Day 3,930

Growth:

Reminders that all in life is not permanent, especially the “stuff” we surround ourselves with and attempt to find comfort in, are all around us, we need only pause and pay attention. Today I was shown one of these reminders, the largest mansion I’d ever set foot in, owned by quite possibly one of the wealthiest people I have met, was being torn down just under a year after his death. We’d had an interesting conversation on the collection of stuff at one time we were there, the sight of it being demolished was quite impactful. His impact and legacy lives on in so many, his stuff is no longer.

What kept resonating in my head as I watched the news footage was the sign in George Bailey’s office in It’s a Wonderful Life:

All that you can take with you is that which you have given away.

Appreciation & Presence:

These two are joining forces today as they were very much interrelated! Dominic came home from the Cities for the holiday weekend and joined us for a little soccer watching, dinner, and some family games. Gavin stepped up big time and made us homemade chicken parm for supper for all of us and it was dee-lish! As I type he’s also knocking out the dishes, strong work!

Spending time with my family is my favorite thing in the world, to have that time together, to joke and talk and eat and play and exist together was priceless. So present with them throughout, so appreciative for the time we get together like this as a family!

Thanks!!!

Day 3,929

This quote really struck a chord with me this morning. Be warned, it’s sounds more than a little dark, but deeply insightful. For sure, it’s not nearly as certain as it sounds, more of how things can feel throughout life as we get older.

When I looked up at my father as a boy, I thought being a man was having control. Being the master and commander of your own destiny. How could any boy know that freedom is lost the moment you become a man. Things start to count. To press in. Constricting slowly, inevitably, creating a cage of inconveniences and duties and deadlines and failed plans and lost friends.

Pierce Brown, Morning Star

In so many ways this explains the feeling of attachment. The more we have, the more we are stressed to keep it. The more nervous we become about losing it. The less likely to stay present as we have now created the space for worry.

Very insightful, I’m very glad to be reading this series again to stumble upon this.

Thanks!!!

Day 3,928

As I re-read Life Lived Wild by Rick Ridgeway there are certain lines that resonate deeply for unexpected reasons. One in particular is the following quote after they’ve been in the mountains for quite some time. The clarity Rick feels in that moment is priceless, the types of deep thoughts which only seem to surface once we strip away all the noise and stresses of our daily modern life.

I stood and paused and considered the satisfaction of a perfectly placed tent stake.

Rick Ridgeway, Life Lived Wild

This quote brings to mind my seemingly infinite moments of sitting in stillness and silence on a rock in the middle of a large stream in Porcupine Mountain State Park watching the dragonflies zip across my line of sight eating up mosquitoes, seeming to suck them right up into their jaws. Once of the deepest moments of peace and stillness I’ve ever experienced in my adult life.

Just closing my eyes and thinking back to that memory brings such joy, such stillness to my soul. My heart rates slows, my shoulders relax, my world becomes more clear.

I honestly could not say just how long I sat upon that rock and observed nature in silence, time was irrelevant to me as the water rushed by. The only time was Now, there was only Present.

Thanks!!!