Transformation

After a nice dinner with a friend comprised of delicious bread and salad, we headed to the movie theater to see Transformers: The Dark Side of the Moon. I never was a "transformers" kid or anything--maybe those little machine car things came out later or something. I have also not seen any of the movies. So this was my first experience with the world of transformers and what all that means. I think I can sum it up though pretty well: good transformers living on earth were abandoned by human leaders and bad transformers tried to take over the world. Lots of fights and explosions resulted in the good transformers and good humans defeating the bad transformers, demonstrating that man and machine can co-exist! Yea!

Speaking of defeat--my feet hurt. Or to say it another way--Duh feet (defeat) hurt! Okay, silly pun I know and seems rather incongruous with transformers. These massive machines with mechanical things all over them alter their shape to become other kinds of things--cars, trucks, tanks, gun things, and monster snake-like animals. They have eyes though and are vulnerable in their eyes. Also when they die or lose limbs, they kind of bleed odd red substance that may be blood or red oil maybe. Not sure. But it comes back to this--they transform. I may need to transform my exercise routine.

I have bruised my heel on one foot and the balls of my foot on the other. I enjoy running with the wind blowing on my face, the sun coming up over the horizon, the animals waking up and making sounds, the smells both good and bad, that permeate the natural world, the beautiful subleties of nature surrounding me with the glisten of dew, the slight breeze gently moving the blades of grass, the warming of the temperature, and the vastness of the sky as it shines with anticipation of a new day. But without healthy feet, I cannot run. Hurts too much.

Short of changing myself into a cool sports car with fast wheels and a glossy paint job, I must transform my exercise routine and make it something else. Running is dependent on strong, pain-free feet. So today I go to the gym (bah!) and exercise under a roof (bah!) and do some cycling and rowing junk. Where is the joy, where is the natural world, where is the running? The transformation is not of myself but simply how I do things.

Seems to me that change does not have to be wholesale to accomplish the goals. Change, transformation, altering certain things can make a significant difference in the outcomes. Change can be in diet, in life patterns, in thought-processing, in certain goals, and in apporaches to relationships, learning, behavior, and practice. It makes no sense to do the same thing in the same way over and over. Transforming yourself or even an institution does not have to mean changing your DNA (although some of that could occur I suppose, especially if you are a transformer), but it can mean changing the way you do something or seeking after alternate ways to deliver the same outcomes.

For me the transformation is to keep exercising but to do so in ways that save my feet! I sure don't like change though. It is always easiest to do the same thing in the same way. Sadly, it usually means the same results.