2009
22
May
20:07

psych 101

   Posted by: arcanai   in getting healthy

so i took a chapter from one of my college psych courses into my run last night.  i recall reading about a study on happiness once.  they were doing a study on the power of positivity and they had some college students describe a series of pictures.  then they had them bite a pen between their teeth and describe the pictures again.  since the action of biting a pen in their teeth simulated the muscles of a smile, they found that the descriptors were much more positive on that go-round. 

for some reason, this popped into my head on the bridge run last night.  i made a conscious effort to force my face to contort into somewhat of a smile throughout my run.  granted, two weeks ago was just a horrible run for me, but i managed to shave 2.5 minutes off of my run (same course) this week!!!  i started the run with absolute dread.  i had a headache all day yesterday and then we got there way too early so we were just standing around…  i really was not into the running.  however, when we got started, i went ahead and forced myself to smile, i concentrated on my music, i made happy comments to those who i met coming back (i’m always the back of our pack), and i made it.  i never felt like “oh my God, i can’t go any further!”.  i never felt like i had to stop and walk.  i just kept going and i was fine.  i wouldn’t call it effortless, but it was my easiest run yet.  and i felt good.  after i went through the college, i started back to the bridge and i knew how far it was.  i started climbing the bridge and i passed by most of the pack but i felt fine.  halfway down the other side of the bridge, my hubby caught back up to me and slowed down enough to jog back with me.  we were the last ones back but it felt so good not being alone.  and i was thrilled that i had cut two and a half minutes off my time.  that’s the best improvement i’ve ever seen!

This entry was posted on Friday, May 22nd, 2009 at 20:07 and is filed under getting healthy. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.

One comment

 1 

excellent strategy! great job!

May 23rd, 2009 at 7:44

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