Be Tolerant of Your Weakness
While Running

April 2018--The Peaceful Runner Newsletter #91

Dear Friend,

We hope you enjoy this month's newsletter -- Be Tolerant of Your Weakness While Running -- and we hope it helps you on your quest for Running Injury Free!

If you find this information helpful and think it may be help others run injury free, please be kind and share it!

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Advantages of Being Tolerant of Your Weakness While Running

Yes, you read that correctly! There are tremendous advantages to being tolerant of your weakness while running. Our minds play a trick on us and we are not aware that it is happening. We will work at uncovering this trick now so you can see your weaknesses for what they truly are.

Having a tolerance for weakness enables us to overlook it rather than give it power which affects us negatively in so many ways. Our thoughts of weakness confuse our mind because it believes the thought and thinks that the thought is strong. We are confusing strength with weakness. This confusion works to bring us down and makes our weakness a reality in our minds.

Maybe we should just smile at the thought that we are weak. Then we can see it as it truly is: a thought of weakness which has nothing to do with who we are. We are not weak and fragile and neither are our bodies. It is only the thoughts that we have about ourselves that convince us otherwise.

How to Be Tolerant of Our Weaknesses

Next time you are running, pay attention to your thoughts. Pay special attention to the ones that fit under the category of "my weakness is.." When these thoughts arise, acknowledge them as a sign of weakness (in your thinking) and have tolerance towards them, i.e. smile at them, accept them for what they are, don't make them real and give them power. Just being aware of these thoughts will help.

Being tolerant means not to criticize. When we criticize ourselves, it inhibits our ability to improve and reach our full potential.

If we accept the idea that we have a particular weakness in any area, it actually gives this perceived weakness strength to grow and flourish. Thus it becomes something we truly believe about ourselves. This applies equally to both our minds and our bodies. If we already believe that we have a weakness in a particular part of our body (i.e. knees, hips, feet, hamstrings, etc.), we must work on changing these beliefs about ourselves. Positive affirmations can be very helpful in accomplishing this. The 10 Most Powerful Affirmations for Runners program can help with this.

Another aspect of being tolerant of your weakness while running is when you didn't quite reach a goal your set or you didn't quite meet your own expectations; such as, not running as fast as your expected time in a race, or you didn't run as far as you intended to, or you missed a qualifying time by minutes. In these situations, there is a tendency to view our attempts as being weak or that we are lacking in some way. Again, it is a trick of the mind. If we criticize ourselves in these situations, we are giving them strength. These situations should be viewed only as opportunities to improve and get stronger. That's all! So put strength where it belongs -- in strength -- and not in thoughts of weakness.

As we practice watching our thoughts, we will develop a stronger awareness of how our thoughts have been affecting us in so many ways. But we can start to change this right now. Being tolerant of your weakness while running is a sign of strength -- not weakness. You are strong and powerful so be strong and powerful :)

* This article was inspired by the teachings of A Course in Miracles

Please feel free to add your comments or questions below.

Until next month, be happy, healthy and keep running!

With love and blessings,

Jackie ♥

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