Learn From Our Elders

This last weekend I spent a beautiful Saturday morning with my Dad out on a small lake with a fishing rod in hand and experienced a wonderful chance to gain some more perspective on lifes lessons. As my Dad and I worked the shoreline casting and chatting, we came upon an older gentleman in a beat up jon-boat, wearing a big brimmed straw hat, overalls, and fishing with a simple fly rod. His appearance is not important but it did reflect his demeanor. He approached us to admire my Dads new boat, and as we talked I believe he realized that we were just as harmless as himself and the conversation began to focus purely on the fishing. He gave us quite a few tips on where to fish and what techniques to employ. He watched us for minute, then he did something that I have not had any other fisherman ever do, he came over to our boat and gave us some jigs to try. Now for those of you who don't fish, this is very important, when another fisherman GIVES you bait to use, that is a very important indicator that they have been catching alot of fish with it, most fisherman keep the secret to themselves or just tell you what to use, this man told us what to use, gave us the jigs, then showed us how to use them. Amazing generosity! Then as I studied the jigs I realized that they were handmade, handmade means this man had spent the time to create it, take pride in it, and then share it with others. The very important thing to remember here is that he shared something that was important to him. So often it seems that people have these material items that have so much importance to themselves that they don't realize how much joy it would bring to them if they shared it with someone else. What happened to sharing? We teach our kids to share then as we get older we seem to forget the joy that is derived from sharing. I encourage everyone who reads this to look at their own lives and find out what it is that you enjoy more than anything and then find a way to share it with others. Whether it's money, time, fireworks, fishing, bicycling, beer, Yahtzee, or gardening, I bet that you will find that sharing only multiplies the enjoyment in yourself. I got the message from that man the other morning and from this day forward I am going to try and share again, every opportunity that I come across.

Yes, we did catch fish with his jigs, lot's of fish!

Enjoy the weekend and have a safe 4th of July.

Group Effort

Trees have alot to teach us. They are the essence of strength, patience, beauty, and perseverance.
I spent last weekend in the heart of the Mark Twain National Forest floating down the Gasconade River. As we floated down the river we saw some of the most impressive trees that I have ever seen. Some of these trees had huge trunks that over time had lost some of the soil around the roots causing the trees to lean out over the river. The process of the tree essentially falling down must take quite a bit of time because even though the trunk was leaning so far over the main branches above had changed their growth path and compensated for the leaning by counterbalancing the tree. The fact that the tree had the intuition to naturally balance itself in order to survive is impressive beyond words. It just proves to me that mother nature has a plan to help all living things. The repair takes time, but eventually all is well again. My heart sinks as I look at the mess in the Gulf, but I know that over time Mother Nature can repair herself. We can point fingers at BP, Transocean, and Halliburton all day long. But in the end, we have enabled those companies to become these monsters and in some way or another we are all responsible for the mess. I encourage anyone who reads this to reduce your consumption. Not recycle, not reuse, but reduce! Through reduction in consumerism we might be able to fix quite a few of our messes. Such as the big 'Stimilus Package' that was passed and the subsequent recession. The people were mad that our Government had given the banks all our tax dollars after they had so carelessly failed to manage themselves. But now, what are we doing? Just as before I see people financing Cars, TV's, Furniture, and getting Home Equity Loans. Thus doing exactly what got us in this mess to begin with! As my office mate says, Bob Newhart has the best advice "Just Stop It", let's just quit enabling the banks. We are in this mess together, the gulf, the recession, it's all related. I get frustrated with all the politics and finger pointing, we all did it! Let's own up to it and start the long repair process!!

Such a beautiful day today, I hope everyone can get out and enjoy some time outside!!

The Path is most important!!

Human perception is a very interesting thing. Throughout the history of humanity I would venture to guess that every culture has tried to alter their perception at one time or another. In our culture most of us do it every single day by drinking coffee, drinking alcohol, spinning around until we are dizzy, the later activity is rather enjoyable as a child. Lately I find myself working to try to see every different viewpoint. To truly understand something is to see if from every angle. I believe that we are surrounded by an infinite number of dimensions and if we use our minds to enhance our perception enough to look into those dimensions we will see the past, the present, and the future of where our spirit has traveled and what form our spirit had in those dimensions. Indians of all regions had Medicine Men who lived within the tribes, these Medicine Men exhibited the ability to see into the other dimensions and communicate with the spirits. I believe this is how the Mayan Indians were able to have such a detailed account of things to come in our lifetime. However, the spirits know that we all have a destination and for the better good this destination should not be changed. We define the path that gets us to the destination but ultimately our destiny cannot be altered. So it makes sense that the spirits would not share information into what happens to us on this earth because we could have to opportunity to change our destiny. I spend alot of time on my bike and riding fuels my brain to think. One of the things that I think about is the 2012 winter solstice. The Mayans believed this was going to be a change for mankind and that we would be awoken from a dream like state. Some people perceive this to be the end of the world and fearfully try to preserve themselves by putting in shelters and storing food. Why? Why would anyone want to survive the end of the world? My perception is that we will awake in a different dimension, and none of the problems we have will exist because we are all living in a dream and everything around us has been created in our minds. So it leaves the question, do you perceive that you are having a good dream or are you having a nightmare?

You have the choice for the path but not the destination. Take the scenic route!!!!!

Later!

For The Dogs

I have worked extremely hard to get my dogs integrated back into society. I read an article that explained how Beagles will become very lonely and bored without human interaction. So I started to put forth quite a bit of effort to make sure that each day both dogs recieved some attention. The results have been good and getting better, they still howl at night some, but for the most part I think they are doing good. I also figured out a solution to the poop in the yard problem, I got a pooper scooper and I am learning lessons in humility each time I clean up the yard. I did however come up with a good quote while picking up the poop, "The person who is above nothing can accomplish anything", so true.

I hope to get back to adding to this blog, I have missed writing it!

Moments

Night Air is quite a bit different from any other air, it has a certain magic. Magic that can be bad, magic that can be good, it's up to you and your energy. What you wish upon yourself is utimately what you get and somewhere I wished that night air has good magic for me. And man was it out tonight! The snow falling on the bike path was very peaceful and as I pedaled along, jamming out to some Daft Punk techno, I lived a moment that I have only seen in a picture. It's a weird feeling to live out a moment that you have only seen captured on a piece of one dimensional paper. All the sudden your mind recognizes that you have seen this view before, it recalls the photo like a computer, then with the picture at the forefront of your mind, you compare what your seeing all around you and comparing with that stationary picture and it's at that moment when you realize that there are so many more dimensions around us that we don't even realize it, until you get the chance to compare between really experiencing that moment and just looking at it. This is exactly why the only people a photo really matters too, is the people who were around to experience that moment. They were apart of all the dimensions, the sounds, the smells, the attitude, and their feelings, of the moment. Moments are all around us, waiting to share with us, we just have to get out there and be apart of it all. These are the things that come to my mind while riding a bike at night in 10 degree weather, while it was snowing, and tearing it up for 20miles. I gotta give some props to the dude out running tonight too, good to see some other people out enjoying a beautiful winter night. He knew what was up! I'm sure my wife wanted to punch me when I left to go ride, but props to her to for being awsome about it instead!

Enjoy the weekend all!!

Cheers!

Passion For Life

Kids are all about fun, all the time! The things they say and do are pretty funny and usually contain a lesson. There lives are full of so much potential and positive energy. The fun is so continuous for them that we have to 'potty train' them, they don't have a natural inclination to want to take the time out of there life to even defecate in a toilet, they would rather just keep the party going and shit in their pants. Talk about dedication to having a good time, try that out the next time your out at a bar or party, just drop a deuce on the floor like it's no big deal, then if anyone asks just tell them your having to much fun to go to the toilet, should go over well. Kids also never want to go to sleep. A child can be totally exhausted and keep going and when they finally can't take it anymore they just pass out, in a chair, on the floor, maybe in a bed if they make it that far. As adults we look forward to going to bed, some even get excited about it! When does that change happen? When do we lose our passion for life that sleeping is more fun than being awake? Is aging that cruel? I don't think it is, I see older people who have energy levels well above some teenagers. I have tried to learn as much as I can from my kiddo, starting with emulating her energy level. For the most part, I think I am one of the most energetic people I know. I believe one way to keep your life interesting is to continually try new things. That's why kids are so excited, everything is a new experience. There is alot to learn in life and lots of things to try. Televison not only killed the radio star, but it also turned alot of fun loving, energtic people into lumps on the couch. Turn off your television, watch your friends and family, they are more interesting. The younger generations seem to suffer more from the televison/couch dilemma, so that strengthens my belief that age does not reduce your energy level. So what makes some people so uninterested in life while others can't get enough? One thing that I can't get enough of is going for a bike rides on a nice summer nights. The air, the stars, the heart pumping, it's very addictive. Takes me back to being 13 again, racing around the neighborhood at night without a care in the world. However, everytime I'm on a bike I feel like a kid again. Maybe I'm being to judgemental when writing this, I don't mean to come off like an asshole. I do know alot of very active people and even I watch television. My wife continually reminds me that all things need to be in moderation, I really think I'm just writing this piece as a reminder to myself to keep my actions and thoughts youthful. I will finish with advice that a very wise person in my life gave me. Don't dwell on the past, nothing you can do will change it, don't worry about the future, nothing you can do will change it, focus only on the now because you can only control what actions you put in place right now! Thursday is the new Friday, so have a good one!

Cheers.

Single Encounters

Have you ever imagined that a single encounter could wreck your life? For example, what if you were out on a hike or fishing and you came across Bigfoot. The rest of your life you would know that bigfoot existed, and if you didn't share that information with others, you would go insane. On the flip side, if you did share that information with other people, they would think you were insane. So you are hosed! Same goes for Aliens, everyone would consider you insane if you claimed you had seen them. But you would drive yourself insane if you tried to contain a secret that big. What do you do? I would just start taking large quantities of hallucinogens, that way you might forget it happened to you, and if you share it with other people, they would just think it was the drugs! Either way, drugs or insanity, your life is wrecked. There are medical terms for about every type of phobia, what do you call the phobia of encoutering an mythical entity and thus wrecking your life? Unnaturalencouterobia!

Peace!