"Winter" Running, SoFlo Style

We are having our share of 'winter',  yes, when the morning sun cannot burn off the night chill,  at least for a while, and if the sun is not out,  then the pervasive grey of winter skies can feel (almost) like any other more northerly place.  Lack of sunlight also increases seasonal affective depressive symptoms for those sensitive to this issue.  As part of my shift in work schedule- and therefore, running times- I am still feeling my way through these changes.

All last week I tried to run after work.  Great displays by evening sunsets quickly resolved into darkness;  and I do not have good night vision.  Even as the comfort of the night wrapped around me,  I cannot find my feet- so I am finding it challenging to embrace the evening runs.

I headed out for my Sunday run THRILLED to find the morning still waiting for me!  I hugged the sunlight through my skin and watched as the clear, still skies began to fill with a breeze, a few clouds,  the colors of the day turning up their tones and deepening my ease as I settled into the road.

At my pitstop at beautiful John Williams park,  this little guy and a few of his friends, chased me all around hoping for a handout I'm sure,  finally finding his niche and posing for me.....Squirrel medicine is all about "being prepared",  and getting ready for (more) change!  I am quoting from my Medicine card book which also reminds me that creating that 'safe place' is another way to say 'I create an untroubled heart and mind, and I place my wisdom and caring here'.  I can add that the feeling of being cared for,  by the loving embrace of Great Mother,  is sustaining me greatly as I watch- and notice how She places Her Teachers on my path for me to notice...and appreciate!

As I find the pace, the place, the time and trails for my new expansion,  we all reach together for the outcomes of change,  forgetting that even in that moment when we stand where we envisioned ourselves,  we are already getting ready for 'something else' to come.  Somehow it feels as if we are reaching our 'Zero Point',  or that place descending down from the Cosmic clocks where all our timelines have come together in a kaleidoscope of infinite possibilities.  And not that every moment is any different.  But as a collective,  a 'system',  a tribe, a star family,  we are moving as a single body through a doorway,  which might appear differently for each of us.  Every runner has their own run, even on the same route.  Each of us walks inextricably together pushed along by the pressure of Mother Gaia's great birthing,  and pulled through by unseen hands of those who 'know' us, and every nuance of how we react to this ultimate new-ness of All Things.

I trust my body to have the 'feel' of the run,  and continue to move me through morning or evening,  cold or warm expeditions out there on the roads.  Just so,  I trust my heart to 'feel' the pulse of Earth's movement into Her expansion,  where old roads just crumble away to dust and the light has revealed itself even in dark places,  allowing us to 'see' where we plant our feet:  safely every time.