The View From My Bicycle (COLUMN)

So you reckon I'm not a believer eh?

September has been a tough month, #1 due to being sick not once but twice. The second sickness was especially horrific, and would not wish that sort of experience on anyone. Hang on, there is one person - just one - that I do wish that on. That would be just desserts. Part of the reason September was so tough was because I fingered September as the month for solid training to recommence. This included some frightening exercises - like cycling to Sun City (getting up at 3am), and following up that 170km ride with a 103km ride first thing in the morning. This really put a lot of strain on the system.

At the same time, it was also an awesome month for a few reasons.

On my Heart Rate monitor chart I have a few very solid bars over the past few weeks. More than I have managed to assemble, actually, for several months. So my motivation levels are at any all time high. Just this week I was on the bike so often that by Sunday I really didn't want any more views from a bike - I'd had enough (so I went running at the gym instead today).

The view from my bike has been - again - the importance of keeping the engine in tip-top shape. Staying physically in good shape takes care of almost everything else - health, moods, self esteem, motivation, stress, the works.

The view from my bike today was that I eventually had to sit down at Pick n Pay (the person took so long to pay her bill at the till) and after a really long wait I finally packed all my things back into my trolley. As I was doing so the missing item finally arrived. A large carton of cigarettes. A smoker naturally won't understand, but a non-smoker certainly can. To hold up an aisle for a carton of cigarettes - to make sure the stuff that tars your lungs and eventually kills you gets to you, while others buying fruits and life-giving sustenance are held up - crazy. As I say, a smoker won't see anything wrong with it.

We do live in different worlds - people - because we see different truths. One person can look at a cactus and see a painful prickly plant, another sees it for what it is. A member of the floral kingdom. Something that adds diversity to a garden or a desert. The bias you introduce is entirely your own. Others will see a brand new day, sunny and beautiful as something to hide away from. They may stay in bed, or stay indoors playing computer games, or find some other excuse not to participate or acknowledge the opportunities and potentials presented by a simple day. Being biased against a beautiful day comes from years of cynicism and bitterness. Those are people we are better served to avoid, unless we can learn from their bad example.

I asked a number of people to think of me and pray for me on one particular day this week. I haven't suddenly found God, or backslidden back into Christianity. I do believe in the power of thought, and prayer and meditation. I believe in the power of positive thinking. I believe karma manifests. I believe our bad moods attract bad luck. Be careful. Those thoughts we entertain draw all sorts of things into our lives. The discipline we apply to our bodies we also need to apply to our minds. If you start to veer off the yellow brick road of sunny happy thinking, remember to stop yourself thinking any further down the road you're headed. Because you know exactly where it goes. Not to the world of sun and rainbows, but through cold, dripping alleys of the dark night.

The view from my bicycle is that by moving our bodies, we purify them. The tissues press out all the accumulated gunk. We sweat it out. Moving our bodies is a precursor to moving our minds towards better and brighter roads. That's where I'm headed. Coming?