What's the only event in Central Texas in which you can run a 5K, eat kolaches and fried pickles, dance to polka, play horseshoes, and belt karaoke tunes for a host of Czech transplants in a single day? C'mon... I don't need to say it by now. Who knew months ago when I wrote about my home away from home there off I-35 that such a small dot on the world map would give birth to what will hopefully become a yearly tradition for this Colorado girl? Clearly not me.
So the 5K was, in a word: HOT! I did not accomplish my goal of "running" its entirety (damn hill at mile 2!), but I posted a decent time all things considered. My running companions, as predicted, kicked my ass. I've unfortunately discovered, again as predicted, that Tejas can have a somewhat deleterious effect on one's nutrition, fitness, and general health. Case in point: run a 5K, eat some kolaches. Some things in life aren't worth adhering to strict rules for... new culinary experiences (fried pickles) among them. Again the principles of balance and moderation come to the forefront of my thinking, which is something I've been thinking a lot about lately. Not those concepts per se, but the art and sometimes perils of "thinking".
Perhaps its the effect of beginning my cognitive behavioral therapy class, or having my own irrational thoughts mirrored by my clients, or that I still wake up some mornings with the belief that I'm in my "old life." Thoughts are incredible agents of change, and so infrequently are we taught to examine their validity. I've been making a more conscious effort to really look at those fleeting ideas that pass between my ears constantly throughout the day, and I'm shocked to find how often they're based in old school insecurities and riff raff from decades ago. It's true, those who pursue psychology in a professional capacity usually are quite curious about their own psychological underpinnings. That's certainly true of myself and my class compadres, and frankly, I'd be concerned by any mental health professional who didn't take a long hard look at him or herself. 
So much of our lives are lived completely within our own heads. Even in those heart-to-heart moments we share with the people in our lives, there's volumes that goes unsaid, unrecognized, undone. There's a profound sadness in that isolation, but also a profound joy. No one will ever know me better than myself, and likewise I will never truly "know" anyone in that sense. But somehow it works, and somehow people converge in the same location and connect over those little shared joys despite the mental disconnect. Like the joy of Billy Joel's "For the Longest Time", done karaoke-style with Shehzad and Kara, in a glorified barn, in the Heart of Texas, under a Czech flag, in this weird and wonderful concept of living despite all "thinking.""No matter where you go or what you do, you live your entire life within the confines of your head."
-Terry Josephson
