Presence -part two

Twice a week I attend an early morning boot camp run by my work in the beautiful surrounds of Shelly Beach, the Manly Headlands and the area around ICMS

It's probably my most dreaded activity of the week. It's not the instructor, she's passionate, creative  and enthusiastic. It's the running.

Some people have bodies built for running. I have a body built (courtesy of my Scottish heritage) for surviving Scottish winters and eating porridge made with salt. I seem to be missing some kind of underfoot spring that allows normal people to take long loloping strides. And every week there I am bringing up the rear.

But this week, boot camp was going to be different. This week we were doing 'water work'. At last, I thought, it will no longer be me trailing the group. Only one problem. I'm short. Maybe a good half a foot shorter than the other participants. So when the others were bounding through chest-high water, I was struggling to keep my head from going under. I was cross. This was going to be my week.

That's when I decided. I had to change my thinking. Maybe I was the fortunate one. I mean, I was getting the better workout. I started to feel better, lighter ... for about 5 seconds before I got knocked down by wave! Still  for those 5 seconds I was 'the fortunate one.'  I had been present. I had chosen how to react to my circumstances.

My aim for next week is to try and re-focus my mind for an entire boot camp session. I'm going to take each run one step at a time thinking 'I am the fortunate one, I am the fortunate one.'

And maybe by the end I'll actually believe it.