Living through Action

As I get older I see how elusive time can be, how it keeps ever flowing, slipping through your fingers. That is, if you’re focused on preserving it. I’ve been fortunate to have some great role models who have demonstrated that truly living does not revolve around a preoccupation with the amount of time left, but rather taking action on the things we enjoy and the things that matter. As we claw our way out of this pandemic psychosis, fighting against the technology and mechanisms in society that polarize and shape us, we must remember that. This world is beautiful, and we humans can be good. We can learn from our time, our mistakes in the past, but what matter is our collective indicative to take action now. To live out our lives together, and to work toward something greater than us, so that future generations may enjoy something even better. 

Being a Good Ancestor

Today I looked upon old photos of my ancestors, and it struck me that they had no idea who would come after them two or three generations later. Much like myself, someone without children…who knows who will come after me 100 years later if I decide to start a family? All we can do is enjoy the time allotted to us, and contribute to the betterment of the future. Our actions echo into eternity, creating circumstances of which our descendants inherit. What kind of world will it be?

Saturday Ease

Maybe it’s the sprig that comes with a pleasant Saturday morning, but I feel at ease with the world, with life. We tend to fuss about “the things,” myself especially included, and in the grand scheme of it all, it really doesn’t matter. We’re okay. We’re going to be okay. As a species we need to do some things, and try to work together, and that’s all we can do. We are afforded such a small flicker of candlelight to be alive. We really should just be. It’s a big beautiful amazing world.. let’s feel alive in it. 

Humans in the Cosmos

There’s a difference between drive and pressure, or eustress and stress. Just like there’s a balance between effort and rest; one can’t do either all the time. There’s a need for both. It seems one of the most important skills, or journeys, in life is to explore and learn that balance for one’s self. We enjoy a beautiful planet, interaction and love with our fellow social creatures, and the ability to create, to contribute. We are also atoms and dust, at the end of the day, a mere temporary form in the dynamic changing of matter in the universe. It’s all completely surreal. Life is good and simple: strive and relax, ponder and enjoy. How wonderful it is to be human. 

Grace for Life

There will always be hard days. I don’t think what we wish for is only easy days ahead. I think we seek hope, some type of reassurance that it will be okay. It seems we do this through our dying day. 

The only, for lack of a better word, remedy that I’ve found for this is gratitude. Graciousness for all that has been and was, for all that is, and for whatever may be, even with the uncertainty of the future looming large. 

The mechanism toward acceptance of this life, this reality, is gratitude. Because only with gratitude can we fully be present, which is where all our dreams and effort and yes, tears and sadness, but most importantly, our living, happens.

My appreciation for gratitude, when I’m able to channel it, extends beyond what’s possible to be conveyed in writing. In some absurd way, we are cursed yet blessed beings. Being human is all we know; how good at it can we be, with each other?

Twitter Take

There are lots of opinions and speculation flying around with the news around the Twitter acquisition. Mine is only this: whether a publicly traded company or a privately owned one, Twitter doesn’t serve as what many want, claim, or intend—a public forum.

The incentives and interests of Twitter have never completely aligned on that. We probably do need a true American Digital Public Square, and there are still many problems to sort through in order to set it up. One account per person, somehow verified? Tax-payer funded, with “official” polls on important issues? Yes, free speech, as defined and outlined within the US Constitution and US law? Call it a fantasy, but something could be built.

But it’s not Twitter. Let’s separate the hypothetical apples from the potential oranges, so that we can can indeed create a free, open, and just world. 

Thriving Today

In the modern world, thriving is no longer merely survival. It’s making things better, optimizing, for not just ourselves but for everyone. There are millions of people pursuing this goal. 

In order to succeed, one must think outside what they know, what’s normal and obvious and frequent. Improving macroeconomics requires an understanding of the past, and the global finance system and how states interact with each other. The effects of positive improvements, even slight ones, has the potential to impact all of humanity. 

To build or create something new, something valuable, requires a perspective beyond the daily minutia that make up our lives, or perhaps a more critical introspection of it. Novel unique things have the potential to inspire, to effect further positive change. 

We have the ability to pursue these higher objectives because we have inherited a world built upon the work and sacrifice of those before us. When we contribute to this collective goal of changing the world, for the better, for all of us, we insert ourselves into the broader legacy of humanity: the ability to adapt, change, grow, and ultimately, to create. What world will we create?

Back to Beauty

And then there’s the settling back in. Habits can be tough to keep when they’re interspersed with trips to distant places, which is why I try to build ones that are applicable anywhere. What helps me is to remember it’s all part of life: our big exciting trips and our mundane commutes, our greatest triumphs and deepest sorrows. They are all part of this thing called life, and it’s indeed beautiful. 

The Return Home

Even with how much I love to travel, it’s always good to come home. I’ve considered what it would be like to be completely nomadic in the modern world, but part of the magic of travel is the feeling of coming home. There are many different types of people and environments in this world, but to return to the origin of one’s tribe is irreplaceable. For each of us, we have that one special place on Earth that is truly home. 

How we live

I try to keep the end in mind, and live life accordingly. I can’t help but know that the times with family are what’s most Important, what I’ll look back on. We are afforded this amount of time on this magical planet, and our time is drastically determined by who we spend it with. Our tribe is how we live. 

Little Things

Life really does happen in those little moments, those in-between parts. You can be surrounded by beauty, with your two best girls, but you still gotta pay attention. To those little, tiny things. That’s where it all is. 

Explorations

There’s something about walking the Earth with your tribe. That cool dust at your feet as you wander forward; and the memories of it and your day with them. Such is the privileged tales of an explorer. And aren’t we all, making our way through this void?

Goldilocks Harbor

The Earth has this perfect little Goldilocks window that enables us to thrive. I was actually cold on the trail early this morning, something that doesn’t happen often. My hands were numb and I could see my breath in front of me. By the return, some four hours later, my headband was drenched and my back wet as the sun beat down on us. Sure a 40 degree temperature swing seems drastic, but that just illuminates how special we are. The planet constantly shields us from cosmic energy as we blissfully climb around its surface. It’s difficult to fathom. How fortunate we are, to enjoy this uniquely beautiful rock in the cosmos. It’s truly a big beautiful amazing world. 

Hiking Hallmarks

Early wake up calls and carb heavy meals. A crepuscular routine to catch the light on the Earth as the sun rises and falls. Tired legs but an emancipated soul. These are the hallmarks of hiking life. I may behave like a city boy and even resemble one, but do I enjoy forays into desert forests and rocky outcrops. Physical perspective literally yields mental and emotional perspective. We climb the mountain to relish in the journey upwards, but also to connect with the planet as it lays out before us from the top. It is the character of our species. We are a part of the Earth, and must remember that before we return to it. 

Up the Mountain

And sometimes, you climb a mountain that is tough. But it grounds your perspective during the entire trial. Sure, us monkeys are smart enough to design, build and pilot a helicopter (though not me) to take you up there. We’re very clever. But can you walk up? Are we physically capable of ascending the mountain?

The Earth challenges you with this simplicity. To walk, or to turn around. The plants and animals up there exist, can you? It’s a zero sum experience.

The beauty is there, it’s here, it’s all around us. We just need to wake up, climb up, and we’ll see it. 

Stepping Out into Nature

You’re surrounded by karst red topography in Sedona, and on many of the hikes, it’s a 360 degree view. It can be enough to inspire, to reset, to revive. Sedona is one of thousands of places on this planet that represents its incredible diversity and uniqueness. Earth’s nature is all around us, beckoning… we just have to step out. 

Return to Earth

Sometimes a trip can be used for a reset, and that’s exactly the journey I intend to embark on today. What better place to do it than among the red rock in Sedona? The Earth is our home, our anchor within the rest of the matter soup in the universe. We must return to it as a species. I look forward to grounding myself this week, returning to the rock and soil from which I came. Sedona here I come. 

Photo Browsing

There’s something simply joyous about looking through old photos with your family. We don’t realize it, but it’s amazing how much we’ve grown and aged over the years. What a wonderful existence this is, and how grateful we can be for our tribe. We are all mortal; it’s up to us to make it count. 

Starting Point Duality

I had a conversation with a coworker recently regarding the difficult and delicate balance of staying informed versus simply consuming content and not straying your focus from your own empowerment. In today’s digital world it’s all too difficult, and I’ve yet to determine a solution. 

But I’ve learned that when life happens, the news is one of the first things to go, all concern with it immediately gone. 

It seems there’s a duality to our perception and our course of action. When we embrace a big picture paradigm, on the largest scale of space and time, the universe, and work backwards to our single being at this very moment, we can more easily appreciate the incredibility of reality. But when we want to take action to improve our environment, if we start from the smallest possible circle of control, ourselves, and work outward to increasingly larger circles of influence, our impact on that reality is that much greater. 

It sure is one big beautiful amazing world. 

Commute Sensations

The crisp cool air whips across my face. I feel the steady irregular bump of the uneven gravel beneath my board’s wheels. Here and there you can catch an early morning bird darting from one tree to another. This is my morning commute. And in the grand scheme of the universe, it’s a pretty amazing experience. I try to set that context as often as I can, although it is difficult. For when you consider our position within it all, and how we’re all connected to everything, and everything to us, it is remarkable.