Nothing quite like snuggling up with an entertaining book on a cool afternoon, laying on the couch with the sunlight perking through the window!
After a very productive weekend it felt great to relax, lounge around, and enjoy some much needed downtime. As I read I paused s couple of times and considered what else I could / should be working on and realized just how much more I needed the downtime than I initially thought. Heck, I might even be in bed before 7:30 to read before going lights out early.
I enjoy being busy, being productive, but sometimes it feels great to chill. Cheers to the chillin’ today!
What a day it has been! Almost nonstop time with Gavin, a couple of breaks while he was volunteering and while we split up to knock out chores around the house.
The rest of the time we were talking, hiking, joking, playing, and enjoying each other’s company. Talking about life, college, money, books, sports, and anything else that caught our fancy.
Finally getting to bed, was an amazing day all around with him.
Another Friday and another grateful for a book blog!
Last week’s focus on The Alchemist was for very different reasons than tonight’s The Road, but that doesn’t change how much I appreciate either any less.
I’ve read The Road before, but this time it really hit me for deeper reasons than before. The connection between father and son was much ore evident the second time around. For some reason I caught myself thinking more from the perspective of the boy the first read, this time the role of the father really struck me.
So much to pull away form this, a very dark story for sure, but one full of insightful moments as a dad and as someone walking their own road. I’ll definitely be reading this one again!
Spending time in thought, reflecting on the past couple of years, considering goals for next year, thinking through what would need to change to attain them. Is there a more worthwhile investment in my growth for the future?
Appreciation:
When I made the decision to help guide some teammates through a process I use each year for planning my goals I wanted to help others grow. What I’ve found throughout rolling this out to them is how much taking the process to this next level is helping me further the depth I’ve been able to go into this personally. An excellent added bonus I wasn’t expecting!
Presence:
In only five minutes of quiet it is amazing how deep we can start to dive into some of the more deep questions about ourselves. We need only turn down the volume on the rest of life for those short five minutes to turn up the intensity in our future growth.
Talk about an epic surprise this morning! Before our run at 5am I poked my head out the door and looked to the north. As luck would have it, the Northern Lights were dancing all around the horizon!
As we can the first two miles I kept stopping to take pictures while also running with my eyes focused on the sky. Gigantic monoliths of light shot up through the sky like a spotlight and then slowly faded. The dark reds and purples were so bright they were clearly visible by the naked eye.
In a bit of cosmic coincidence they started to fade as we got to our turn around point. The majority of our run on the way back was heading south, which felt okay as the Northern Lights dissipated and the eastern horizon slowly lit up a little.
While I keep an active dream list (119 strong currently) one thing I’d never thought of adding to it was “Go for a run under the Northern Lights.” Now that I’ve done it I realize how epic of a dream that would have been, one that would have been almost impossible to accomplish. We just happened to luck out in this case – an opportunity to knock out a dream I didn’t know I even had until I was in the midst of accomplishing it!
Another epic light show courtesy of the Sun! I’ve never seen such deep reds as there were this evening. Perfect night to get outside to enjoy the magnificence of life!
Nothing like sharing in a moment of surreal beauty to cause intense presence.
Earlier in the day were a few moments in which I felt very much in line with where it seems life wants me to be. A feeling of complete peace.
Quite possibly one of my all time favorite exchanges in a book… You’ve likely seen the scene in the movie No Country for Old Men, the quote is from the book that inspired the movie. This quote takes place in a gas station as the antagonist of the movie, Anton Chigurh, is considering whether or not to murder the attendant who made the mistake of attempting to start a conversation with Chigurh.
What follows is an epically insightful exchange on fate, the future, and existence. Mind blowingly perfect on so many levels.
“You need to call it,” Chigurh said, “I can’t call it for you. It wouldn’t be fair. It wouldn’t even be right. Just call it.” “I didn’t put nothin up.” “Yes you did. You’ve been putting it up your whole life. You just didn’t know it. You know what the date is on this coin?” “No.” “It’s nineteen fifty-eight. It’s been traveling twenty-two years to get here. And now it’s here. And I’m here. And I’ve got my hand over it. And it’s either heads or tails. And you have to say. Call it.”
Cormac McCarthy, No Country for Old Men
Appreciation:
There’s a moment of joy sparked when teammates live into the values as one would hope they would – not because they feel like they should – but specifically because that’s just the way they are wired! Seeing them follow through the way I would hope they would, all without ever being asked multiple times over the past couple of weeks has een outstanding!
Presence:
Yoga for the win this evening!!! Taking a break from “real life” to engage in sixty minutes of focused breathing, stretching, posing, and working, letting the mind go to free the soul. So chill to get into the flow, being as present as I will likely be in any moment throughout the entire day.
All that said, there was also our morning run in the very cold wind, a real feel of 15 degrees in the 12 mph headwind. The chill was a bit rough at first, but very centering for sure!
Nothing like reality testing different ideas of how we best live into our purpose and into joy. The timing couldn’t have been better to line up a handful of weekends to try living into a few different roles. Throughout life we only had so much time and energy to put into our identities, life is so improved when we live it intentionally.
Appreciation:
Finding a way to add some bonus time with Dominic into a weekend with buddies was fantastic! We got to hang out, play some games, joke around, and shoot the bull – all while blending some time together with my friends. Nothing like spending time with my boys and Becky to fill my bucket! This was a fun way to work in an “and,” adding some extra time.
Presence:
Spending time talking with Dominic while driving back to his apartment, fantastic!
Thankful for Forty 