it's my island

Life is Uncertain, Make the Most of It

// August 17th, 2009 // 1 Comment » // Life Happens, Points In Time

“There are two ways to live: you can live as if nothing is a miracle; you can live as if everything is a miracle.”

—Albert Einstein

The longer I walk forward the more I understand it’s not about the destination. This is something that you are supposed to learn as a child. We’re always reminded to ‘Stop and Smell the Roses’, but we rarely internalize it.

The Old Guard

I think it began with the idea set forth that we find work, we do good work, we have work forever, and then at the end of our work we have retirement. Well we all know that’s idea is pretty much ashes these days. I always thought that I had to get to ‘X’, whether it was a great company or financial success, and I just had to get to that place and then life could begin.

Sacrifice the short for the long.

How wrong I was.

As a youth we’re all foolish. It’s not our faults, our brains they say take a lot longer to develop and that’s why we have a long adolescence. We have to accumulate wisdom and watch the passing of time in the human experience. Our minds unfettered would run faster and farther than most of what our flesh limits us to and it takes us a while to realize that.

Getting lost in a future thought is very easy to do. It’s one many of us get trapped in. All around us are those stuck in the rat or survival race. Everyone always looking at the prize but compulsory glance or with disdain at the journey itself.

Today

So what about today, the now, the moment? Why do we put off tomorrow what we can enjoy today. A hug, a kiss, a moment in the grass, or for me a leap out of an airplane.

It’s all relative but it’s all about the now.

All my life I wanted to work hard so that when it came to rearing children and enjoying what I could consider as my prime years I would be set for it. Life doesn’t work that way, not unless you were gifted/blessed/networked by some circumstances that allowed for early fortune.

It’s ok though. There is nothing wrong with prioritizing for today. Today you can find happiness in an event. You can taste victory even in cleaning up a room of a home.

Relish in it.

Shooting for the Moon, Lands You in the Stars

This doesn’t mean that you obliterate tomorrow for today, but you don’t have to build great structures in the clouds that may never come to fruition. Give yourself goals, fantastic goals, and if you come up short at least you made the effort to try for greatness. Recalibrate, cast out new goals, and strike out again, today, every day.

Enjoy the successes of today!

Puzzling Patience and Persistence

// June 15th, 2007 // Comments Off // Scribbles, Skull Sessions

I remember a sage once told me that my life was to be walking one of Saturn’s squares. Loosely translated she meant that I would need to work hard and be patient for a long.. long.. time.

It’s taken quite a long time, probably the first 26 (nearing 31 this month) years of my life but I’ve become rather good at being patient. It doesn’t mean I don’t lose it from time to time, but I’m able to swing in some Zen harmonies more often than naught.

I found my way through with many systems. Have few friends and make them the best friends. Keep the temple of yourself in check through working out. Find a way to keep your mind clean and clear.

To achieve greatness isn’t necessarily hard, but it does require patience and persistence.

Relationships

We are social creatures that get out of hand when we have too little or too much interaction. Over the years I’ve had ample friends and acquaintances; when I look back I can only see derived value from those who had similar passions and goals as myself.

If you have a ring of people who are draining you emotionally due to their needs and it’s not helping nurture you’re own needs; over time this can foster social delinquencies which usually end in spite. Who needs that?
>friend
a person whom one knows and with whom one has a bond of mutual affection

Foster those you connect with and cherish them. Let those who do not mesh well with you fall away. In your life you will cross the path of thousands of individuals. Stay open in knowing that you will find others that will support you as you will support them.

Stay Fit

>Purity Through Sweat

I’ve used that motto for years. When I realized I was overweight—probably 9 years ago—I began what would be one of the longest things I’ve ever stuck with, working out. It began without any instruction; then when I wasn’t getting the results I wanted I became my own trainer. Going through the [ACE](http://www.acefitness.org/) program taught me so much about who we are and how we operate.

As I shed the pounds I also shed the fears I had accumulated like a rotten onion. The better I felt, the taller I walked, the happier I was. It’s been a roller-coaster of goals I’ve set over the years but when it comes down to it if I don’t get a good sweat in at least twice a week I begin to get very irritable.

We take a lot in, whether it’s our nutritional choices to the stresses of life. Keeping up a good regiment of physical activity helps purge and keep level a lot of these things. I’ve said many many times that knowing we are [thermodynamic](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laws_of_thermodynamics) machines if we don’t help find balance our bodies will do very odd and generally unpleasant things to us to find it’s own accord.

Mental Clarity

Who doesn’t want mental clarity? Being trapped in a mental rat race is no joy yet most of us are doing just that. It takes a lot less work than you’d think, but it does take persistence and a desire to as the [Delphi inscription](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Know_thyself) read ‘Know Thyself’.

What you find is a lot of people don’t like themselves, and this creates an open loop which is filled by a lot of irrational behavior because of a fear of self and almost always a greater fear of change.

Find a way to love yourself. The words are almost cliche these days but it’s true. No one can hurt you if you own yourself. It’s hard to explain how to do this but the roots of it are taking responsibility for yourself. If you don’t like an aspect of yourself, accept it or change it.

>Be granted the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and to have the wisdom to know the difference…

That’s half the equation right there. The rest of the puzzle is just clearing the cob-webs of daily life from your mind just like working out does. Practice [Yoga](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yoga), [breathing exercises](http://cas.umkc.edu/casww/brethexr.htm), even a [Pzziz](http://www.pzizz.com/) moment is worth it.

If your mind is found twittering about on daily todo’s and not allowing you to find stillness you might want to look into David Allen’s [Getting Things Done](http://www.davidco.com/what_is_gtd.php) so that you can empty your head enough so that you can enjoy some peace. I’ve also found an amazing resource in [skydiving](http://www.dropzone.com). Clearing your head with a leisurely fall from 13,500ft can do wonders for you. haha!

It’s a Long Road

Life’s a crazy journey. I’ve fallen in love with it’s chaortic idiosyncratic strangeness. I don’t fight what comes my way. It’s accepted, analyzed and solved for. I encourage all of you to stay nimble and stay open to the worlds possibilities. Be honest with yourself and the ones around you.

Let’s all try and make something great with what we can. If you can look back and say, “I did the best I could at the time with what I knew”, you’re doing A.ok!

The 10 Steps to a Strong Personal Foundation

// November 2nd, 2006 // 5 Comments » // Quotations

I’ve been hunting and pecking optimal thoughts for many years. Going through an old office folder of things I had on my wall I came across ‘The 10 Steps to a Strong Personal Foundation’. If you have this in one hand and some form of gtd philosophy in the other I don’t think you can go wrong. The real question is how many of these things are you currently owning up to, and how long will it take you to get in line with the rest?

I tried to google down the author but all I found was tons of life coaches using it as reference. If you know the author let me know.

1. Honor your boundaries.
Boundaries protect you from people that your spirit cannot easily afford.
2. Raise your standards..
The higher your standards, the fewer problems you will experience in life.

3. Clarify your requirements..
Everyone in your life deserves to know what you expect/require of them.

4. Finish your unfinished business..
The fewer unresolved items in your life, the more confident you will feel.

5. Get your personal needs met..
Until your personal needs are met, it’s difficult to live powerfully and sustainably.

6. Orient around your values..
When you orient your life and your goals around your values, fulfillment naturally occurs.

7. Build reserves in all areas..
Having more than enough calms the mind and affords more experimentation in life.

8. Identify and reduce tolerations..
What you put up with drains your energy and slows your development.

9. Handle the money, completely..
Until your money is handled, you are not at choice in life

The Beginning of a Long Fall

// August 29th, 2006 // 3 Comments » // Interests, On the Radar

Today marks a day of commitment. After years of talking about it I signed up for [Skydive Carolina’s](http://www.skydivecarolina.com/) accellerated free fall program ([AFF](http://www.skydivecarolina.com/training/rate_card-aff.html)). September 23rd will be a day of coursework then a long step out of a perfectly good plane. I am so very excited to have finally firmed this up and am taking the leap.

>We take these risks, not to escape life, but to prevent life from escaping us.
— Author Unknown

I firmly believe life is about expereince and with greater experience comes greater confidence in life. I am excited, near giddy, twisted with anticpation and a dash of nervousness. This is going to be a blast.

-a

I don’t want to be an ant.

// February 17th, 2006 // 3 Comments » // Skull Sessions

If you haven’t had the pleasure of watching Waking Life. It’s worth a spin. Really it’s worth a few spins. Besides it being an early rotoscoping film in an era that is seeing it done more and more it’s a great work of art and psychology. Check it out on a day you want to relax and just drift through the clouds of your mind thinking those interesting ‘why’ thoughts. There are a few moments that might imprint on an individual and this has always been one of mine …

(Main is character coming out of a subway and bumps into a girl.)

Excuse me.

Excuse me.

Hey, could we do that again? I know we haven’t met, but I don’t want to be an ant, you know. I mean, it’s like we go through life with our antennaes bouncing off one another, continuously on ant auto-pilot with nothing really human required of us. Stop, go, walk here, drive there, all action basically for survival, all communications simply to keep this ant colony buzzing along in an efficient polite manner. Here’s your change. Paper or plastic? Credit or debit? Want ketchup with that? I don’t want a straw, I want real human moments. I want to see you. I want you to see me. I don’t want to give that up. I don’t want to be an ant, you know.

Yeah, I know. I don’t want to be an ant either. Ha ha. Thanks for kind of jostling me there. I’ve been kind of on zombie auto-pilot lately, I don’t feel like an ant in my head, but I guess I probably look like one. It’s like D.H. Lawrence had this idea of two people meeting on a road, and instead of just passing and glancing away, they decide to accept what he calls the confrontation between their souls. It’s like freeing the reckless gods within us all.

Well, then, it’s like we have met.

(They shake hands)

I don’t want to be an ant either. I don’t think any of us should. When was the last time you touched base with your neighbor, the last time you asked someone who waited on you what their favorite color was? Every once and a while help break the static shell that we so easily fall into by _living for a moment_.

I want real human moments.
I want to see you.
I want you to see me.

I feel some imagry around these contexts that I need to explore (*jots down notes*). Keep these thoughts with you, spread the meme. We need to stop commoditizing ourselves.

-a