For about a year now, I have been working toward becoming a more positive person. More specifically, my goal is to be a positive influence on the people around me. It's been a long, arduous task to accomplish since I had to battle against my natural cynical disposition, but I've come a long way. That's not to say I haven't make mistakes, and there have been several areas in dealing with people around me where I wish I had behaved differently, but it is what it is. Lessons were learned, and relationships shifted, albeit not necessarily for the worst.

Anyway, this wasn't initially intended to be a downer post, but a positive one! I ran across this video a few weeks ago when I was perusing my usual lineup of frequented blogs, and it struck a chord with me.

Will Smith - Running & Reading (The Key to Life)


The video itself is slightly tawdry, but I love Will Smith's simple message. Reading and running (or any other laborious exercise I've engaged in) happen to be important phenomena in my life.

Reading helps me to gain perspective, knowledge, and understanding of the world around me. There is hardly a day you won't catch me reading 2-5 books simultaneously while catching up on current events. I like being aware of the world around me, and continually learning has always been important to me.

Running serves to clarify my mind, and as Mr. Smith said, it gives me a sense of accomplishment and an ego boost when I surpass any personal endurance expectations. I get a high when I push myself to my physical limit, enduring those last painful sprints in order to to raise myself to the next level of physical fitness.

But hey, that's me. :) How about you? What are important things (or people) in your life that make you a better person?