Seeking Peace Through Running

Someone recently asked me, “Why do you spend so much time running?” This is a question that has been proffered to me countless times, and I always respond with a variation of, “I love it,” or “Why not?” This time though, I responded, half-jokingly, “Because I’ve got issues.” To quickly backtrack, everyone has issues, we all just deal with them in different ways. But there is a nugget of truth in that running helps me catalyze my demons into something more useful. When I dig to the bottom of why I run so much, or write so much, or interrogate myself so deeply, it is simply to find peace.

There are many ways people search for peace, and not all of them are healthful. We drink, do drugs, isolate ourselves from relationships, hide our true feelings, avoid pursuing our dreams, all in the name of finding equilibrium, safety, or wholeness. We look for peace where we think it should be, instead of where it is.

I saw a huge monument of Buddha outside a restaurant the other day, and statues like this, I think, give us the wrong idea. The statue was sitting like Buddha always sits, legs crossed, eyes closed, relaxed expression carved into his chubby face. But Buddha did not find peace simply by sitting with his legs crossed.

In Buddhism, happiness is pursued by using knowledge and practice to achieve mental equanimity, or peace of mind. Because…