Once, Buddha was walking from one town to another with some of his followers. This was in the initial days. While they were traveling, they happened to pass a lake. They stopped there and Buddha told one of his followers, “I am thirsty. Please get me some water from that lake there”.

The follower walked up to the lake. When he reached it, he noticed that some people were washing clothes in the water and, right at that moment, a bullock cart started crossing the lake right at the edge of it. As a result, the water became very muddy, very dirty. The follower thought, “How can I give this muddy water to Buddha to drink?!” So he came back and told the Buddha, “The water in there is very muddy. I don’t think it is fit to drink.”

So, the Buddha said, let us take a little rest here by the tree. After about half an hour, again Buddha asked the same follower to go back to the lake and get him some water to drink. The follower obediently (顺从地) went back to the lake. This time he found that the lake had absolutely clear water in it. The mud had settled down and the water above it looked fit to be had. So he collected some water in a pot and brought it to the Buddha.

The Buddha looked at the water, and then he looked up at the follower and said, “See, you let the water be and the mud settled down on its own. You got clear water. It didn’t require any effort”.

Our mind is also like that. When it is disturbed, just let it be. Give it a little time and it will settle down on its own. You don’t have to put in any effort to calm it down. We can judge and best decisions of our life when we stay calm.

Simon James is a super-trail runner (越野跑步者) who encourages people to reconnect with nature in the name of exercise. He has completed Super Trail in the Alps, the Andes and the Himalayas. A late-night bet with a client (客户) got him tied to running.

“In 2006, a business client challenged me one evening in a bar to a 36-hour walk across 54 miles of the West Highland Way, and I foolishly said ‘yes’,” James said. “He then rang me the next day to tell me we would be running it.”

At the time, James was 20 kilograms overweight and the longest he had run before that was just under 8 miles, but he managed to finish that run and has never looked back.

According to a report, two-thirds of adults in the U. K. are overweight, one-fifth suffering from depression (抑郁). The huge influence caused by modern lifestyle has worsened these issues. We are aware of the importance of exercise in everyday life, and no amount of virtual meetings can make up for direct social contact. James said, “Only one thing can fix these problems — trail running.”

What is unique about trail running, he explained, is that “it reconnects us to our beautiful nature and connects our physical, mental and spiritual aspects, as well as providing us with an experience which can connect us to other people”.

Inspired, he quit his city life of working 16-hour-plus-days as a banker, and spent more time in trails and mountains.

James is now in charge of the trail running company Run the Wild. He said every run has been a gift following a physical operation in 2015, even though his doctor told that he could hardly run again. He said, “The outdoors is such a great place for us all to experience.”