“The quieter you become, the more you can hear. ” ― Baba Ram Das

I heard a most beautiful story the other day, about a young woman who in a twist of life’s tragic loss discovered her very own awakening.

She was a professional runner, training sometimes up to 11 hours per day…but, never once finding the joy she so desperately wished to feel.

Mile after mile she ran, chasing what was never once there – not in the smiles of the people she passed, or in the endlessness of ever-changing scenery…nor, in the any of those winding dusty trail.

It seems her whole world was consumed by routine – this routine of chasing her dream. It ended up nearly blinding her to the beauty of the life that she already had.

Until one day, in her mid-thirties she began suffering debilitating seizures. And, with such frequency and voracity that she soon lost all ability to speak, to move…to walk.

All of these things that are so often taken for granted, lost in the time-span of just a few short days.

In an effort to save her life, doctors performed what was then considered an innovative new surgery – a surgery that would remove the bulk portion of her right temporal lobe.

And, when she awoke…the seizures were gone; likewise, so was all that she once used to be.

The surgery, though successful, had damaged the portion of her brain responsible for short term memory. As a result, this active young woman found that she had to relearn the ‘basics’ once again.

Day after day, she returned to the physical therapy clinic – with the dream of running just one more race.

But, the doctors, they all felt her to be foolish – seeing only her limitations, and not the capacity of her heart.

And, when she began to run again (yes, can you believe it?) – something miraculous took form. Mile after mile, she took to those trials – in perfect form, and a pace that was unencumbered.

You see, because her brain had been so ‘damaged’ by the surgery – that mechanism to cause her to stop, was gone, too. That little voice to remind her that she was too tired…too weak…to this or that…was completely, and most perfectly silenced.

Since her brain surgery, she just simply runs – “uninhibited by the drudgery of time and distance, undeterred by an inability to remember exactly where she is going or how to get back.”

And now? She has become one of this world’s most elite ultra-marathoner, competing in races measuring over 100 miles. Last year, she won the Yukon Arctic Ultra 300 – being the first woman to complete the 430-mile version this year. In losing her memory, she was granted this most joyous gift – of everything always being new, once again.

And serving as the gateway to her own awakening.

It’s really is something magnificent to consider – this relationship between mind, body and spirit. And, the damage this chattering mind will do – if we don’t learn early on how to hush it.

There is great power, my dears, to that which we call spirit; and, all we ever really have to do it believe it.