How magic happens

As it's a weekend morning I ran a little more than my usual mile-and-a-bit, completing just under five miles.

I was trying to concentrate this morning on my new learning about using my arms more efficiently while I'm running, and half way through my run I realised that my running happiness wasn't that great. In fact I gave it a score of 4 out of 10.

I don't know whether my running happiness score was related to trying to get it right, but I am familiar with the correlation of increasing trying to do something right with a corresponding decrease in enjoyment and fun.

I decided to dig a bit deeper, and while I was running I asked myself how I was actually feeling. The answers that came up for me were tired, frustrated, dejected and a bit hopeless. I guess it wasn't such a great surprise that my running happiness was low.

So, I decided to ask myself for each of those feelings what it would be like if the opposite was true.

What would it be like if I felt energised?

What would it be like if I felt satisfied?

What would it be like if I felt positive?

What would it be like if I felt hopeful?

As I asked myself these questions, I found that I let go of trying to get it right.

As I explored what it might be like to feel energised, I found myself pulling myself up straighter and I realised that my head has been known to tell my body that it's tired when my body was perfectly capable of carrying on.

As I thought about being satisfied, I thought that I was trying to change something that I've been doing differently for a very long time, and that it was only natural that it might not come immediately, and it was also my choice to try the new technique or to ignore it.

When I thought about what it might be like to feel more positive, I immediately felt more positive without specifically trying to do it.

By the time I got to hopeful, I found that I'd already got there anyway.

And what's more, I was doing a reasonable job of using my arms efficiently.

Over to you. What less-than-perfect feeling are you having now?

What could you do to explore it a little and ask yourself what it might be like if you were feeling the opposite now?

Try it. You might find that magic happens.