birth days

Barack Obama, our next president, had to contend with his past in getting to his future. unless you lived in the sixties and seventies you wouldn't understand the time of turmoil and unrest that marked the changes that took place. in 59 years i've been privileged to see many things, and although i've not witnessed a fraction of what my father has experienced, i've lived a full life too. we often look at birthdays with skepticism and dread, forgetting that it is the opportunity we are given to "get things right", to find our Path. birthdays should be the biggest holiday of the year! in ayurvedic philosophy the birthday is a very auspicious occasion, to be honored for all the potentiality that it holds. remember, in Taoist teachings, that life is about self-discovery.

i draw from the wisdom of the ages and remember the quote from the Greeks that said, in death, they did not eulogize a person but rather were found to ask, "did he have passion?" with each passing year i realize that the abilities we gain through experience free us from bonds placed upon us by past emotions and problems. in life we have just four things it is said: problems, causes, lessons to be learned, and resolution of our problems. so far i've come up with a list of problems in my life and a few causes, but am still waiting for knowledge of the lessons.....

without botching the spelling in Sanscrit for phrases i'll just say that they spoke of the knower, the knowing and the known........ that process of acquiring knowledge is integral to progressing through life and moving on to a higher level. i am learning more about passion, not so much the physical, but the spiritual. i am not sure that enlightenment is in my cards but achieving a view from a higher level must be like the feeling i felt on top of the highest mountain peak in the range, when nothing within eyesight was higher than me...... i included a picture in a previous blog of that mountain and keep it in my mind's eye for inspiration.

so for any of you experiencing a birthday, remember that each day is a celebration of your birth and suitable for celebrating. i hope you too will find your passion.

obamarama - a celebration

"When power leads man toward arrogance, poetry reminds him of his limitations..... The artist becomes the last champion of the individual mind and sensibility against an intrusive society....."

--John F. Kennedy

it was poetic to watch the resurgence of grass roots political involvement and the inclusion of so many young people in the recent presidential campaign. it is wonderful to know that there is a stimulus for change and a HOPE for peace in this crazy world. it will be a very difficult struggle to turn around our economy and image in the world, but by eliminating the onerous words other would use, like "fight", and substituting words like "peace" then "Yes We Can"........ i won't be so naive as to think that it will be easy, but everything worth having is worth the effort.

at a time when Al Franken is still waiting on the last votes he needs to win his race we understand that every vote indeed makes a difference and apathy can turn the course of history as quickly as action........ an undercount of 10,000 votes in Mountain Iron may be the deciding turning point in his campaign.

here in Iowa we have decided that the "Kayakers for Obama" were the turning point in the election. a group so rooted in the environment and so concerned with water quality, we went the extra mile and put our energy into creating a healing place for everyone to reach out to others for the greater good. in his book, "The Hundredth Monkey" Ken Keyes Jr. (http://www.sfheart.com/hundredth_monkey.html) proved that the collective consciousness really does matter, and can change the course of history. when we come together in a common cause, with pure intent, our energy is transmitted across continents and can shape thinking in ways we never imagined.

never think that you are insignificant...... your opinions do matter and your actions do count!

noche de las brujas

all hallows eve or hallowe'en has always been a national holiday at our house, but is pre-empted this year by election activities. the "night of the witches" always had special meaning with our kids at home because it involved being someone different for one night. one special memory for me was the year i dressed up as a werewolf to hand out candy. with my dark beard (then) and a particularly scary wolf mask, a trench coat, and a black wide-brimmed hat i watched out the front door as two young boys approached our especially spooky house (we have three stories with a tower on top with a strobe warning those that chose to get too close). just as they got to the front porch i threw open the door and jumped out, and with a deep voice said, "what do you want?" knees shaking one boy looked up at me with wide eyes, pointing at his friend, and in an obviously scared tone said, "eat him!" i was at once caught in the middle of a difficult situation. my first action was to throw off my mask and assure them that i was not going to hurt them, then to offer as much candy as they would take. My second reaction, after making sure they were not scarred for life, was to quickly shut the door and roll on the floor laughing - not because i had scared them to the point of giving each other up to be eaten, but because the boy was so honest in his actions.
how many times have we passed on the opportunity to be honest and forthright because we were simply afraid.......... locked into behaviour patterns learned through years of conditioning and role-playing. not realizing what path is our "true path" takes us to many doors where the werewolves live and fear becomes our reality. in the celestine prophesy the insights learned follow a progression from recognizing coincidences to recognizing how others gain control by taking our energy - and therefore making us powerless to act.


Does this path we are meant to follow lead us to the Way? we learn our lessons and move to a higher level, free from fear and indecision - free from the paralysis of mind that engulfs us just when we come to the point of knowledge.


when you get to the door of knowledge, don't be scared - the old man with the wolf mask won't hurt you!

tagged

my lovely daughter, Calliope, in her blogsite "http://www.dobrya.blogspot.com/" initiated a "tag" to me to post seven (7) either wierd or random facts about myself that i could share with readers. also i was to enlist seven others to do the same............ another pyramid of information to bring us all closer together. well, first of all, i don't have seven friends that blog (or even know what a blog is) because i am a dinosaur and relatively antiquated for computer usage. i'm lucky that my son contributes to "http://lonelynote.blogspot.com/" music review blogsite and my daughter has started a site called "goings-on". if any of you want to be my friend and include seven random things on your blogsite i'd be closer to proving to my daughter that i'm caring, trustworthy and cooperative, even if she knows better. so here goes.....


1. when I was little i threw cold water on my brother, who was in the bathtub, and he hit me above the eye with a metal toy submarine – the scar is still there.... and you thought only a red ryder bb gun could poke your eye out......

2. i watched peter pan, starring mary martin, for the first time when I was young and that night in my sleep, thinking i was flying, jumped from the bunk bed hitting the desk. (another scar)

3. i’m very good at wiggling my ears without moving my mouth. I’m not very good at keeping my mouth closed at other times……


4. when i was 17, i climbed hochstuhl, the highest peak in the southern alps karawanken mountain range and got stopped at rifle point by a yugoslavian border guard. only because i was an american did i keep from going to jail; and because my climbing partner was cute and persuasive.


5. i’ve kayaked on all the big water in the united states: the atlantic, pacific, gulf, alaska, all the great lakes; and the mississippi, missouri, and illinois rivers. the only time i’ve ever fallen over into the water was in red rock lake, here in iowa.



6. i got knocked out cold, in college football, playing against john matusak, who later was an all-pro defensive end for the los angeles raiders – and who played “sloth” in the movie “the goonies”. Can you do the truffle shuffle? he died of suspected complications of anabolic steroid use so guess i didn't do so badly in the exchange. the "tooz" was 6'8" tall and weighed 280#. at the time he was about the biggest man in pro football. all i remember is that his forearm was as big as my thigh.

7. i sang sergeant pepper’s lonely hearts club band at 3am one morning, in harmony with a young german cabin attendant from hamburg, on the hawser deck of the ss ryndam ocean liner, while crossing the atlantic in 1967. i stayed up all night listening to rock & roll on the pirate stations in the english channel and made it back to my cabin before everyone woke up at 6am. i slept in and missed my language lessons. now i'm sorry not to know more german.



so that is my contribution to world information. i hope that it hasn't changed anyone's opinion of me in a negative direction, but that is the risk you take when you expose yourself on the internet. we are told to be careful of what we put into print. perhaps that is why i prefer being a storyteller instead of a writer. you can always say, later, that it wasn't what you said........ ask the senator from north carolina........ no, i'm not going to play "gotcha".......... well, it is an election year.......... oh, i am the self appointed head of the midwest "kayakers for obama" organization and if anyone wants to join i will declare you a member of the group........ we don't approve of shooting animals from airplanes if you are concerned......



remember, just when you least suspect it, you're on someone's candid camera. see you next time on youtube!

sentinels

throughout the ages different indigenous populations used signs and symbols to communicate with others that might not be able to understand their language. even today we use symbols on roadsigns and in buildings to let people know something when they don't speak "our language". i have been fascinated with different languages and recognize that language is truly the identification of a population, not customs or dress. losing a family language is typical now in ethnic groups because it doesn't fit into the mainstream thinking and singles out someone as "different'. our heritage is valuable as i've said and knowledge of the past lets us chart our course for the future with better results.

the stone cairns of iceland marked the way of travel or alerted travelers of places that needed heed. andy goldsworthy has made a career out of stacking things together and his cairns at the art center in des moines show the precision of a craftsman and how cohesive you can make things with care. life must also be like that when trying to fit all the pieces into a solid stable shape. i am now off on an adventure to the lava fields of keflavik where i will try out my knowledge of "íslenskur' and soak in the wonderful 'blue lagoon'. perhaps the stone cairns i left last time there will still be guiding people, and the friendships i made will also be there to guide my Way. the world looks different close to the top.......

i hope you will take time to stack your stones carefully so they will be there to guide others.....

passages

time goes by so quickly and stopping to consider a moment is often more difficult than it would seem. in 2001 i accompanied a bicycle rider, Katie Lindquist-Eriksen, in RAAM, the race across america. as part of the team, signed on to provide sportsmedicine coverage, i quickly found myself primarily a driver of the vehicles following her on a superhuman journey. she was riding almost 300 miles/day and about 21 hours/day. the winner of the race made it from coast to coast in less than nine days and barely slept 8 hours on the whole race. i drove behind her at about 14 miles/hour for nine hours/day and then moved to the leapfrog vehicle to scout out the road ahead and run errands, before driving the RV to the next stop.

she later married Kent Eriksen, who worked for Moots Bicycles, and who now has his own line of racing bicycles. i learned a lot about myself during those long hours, and not all of it was good. my communication and social skills needed more improvement than i could understand, and working under stress with little sleep and trying to multi-task required terrific concentration. i'm glad they didn't send me home in the middle of the race......... i would have missed a wonderful journey and the exposure to a pure champion and athlete with more dedication than i'll ever experience again.

at 14 mph you get to see the countryside at a pace that is almost surreal........ an almost Dali existence that few experience. how is it that we never slow down this race we call life to enjoy everything, and also everyone? my beautiful daughter Calliope recently posted on the passing of her great uncle Guenther and the love she had come to share with him and his wonderful wife Genie. he was from germany and moved to chicago after the war. his dapper dress and properly trimmed mustache bespoke his pride and love of his work as a buyer for Marshall Field. he had so many stories that i never got to hear...... where was the time?

my father, now almost 93, also has stories i've never heard and every time we get together i catch a bit of another experience that wasn't told before. why don't we chronicle the timelines of this thing we call history......... our history..... and realize that we are the sum total of our experiences to date....... the drama, the emotion, the influence that it has on our existence. maxwell maltz, in his book PsychoCybernetics, spoke about the almost computer like path we follow and the ability to alter our behavior by understanding the inner workings of our psyche. just rewriting the first chapter of a book can change the whole storyline...... and the ending. wouldn't it be possible to change our whole course with just one emotional change of an early event? i've worked with hundreds of patients and have found just that........ the ability to change our total health and wellness just by resolving a negative event from long ago........ if only there was enough time to work with everyone..... and have them understand how effective it can be.

"I live here and now", you may say and you are right. But how can you define now? Time is fleeting and so is now. Or as the saying goes: Today is yesterday's tomorrow. And if you only have a now, you would have no past and no future, no history and no hopes.

just think, finding your Way by understanding where you have been and how others influenced that journey. wouldn't it be exciting?

learn to slow down and find the things that are lost in the haste..... and those that have influenced you in your journey..... good and bad.

circles

a friend called me on my first blog topic and reminded me that endings didn't necessarily have to occur as a natural part of everything. life is ever renewing and, as in nature, there can be "perennials" (lasting, perpetual, enduring, everlasting). the reason i love to sea kayak is because i am not dependent on someone else to "pick me up". i can return to my van and simply make a circle. of course this thought set me off on another tangent musically and, as often does, a favorite song came to mind.

harry forster chapin grew up in new york and was famous for his hits: cat's in the cradle and W.O.L.D., but more importantly for me, All My Life's a Circle, sung in 1972. that was the year i matriculated from undergraduate school and went to work at the VA psych. hospital. it came to mind that everything turns over and comes back around again, in one way or another - karmic or otherwise. guess we should just get it right this time and find another Way. so here's to harry!

All My Life's a Circle

(Starts with 2 stanza chorus):

All my life's a circle;

Sunrise and sundown;

Moon rolls thru the nighttime;

Till the daybreak comes around.

All my life's a circle;

But I can't tell you why;

Season's spinning round again;

The years keep rollin' by.

It seems like I've been here before;

I can't remember when;

But I have this funny feeling;

That we'll all be together again.

No straight lines make up my life;

And all my roads have bends;

There's no clear-cut beginnings;

And so far no dead-ends.

Chorus:

I found you a thousand times;

I guess you done the same;

But then we lose each other;

It's like a children's game;

As I find you here again;

A thought runs through my mind;

Our love is like a circle;

Let's go 'round one more time.

Chorus:

harry forster chapin (12/7/42-7/16/81) was interred in the huntington rural cemetery, Huntington, New York. his epitaph is taken from his song "I Wonder What Would Happen to this World." it is:

Oh if a man tried
To take his time on Earth
And prove before he died
What one man's life could be worth
I wonder what would happen
to this world.

try to take your time on this Earth to prove what you are worth.....