I’ve been training in an effort to improve my running times.  Typically, my pace is in the 12 minute mile ballpark.  With the Rawkstars charity race approaching, I decided to challenge myself to shave my pace to 10 minute miles.

I spent all afternoon getting myself psyched up with this goal in mind.  Within the context of mindfulness, this is commonly referred to as “setting your intention”.  I read a few articles about running that suggested tips to get faster.  I stretched my legs during lunch and curated a playlist designed to make Dave Lombardo and Vinnie Paul sweat.

After work, I headed to the gym and without thinking anymore, jumped on the treadmill and pounded out 5k in 30:50, for an average mile of 9:56.  Success!

Yesterday at the office, I had a hallway conversation with a friend about running and fitness during which I brought up the concept of habit formation.  That was the single most impactful learning of my own fitness journey and has extended through my exploration of Buddhist practices.

It got us talking about how our minds are truly our biggest obstacle.  Most of us generally acknowledge this statement anecdotally, but don’t spend much time considering how that manifests in our daily lives.

Evolution has blessed each of us with a human brain.  Without question, this is the most advanced masterpiece of technological engineering in the known universe.  Within each person is literally something so powerful and complex, it makes the iPhone look like a hula hoop.  That said, Mother Nature failed to provide even one copy of a user’s manual.

Through direct experience with Buddhism and meditation, I’ve learned that the mind is trainable and that much of the way it works “out of the box”, revolves around habitual reactivity.

Last night, I set out to try and improve on my run time from last week.  As I fired up the treadmill and started struggling to breathe, I paid close attention to all the thoughts my mind was presenting me with.  “You’re starting way too fast…”, “just get through one more song and then slow down…”, “you’re too heavy to be a fast runner…”.  These mental gymnastics are familiar to anyone who’s run or tried anything our brain labels as uncomfortable.

Instead of trying distract myself from those thoughts, I embraced them.  I paid attention to what my body felt like when the thoughts arose.  I paid attention to what happened once I focused on them.  I considered what motivated them and why.

By the end of my run, I had shaved another 6 seconds off my average mile time.

Meditation trains you to be aware of your feelings and emotions and to recognize patterns when they arise.  You’re not trying to stifle, judge or even change them.  It provides you with the capacity to observe them and make conscious decisions instead of simply reacting out of habit or learned behavior.

We constantly look outward and call bullshit when evaluating the behavior and actions of others, but hardly ever do that with ourselves.  It’s like shooting fish in a barrel to intellectually dissect the antics of politicians, bosses, spouses, celebrities, family members and even friends.

Everyone is an idiot, right?  How could your girlfriend continue the pattern of hooking up with guys that are clearly “bad” for her?  How can your shit-head boss consider someone else for the promotion that you so clearly deserved?  That Facebook friend you have who supports anti-gun laws is clearly insane.

You might notice how easy it is to find people who are much worse at driving than you are, but you never recognize someone who’s driving better than you are.

The monologue that runs in our brain is loud.  It’s heavy-metal loud compared to the near silent signals we get from the rest of the world.

All day, every day, that noise persists. It’s the only voice that has seen everything we’ve seen, believes everything we believe.  The noise in our head is selfish, afraid and angry but, against all odds, resistance is possible.

It’s possible to amplify those too-quiet signals we miss and to practice imagining what might be possible if only we allow it.

If we put in the effort and devote the time to practice this skill, we get better at it.

If only we choose to begin.