If the world's a stage, we're searching for our parts

There is nothing like a little nature to remind you who you are.

The past couple weeks, I feel like I have been on a fast train charging forward with no clear destination and no time for a pit stop.

Running usually bring me back to my sense of place. When you set aside a certain moment or two out of the day to run, it's like making a date with yourself. My body goes on auto-pilot which allows my thoughts to roam detached from their physical cage.

During the day, work and routine require the discipline of thought. At work, we are paid and expected to think only about certain things. After work, my thoughts are usually preoccupied with the list of things I have to do and worry about. When I run, my thoughts are a great "free-for-all". Its awesome. The idea of our thoughts as capital or property is ...ugh, an unpleasant one.

I have been running on the treadmil at the gym lately. This does not allow for the same freedom as running outside. A mechanically simulated workout surrounded by other competative sweaty individuals, clocks, timers, and the assembly line of workout equipment all in the confines of one room just doesn't cut it. It's funny, I even feel compelled to listen to different music in the gym than on the trails.

Outside, however, each step forward is a new possibility. My mind can guide my body in any direction. I can change the direction of my run with one simle thought. Or I can opt to follow the pre-made trails. To watch the sky open, the clouds travel, and the weather change- to feel the wind (not recycled air wind) blow and nature respond as I run by, is something entirely unreplicable in a gym.

Peace found in nature always reminds me of where I fit in the natural order of the world. It reminds me that first and foremost (before being an intern, a student, a friend, a sister), I am a human and I have a specific place, however small, in the environmental timeline of the planet.

GYM PLAYLIST
R.Kelly "Ignition"
Maroon 5 "Harder to Breathe" (and all)
Def Leopard "Pour some sugar on me"
Crash Test Dummies
John Mayer Trio "Vultures"
Blondie
Bon Jovi "Living on a Prayer"
Shakira

OUTDOOR PLAYLIST

Jack Johnson "Constellations" (and all)
Amos Lee "All My Friends"
Erin McKeown "Slung Lo"
Incubus "Warning"
Jimi Hendrix "Stone Free"
Modest Mouse "Ocean Breathes Salty"
Coldplay (all)
The Fray (all)