blessed with a new day, I tell myself:

My life is up to me and me only. It is made of todays and todays only. Regardless of yesterday and tomorrow, I have the power to decide if today will be calm or chaotic, meaningful or wasteful, full of compassion or full of contempt, full of misery or full of laughter, bound by my limits or bursting with triumph.

I can and will live the life I have always imagined. I make my life.

Love Always,
Nathan