Pathway to Peace

Did you know the Serenity Prayer we pray in every meeting has a lot more than the 3 lines we usually pray?  I didn't know, until I became involved in Celebrate Recovery, where we pray the prayer in its entirety.

It goes on from those 3 familiar lines to say:

Living one day at a time,

Enjoying one moment at a time,

Accepting hardship as a pathway to peace...

Since I quit smoking 3 1/2 weeks ago, I haven't had a way to burn off the energy from stress, frustration and disappointment.

Yes, I've been blogging more, and in the beginning, I journaled a lot more as well.

But, this is just a means of emotional release.  An opportunity to acknowledge and confront the real problems and issues and work through them instead of just going and grabbing a cigarette and isolating myself on the porch while I puff away whatever emotional upheaval results.

But, because I'm not physically doing something, that negative emotional energy, or the residue of it has still been there.

So, last week, I decided it was time to give running a try again, something that has worked for me well in the past, and an activity I've been missing for a long time now.

Yesterday, I ran 3.13 miles.

This is my physical release, my time for clearing my mind, focusing on my breathing and my pace.  My physical Pathway to Peace.