Practicing mindfulness for the first time

After running at the beach for four weekends in a row, I broke that new habit today. I still went running, just not at the beach, today I ran at Old San Juan.

It wasn’t a long run,just about 20 minutes with a couple of short walking breaks in between , but I was still out of breath by the end of it. I started running down at Paseo de La Princesa, all the way to La Puerta de San Juan.

That wasn’t difficult because that’s a straight line, but it gets difficult when you go through La Puerta de San Juan, where you start going up a slope. From there I turned left to go up to La Rogativa.

I did not even attempt to run up there because that is a pretty steep hill. I can run up hills but not that one.

I stopped up there to take a few pictures and then continued to run until I could see El Morro Fort. I thought I would stop when I got to the walkway to the fort but I wasn’t tired yet so I thought, why don’t I run up to the fort entrance. I ran up to the entrance and back, where I stopped running, dripping in sweat.

After running I went to a Mindfulness class in the grass area in front of the fort. That was a very nice rest after that run but, I had not thought about how hot it was going to be. I was already sweating and the sun brightly shining above me did not help.

I sat comfortably with a straight back, closed my eyes, listened to the instructions and tried to be mindful. I tried to just be in the moment and not get distracted but it was so hot and I just felt the sweat going down my face, back and arms. I couldn’t stop thinking about the sunburn I was going to get for not wearing suntan lotion and just felt like pouring the bottle of cold water over my head. I didn’t because I was also really thirsty.

I will probably give this another chance because, apart from it being so hot, I enjoyed practicing Mindfulness. I have been told about it, but had never really given it a chance. The thought of being aware of what I’m feeling and seeing at the moment without interprofesional judgement just felt so difficult to me, and it was. I always have a million things going through my mind, not even important things, it’s just really difficult for me to focus. Then comes the part about no interpretation or judgment which I also admit is a big challenge for me because sometimes (or most of the time) I overthink things. Things that I really don’t have to and really shouldn’t overthink.

I do have my moments when I don’t, like when I work out, go to the beach or when I write. This is when I disconnect from the world, don’t think about outside distractions, and I just focus on what’s in front of me. I’m really mindful when I write and these are probably my most relaxing moments. It’s just me and a blank screen in front of me. I just focus on the words.