Fueling Positivity & Creativity

I was very moved this past week by a story in the Washington Post titled "Running For My Life" by Daniele Seiss. It details her lifelong struggles with depression as well as her experience with running as the most effective and health-promoting anti-depressant of all. Although I have never struggled with depression, her story spoke to my own experience regarding the many benefits of running. I especially appreciated these paragraphs:

"I had once been warned that the type and severity of my depression made it very likely I'd relapse after going off medication, that it was just a matter of time. So I had somewhat expected the crash. But going back on medication didn't help. And finally I recognized what I should have seen all along, that running had saved me, and so I hit the streets again. At first it was three to five miles at a time, three days a week. My mood improved quickly. But it wasn't until I started running long distances -- 30, then up to 50 miles a week, regularly -- that I began to really experience its full benefits for health and happiness.

Now, if I am feeling down, I go for a run. I usually start feeling better almost as I head out the door -- in part, I believe, because I am taking charge and doing something. But by mile four, I can actually feel my thinking beginning to change, from negative to positive, as if four miles, or about 30 minutes, is some kind of threshold. On longer runs, by about mile 13 or 14, I start to feel a mild euphoria. If I run faster, I'll notice it earlier. If I'm doing an easier, slower run, it takes a bit longer.

On really long runs, of 18 to 20 miles or more, the nature of my thoughts go beyond just positive to creative. I start having brainstorms, one after the other, and I begin to feel "one with things," for lack of a better way to describe it. It's like deep meditation in which your personal boundaries open up and you no longer notice where you end and everything else begins.

I have figured out that if I run at least four miles, I feel relaxed, positive and clearheaded, feelings that can last from hours to days. And if I do so consistently, I won't fall into a really dark state."

Now you know the answer to that frequently asked question, "Where do all those Provisions come from?" Running! I often go from positive to creative, with incredible bursts of brainstorming on a wide variety of topics, on my longer runs. And it's not just running. Any extended endurance activity will do much the same. So if you want to benefit your brain, it's time to go for a run.

Coaching Inquiries: What stimulates positivity and creativity in your life? How could you get more of those things? What place does endurance activities play in your life? How might you incorporate some? Who might be interested in doing them with you?

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