Right now, I am dripping with sweat and breathing heavy, trying to catch my breath while not losing the deluge of inspiration that is flowing through. That’s the problem when you are a writer, the urge to write can hit at 3 or 4 am, while in the shower, or in the middle of a really good run. Today, it was the latter.
I started my walk thinking about wish fulfillment and then this started flowing in. I felt it growing and with it, excitement. I knew a ‘walk’ was not going to cut it today, just not enough time, so I hoofed it for the first time in over a week.
I haven’t necessarily shared this with y’all, but I have been wishing to run for some time now.
About 4 or 5 years ago, I stopped playing softball and that was the end of anything that even resembled running. By that point, my knees just hurt too much to even get started. I literally would jog about 20 paces before the pain hit.
I had torn a shoulder a year or two before that, and upon inspection of the x-rays, my doctor told me I had arthritis. “From playing sports?” I asked.
“No. From age.”
“But I’m only thirty<something> (whatever I was at the time)”. He just shrugged.
So I wrote off running, couldn’t work out for a while (due to the shoulder injury), and was depressed about it all for a while.
After moving to Austin, I took advantage of the hike/bike/run trail. I walked. At times, men and woman a good 20 years older than me would jog by. THAT was depressing. Then the youngins would zip past, effortlessly, and I won’t even mention how they looked!
Normally I would quit for the summer, it being way too hot around here, but this year, I was determined to keep it up. I figured that by walking early in the morning, I could finish before the temps passed the mid 80s. And this year, it remained cooler than the previous few, at least up until this month.
And then I started noticing the barefoot runners. People talked about the craze and a client or two even mentioned it out of the blue. Hmm, I thought. The universe is speaking to me.
Sure enough, it was. It was trying to tell me that my knee problem was not a true limit. The key to the knees was the feet. Kind of sounds like a foundation problem. Remember my story about Mani and Lofa?
So, my footing was not right, and my knees were therefore taking the brunt of the issue. Just this morning, the Universe started really telling me about knees. It went something like this.
“The knees are meant to flex, to bend. Through this, the legs temper your movement against the harsh solidity of the ground beneath you. This is also symbolic. Allowing requires bending, flexibility. Through this, you will not fall ‘victim’ to this at times harsh reality, but instead, will glide across the hard surface with ease and grace.”
Basically, what the information on barefoot running taught me is to not run heel-toe but rather on the balls of the feet. Others say to run by placing all four corners of the foot down at once.
In either case, the result is that the knees are bent. When you run on your heels, your foot is far in front of you when it hits the ground. This results in a straight leg. The bones and ligaments thus absorb the shock of the impact. If your knees lock in an overextended position like mine, then they are especially vulnerable to strain from it.
But by focusing on placing the front of your foot down first, you take smaller steps, and your knees naturally bend more.
So for months now, I have been retraining myself. It has really taken a good few months. Sometimes, my calves needed to strengthen and would hurt from a minor pull. Then it was back to walking or not walking at all. When my calves were fine, then my lungs pained. They pretty much were screaming at me for attempting to use them in a way I hadn’t for so long.
On a good day, my calves lasted the whole run, and I managed to get enough oxygen to actually get in a good length jog.
And then…today…I sprinted. I didn’t just pick up the pace, I ran with full force. I had already stretched and had been walking and jogging for a bit. With a week’s rest, my calves felt great. And after the healing session I had last night, I felt strong and energetic. I was rushed for time and already on my way back because the urge to write was egging me on. So I channeled all of that energy I was feeling into my body and ran as hard as I could.
And I hadn’t done that in nearly 15 years or even more!
I didn’t plan to write so much about running, but you know, once your fingers start sprinting, you never know where they’ll go.
Next up is some work I’ve had done.
A few weeks ago, I was thinking about Tammy Cox, a talented psychic in the Indianapolis area. I had had a reading from her only once before in 2006, but it was the most accurate reading I have ever had. And let me tell you, after moving to Austin, I have had a bunch – not so much out of necessity but just because it was so readily available to me here. Such is the business I am in.
So I thought about her, and the next day, she friends me on Facebook. “I’ll take that as a sign,” I say to myself, and book an appointment.
Days later, we meet (via the phone) and she starts in on my writing. She speaks of book 1, book 2, and book 3. She knew I finished one, and started the two others. She even saw how they were different, and how each challenged me. I could go on and on, but the basic point is this: the Universe was telling me that it was time to write.
They, through her, gave me some hints to get started, as well as an energetic prod – more like a stiff kick in the backside. Despite not really pushing much in this area for months, I gave it the ole college try and was surprised at the results. The words just flowed out of me!
The secret I have been harboring is that I am working on a second edition of A Fool’s Journey. I’ve gotten such good information on a number of cards since the first edition, and have been unhappy with certain parts, so I just knew I had to fix it. That also came through in the reading.
So, for the past few weeks, I have been writing full time and I now have all of the major rewrites done – as of yesterday!
Just for fun, I pulled a card that afternoon and got the Nine of Pentacles. Interestingly, that was a chapter I had just re-written the day before (or so). In the deck I used that time, the card was labeled ‘gain’.
At the Bandy house, where I mostly do readings with the Osho Zen Tarot, that card has also been showing up a bunch, and in that deck it is labeled ‘ripe’.
In a traditional deck, it would likely be labeled ‘luxury’ as it shows a woman elegantly dressed and adorned in jewels.
After pulling that card, I shot out the door to do an exchange with a magnificent healer here in Austin – Nancy Crossthwaite. I had had one other session with her and with astounding results. It was time for another. You see, recently, I had been getting intermittent periods of stabbing pain in my back behind my heart. In each case, I was told (more or less) why, different circumstances, but the same pattern.
The issue is basically this. I have my heart so well protected that simply the possibility of heart ache is cut off at the pass, and thus the energy gets channeled into my physical body and results in pain. Pretty simple. I’ve done it before, have learned a great deal about this (from many sources) and can heal myself in each case (with time). But wouldn’t it be nice to end the whole struggle? Healing each situation is a six, but what I really want is a cure, which is an eight.
Now, I am going to share a little more than I would normally for a moment. The real reason I sought Nancy’s gifts was to help reconnect to my Emperor within. In the height of my career as a Software Engineer, he was running strong, so I know he’s in there somewhere, but I’ve seen to have lost his number and I really need to get in touch with him. In fact, last week when I pulled a card during the most recent stabbing, which left me in pain and unable to breath the whole weekend, I asked what it was all about and I got the Emperor.
Okay, okay, I hear the message. “Seek help – assistance – you don’t have to do this alone.” Many of you may already know this about me: that is not my strong suit, but okay, I relented and made the call. (Actually, I had already made the call and scheduled an appointment by that point – that’s the funny part.)
Needless to say, the session was fantastic and left me feeling lighter and energized.
Well, I intended to write all about wish fulfillment, and I sort of drifted off track, but in concluding, I’ll bring it all back around.
I asked for clarity and inspiration with A Fool’s Journey. Done.
I have been asking for my Emperor to return, and I can now feel his presence.
I had been asking for the ability to run, without knee pain, without pain in general, and I am now able to do that.
I have asked, like many Texans, for an early cold front, and alas it came. Now y’all might not think of a front that produces low 90s as a cold front, but it did drop the daytime temps by 15+ degrees!
And then, in a conversation, I said, “Now what we need is cooler overnight temps so I can enjoy a cool morning for my walk/run.” Well, last night the overnight temp was 71, the coolest it’s been all summer.
And the list doesn’t end there. I asked for more experiences of facilitated healing, and I got one of those. New clients, new readers of this blog, healing for my cat, and so on.
One by one, wishes are being fulfilled. And it’s not just my wishes that are being fulfilled – no sir/ma’am. I am seeing it around me.
The planets have been conspiring, and they’re getting the job done. Just follow the energy, follow your inclinations, and allow.
It really is coming….Look for it and you’ll see it!
P.S. Shoot me an email if you would like to contact Tammy or Nancy for their services. I highly recommend both of these lovely and talented women.
A Fool's Inclination 