I read a beautiful article this week about Fauja Singh, the world’s oldest marathon runner. At age 101 he’s finally retiring.

After the loss of his wife and the tragic death of his son within a 2 year period, Singh turned to running at age 89 as a way to deal with his deep loss. As he put it in the article, “I needed something to distract myself.”

But over the years his distraction evolved into something more.

What began as a means of distraction from that stormy night in his village so long ago is now a joy unto itself, a path toward God.

So each day he comes here, or he goes to other nearby parks or to a route that winds through town, and he ties his sneakers and begins to stretch. He rolls his head and his arms, then leans forward to touch his toes. In a moment he is off, the wrinkles in his face contorting into something between a grimace and a smile. There is no crowd, no finish line, no record at stake.

There is only the shuffling sound of his feet, one moving in front of the other, then again, and then again and again until he rounds the bend and he’s gone.

I love the image of Singh shuffling slowly, one foot after the other. His story is a powerful metaphor for the journey we all take when healing a deep wound.

So often when we seek relief from pain, spiritual or phyiscal, we seek something outside of ourselves. We seek a cure with immediacy and sweeping grandeur. Something akin to winning the lottery.

But in Singh we see a quieter path to healing. It’s not without its struggles and challanges to be sure, but Singh always keeps his feet shuffling on the path…one moving in front of the other.

He challenged fellow seniors to sprints. He won. When there was no one available to race, Fauja set off running by himself, and he built up his distance over time. When running, Fauja realized he thought only of his next step. After enough steps, his mind went blank, and with his feet pounding the pavement, Fauja says, “I felt connected to God.” The anger evaporated. For at least a few moments, Fauja escaped his grief.

In running Singh found more than a cure. He found something that allowed him to reconnect with a peace that was already inside himself. A peace that had been lost through pain and suffering.

And as he continued to run, Singh not only healed, he grew. He became something more than he was before his loss. And his running became an inspirational symbol for people around the world. A symbol of the power of the human mind, spirit, and body.

And he did it one step at a time, one foot in front of the other.

Healing is not about making yourself whole.

It’s about being your whole self.

It’s about allowing yourself to explore and express that which is already inside you. That which you were born to be.

So we encourage everyone to reach for that conenction to God that Singh found in running. Reach for the things that inspire you and create that connection to a higher power, wherever it may be and as crazy as it may sound. Because surely it can’t be crazier than starting to run marathons at age 89.

For in that connection you will clear the path, allow goodness to come, and all else to go.

Good Luck and Great Adventures,

Rich Dreams

P.S. You can read the original story here at ESPN.com.