When the world feels too big, make it smaller

​We have this natural instinct to run from things when they get tough. It's part of the fear response that's wired into us. Running is one way I run from the hard stuff the world throws at me. But more and more - I don't do that by running FROM - I do it by running TO.

The other morning, while I was running, I stopped and took the picture below. I shared it here. And several dozen of you were stopped by the image as you scrolled along - just like I was on my run.

My way of saying - 'oh my God that is beautiful' - was to stop and take a picture.

Your way was to stop and comment - 'that's beautiful.'

Either way, we all had a chance to be awed by a small sliver of this world.

I have well-meaning running friends who will tell me, 'you know, if you didn't stop and take so many pictures, you'd get done a lot quicker.' And more and more, my answer is - whether I say it or think it - getting done isn't my desire.

The pictures are.

More and more, running is my escape from the big bad world - not because I literally remove myself from the big and the bad - but because I allow running to take me into the more gentle - and beautiful - slices of this world. Because out there among the big and the bad is always the more gentle and beautiful.

The pictures - they are more than a pause, a stop for time to stand on the barrier islands of this world, they are a reminder. A reminder that when we run by the beautiful slivers of this world, the slivers that feed our souls, if our souls don't feel fed, it's not because the slivers weren't there. It's because we were too busy leaving the world, not immersing ourselves in it.

The world can be overwhelming. Sometimes the answer is to stare into the eyes of something less daunting.

A flower. A bird. A lake. The sky.

The world can be overwhelming. Sometimes the answer is to simply stop and listen.

A creek. A plane. Each other.

Sometimes the best fear response isn't to run from. It's to run to.

Sometimes the world does feel big.

Today, I encourage you, go find a place where the world is small.