The Runner

I live in a city. A steel jungle of light and noise and machines. It's easy to imagine a rift exists between this urban world and the natural one. To dissolve this illusion, to reconnect with nature, I run. I see grass pushing through cracks in the asphalt, while lizards display to one another from traffic signs and guardrails. Even my neighborhood is full of life. As cement turns to dirt my thoughts wonder from daily life to visions of nature - fields of flowers, insects pollinators, birds in the trees and wind blowing through the canopy. Firing clouds envelope the sun. My pulse quickens, time slips away, and my feet guide me into the fading light of the forest. I'm wonderfully lost in this place, this forest, this city, this one world. Nature is all around us. Even inside us. We and everything we create are part of it. Running is how I connect with nature. It joins my life with the life of all around me. What's your connection?