I think I get used to, even addicted to, the feelings associated with the end of a long training run. I love feeling empty, clean, worn out, starving, and sweat-purged.
~Kristin Armstrong, Mother, Marathon Runner, Writer for Runner’s World Magazine
There is something pure and cleansing about immersing yourself in physical exertion. Something that washes away mediocrity and ambiguity. Replacing fuzziness and uncertainty with the sparkle of clarity.
When I run and sweat and think and dream I move through the crusty outer layers of myself and go deep to the pristine well within. In the space of complete presence and hard work, values and visions become crystallized. Distilled. With each footfall and heavy breath my body and spirit get leaner. Negative impurities glisten on my skin, then evaporate. Worries and surface dirt wash away, leaving a clean slate for personal growth and good decisions. I feel and see myself glow. I step off the treadmill or trail with a renewed sense of strength and confidence in myself and the world.
Cleaned Up On Sundays
In complete contrast, I also find this fresh scrubbed feeling when I live slowly and with rapt attention. Sundays are especially clean days for me. The schedule is usually open and everyone is less ruffled and messy. I may even have time to sit out on the deck with a good book or engage in meaningful, mind-expanding conversations that make space for ideas and spontaneity. Sundays are the days when love flows easiest from 
my heart to my significant others without spilling over into distractions. I listen with my whole self. I find details easier to remember and creativity at my fingertips. I am more likely to whip up a fun dessert or make up a story at bedtime. My body and mind are lighter from lack of dirty have-to’s. Physically I am sure my eyes are more twinkly and my posture a little straighter. Everything is ship-shape.
Human Dustbusters
I admit it is a struggle to keep my life clean. Clutter and debris enter with every relationship, distraction and expectation. Many days I am merely a human Dustbuster, sucking up drama and collecting trivial busy-ness that will have to be dumped out at some point.
It is a battle to eliminate this filthy accumulation. I suggest creating a vacuum of space that eats up the inconsequential and produces clear lines of what is important. Where to find such a vacuum? Try a running trail or a backyard deck on a Sunday.
Where do you feel pristine? What can you accomplish in that state of being?
P.S. This post was inspired by a Sunday morning run on a trail through impeccably imperfect nature. As I walked to cool down afterward, I ran into an old friend gearing up for a lengthy bike ride. We hugged and talked and connected over our unspoken but mutual love of fitness and its gift of refining its participants. After saying goodbye to my friend, I headed home. I felt the purest sense of satisfaction and content as I looked up at the sun streaming through billowing clouds and rounded the corner to my home where a whole unplanned Sunday awaited.
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[…] 2 Completely Opposite Ways to Cleanse Your Spirit […]
It’s not the project that gets messy. Every other thing gets let go because I lose my momentum if I stop to declutter the joint. I also lose my train of thought and get caught up in things that are not important at the moment. What I try to do is grab one or two things when I get up to go to the bathroom, put pjs on, take a shower, get some food, etc. and put it where it belongs. Sometimes it eventually starts to clear the clutter. Sometimes it doesn’t.
Picking up the massive clutter that gathers when I’m on a project. I get to a breaking point with the mess, drop what I’m doing, put everything where it goes or make a place…not just hide it in a closet because I still know it’s a mess in the closet waiting for me to clean and may actually be sitting on something I’ll need before I get to the mess which will make an even bigger mess as I pull out whatever is underneath and everything on top falls to the floor. My anxieties decrease massively.
Kickboxing clears my head. There is no way I can keep pent up anxiety, frustration, anger, etc in my body when Paul is driving me from set to set to set of nailing a target. My body is so limp when I’m done, I couldn’t be tense if I tried.
Taking a drive…where depends on the day….sometimes it leads me to a store that I like to browse to clear my head…sometimes it’s just out in the country…sometimes it’s around the block…and sometimes around town. I need to venture into Ann Arbor with that one in the summertime a little more often, but, though it would be a good place given the wandering that could occur if I parked, trying not to run over the arrogant, jay walking, I don’t care if a car is coming, and crossing against the light kids…and adults… as well as those blocking turns as they cross the street in mass quantities has the opposite effect of cleansing. I’m working on making that less stressful and more enjoyable. I might have found an easier way to get to the edge of town and park before I hit all the walking UofMers. Then I can peruse Crazy Wisdom Bookstore and randomly explore. Exploring with no goal is cleansing.
I know what you mean about cleaning up after a project. I’m a “clean as I go” kind of girl – especially when I cook.:) Stuff piled up in the closet stills weighs on my subconscious. I can see where kickboxing could be cathartic.
Crazy Wisdom Bookstore sounds like a place where time and worries are forgotten. Exploring,exploring with no pressure. The best.:)
Bren-
Love the “Human Dustbuster” reference and it is so true. Thanks as always for sharing. :))))
I am always collecting all the details and distractions of life but rarely find time to fulfill the responsibilities. The load of tasks and duties accumulates and weighs heavy on my spirit. It’s so wonderful to be able to purge and let go. It’s hard to strike a balance between letting go and being responsible, but I believe they are equally important.