Hmm… I’m starting to notice a theme happening here 😉 Another day, another post about something in nature I took time to appreciate today.
Our drive back home today wound the majority of the way though the Driftless. This fact in of itself makes it one of the prettiest drives we do with some level of regularity. Today there was an added bonus – the hoar frost covered everything outside. The further south we drove the more dazzling the whites of the frost were.
The frozen air already made everything seem a little more crisp than usual. Add in a layer of white frost and the vistas were brilliant! Everything seemed to take on an almost black and white visual feel while simultaneously causing some colors to just pop – like the red brick building outside of Stockholm. As we passed by Perrot State Park I whipped a U turn and pulled into a scenic pull out just to take a picture of the view… which still didn’t do justice to what were we seeing.
Another day into 2021, another day of the beauty of nature. Into the woods…
In keeping with the outdoors related theme from yesterday I have to pause and be grateful for an experience from our time outside late this afternoon. Sometimes the most awesome moments are the ones that happen every single day but I don’t always take time to pause and appreciate.
The sun was already on the way down when we started sledding. Each moment that went by it descended a little lower and turned a little more orange. At one point it seemed the same coppery color as the sun in Australia during the wildfires.
When it was just above the horizon I just stopped and hit the pause button on life. Watching it drop so slowly was flat out amazing. It seemed to grow bigger and shift to a deeper shade of orangish red each second as it kept slowly descending.
In pausing to watch the sun slowly set there was nothing else in that moment. I was able to be completely present and focused on the simple beauty of nature. What a wonderful moment of simple serenity!
Not from today, I was too busy savoring the real one today 😁
Over the past few weeks I’ve been very focused on reviewing my values, considering the dreams I want to accomplish, and the ways I can best set myself up for future successes. I’ve been able to build a framework that is easy for me to review on a daily basis and has already helped curb my behavior and thought processes.
The only part I’ve been struggling with is a theme to tie it all together. Like a good movie I was interested in finding a creative tag line for the framework. Something short and to the point, a way to quickly remind me of the way in which I am choosing to live life this year. A succinct reminder to point me in the right direction.
I’ve read and read a few paragraphs of Walden more times than I can count over the past 24 hours as there’s been a strong gravitational force from my souls pulling me in that direction. This morning Becky and I went for a run on the quiet country road we usually run on. While enjoying the sensation of being outside in nature it all came together.
I could see the words of Thoreau appear before my eyes…
I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived.
In an instant I saw all of the values, dreams, goals, and the rest of the framework I’ve been building flow into three words. Within only four syllables lay the mantra that will be rolling through my mind on an almost constant loop this year.
Into the woods…
With those three short words my mind instantly calms and sees the path I am choosing to take this year. A year of simplicity, living deliberately, focused on the essential. While I would love to go into the woods in real life, the idea of metaphorically going into the woods already brings peace to my soul. My direction is clear and all my thoughts can quickly be focused with this one phrase. This was exactly what I was looking for.
I’ve got to give it to my friend Steve. When we head out to the woods there’s never a shortage of surprises. From his seemingly never-ending pool of wilderness knowledge to deep thoughts to well timed jokes you never quite know what to expect. Today was no different.
We’d packed everything up and were about to leave the woods when he stopped us. He pulled out a book and said he wanted to share a quote with the boys and I. Steve told us the story of when it was first shared with him and when it came up a second time for him.
“I left the woods for as good a reason as I went there. Perhaps it seemed to me that I had several more lives to live, and could not spare any more time for that one. It is remarkable how easily and insensibly we fall into a particular route, and make a beaten track for ourselves. I had not lived there a week before my feet wore a path from my door to the pond-side; and though it is five or six years since I trod it, it is still quite distinct. It is true, I fear, that others may have fallen into it, and so helped to keep it open. The surface of the earth is soft and impressible by the feet of men; and so with the paths which the mind travels. How worn and dusty, then, must be the highways of the world, how deep the ruts of tradition and conformity! I did not wish to take a cabin passage, but rather to go before the mast and on the deck of the world, for there I could best see the moonlight amid the mountains. I do not wish to go below now.”
Henry David Thoreau – Walden
For many reasons – including the obvious first line – this was such a perfect way to wrap up our time in the woods. As I’ve mentioned to several friends and within this blog I’ve felt depending yearning to be in the wilderness. When the time comes to go back to reality I can completely understand and appreciate the quote above. I had never heard this quote before, or if I have I was not ready to really hear it and receive it.
Hearing Steve read it while my boys listened was wild. I am not sure that they truly get it yet, but I hope it is a seed that will lay in their souls until it’s the right time for it to truly sprout.
When I got home I hopped online to re-read the quote. Not only did it resonate even more deeply, I happened upon the next paragraph in the book after this one.
I learned this, at least, by my experiment: that if one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours. He will put some things behind, will pass an invisible boundary; new, universal, and more liberal laws will begin to establish themselves around and within him; or the old laws be expanded, and interpreted in his favor in a more liberal sense, and he will live with the license of a higher order of beings. In proportion as he simplifies his life, the laws of the universe will appear less complex, and solitude will not be solitude, nor poverty poverty, nor weakness weakness. If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost; that is where they should be. Now put the foundations under them.
Henry David Thoreau – Walden
This paragraph also hit me right between the eyes. Over the past week as I’ve spent time in thought and reflected on my goals and dreams for next year and how I wish to live into them I can’t help but find more inspiration in Thoreau’s paragraph. How true it is that by even living in the directions of our dreams we can start to find success? Time to build the foundations.
Escaping to the wilderness has always been music for my soul. Sitting alone by the campfire before anyone else awoke this morning gifted me the opportunity to enjoy a serenity that can only be found alone and in the wild. There was only nature and I and we enjoyed each other’s company. Hearing Steve’s spontaneous reading from Thoreau added more depth and context to that experience.
Steve – thanks for the awesome quote, it is greatly appreciated!!!
Tonight’s blog is being written from inside of my wildly comfortable and surprisingly warm CRUSA Koala 2 hammock. As we wind down for the night I thought it’s be a great time to chill and type my blog.
While often I’m overly verbose, tonight’s a little different. I’m thankful for this view of the fire as we chilled out and shot the bull around it. I’m thankful for this opportunity to sleep out in the wild and breath only the freshest of air with only a thin layer of Mylar separating my face from the heavens. I’m thankful for the opportunity to create life long memories with my boys while sharing old memories and stories with my buddy Steve.
I am thankful for enjoying the view and enjoying this moment to its fullest.
At the end of December there’s a form I always have to fill out showing how many business miles I’ve driven that year. The total has bounced around some pretty high numbers over the past handful of years. With several offices spread out over a few hours away there hasn’t been a shortage of windshield time.
2020 has certainly changed many things. One of the differences really hit me when I completed my mileage form today. I drove approximately 25,000 less miles this year! That number seemed huge and then I did the math…
Let’s say I averaged 60 miles per hour for that entire 25,000 miles. That would mean I drove about 417 hours… over 17 days!!! If I assume I sleep 8 hours a night and all my driving was done during active hours it was the equivalent of 26 days, almost 4 weeks!
No wonder I’ve felt like I’ve had more time in my life this year. More time for work, more time for life, more time for everything.
Yes, there have been a ton of challenges this year. That said, I’m very grateful for the gift of the one resource that I can never make more of… time.
If you’re scratching your head at the quote above I think it’s safe to say you weren’t watching one of the greatest television shows of the mid-80’s. Check out The A-Team and you’ll understand the quote and it’s context tonight. At one point tonight in my workshop I almost felt like I could kick up my, fire up a cigar, and utter that infamous catchphrase.
Many moons ago Dad told me that one day I wouldn’t be able to out muscle the problems I’d face while woodworking. He said I’d have to find ways to work smarter instead of harder. The time when this still makes me smile most is thinking back to pulling out our kitchen cabinets. I was beating up on one stuck unit and had worked myself into a lather. Dad laughed, asked me to pass him the crow bar, and studied the stubborn cabinet. With a wink he took a few seconds to position the crow bar in a very specific spot and lightly nudged it. Next thing I knew and the cabinet was loose. “Think first and make every movement count.”
One of his “smart” weapons of choice were clamps. It’s taken me longer than I’d like to admit to understand why he was so enamored with these pressure creating devices. They are such a versatile tool and have helped to save my butt on many occasions, specifically several over the past couple of weeks. Try as I might to get everything perfect and square there are just times when wood does whatever wood decides it wants to do. I can either try to get creative or I can use my head and grab a few clamps to apply pressure in just the right place.
When I started blogging a handful of years ago days like today were very much what I had in mind. How many times have I used a clamp to make life easier and yet this is the first time I’ve actually paused to give thanks for this amazing tool. My blood pressure would be much higher if it wasn’t for them 😉
LOL – I am still laughing at how I’ve found a way to fit this much life into one day! The alarm is going to ring a little earlier than I’d like it to, but what’s a dude to do? The little extra tired feeling is a very small price to pay for a wonderfully jam packed day.
What I’m most thankful for today are days like this. After burning the candle on both ends (in a healthy way) I’m in a hurry to write my blog and go to bed. I really don’t want to short change the day, but the day was so packed I’m exhausted! To follow up from yesterday’s blog post maybe I should deem it “The Kreiling Paradox.”
Living a day to its fullest, so much so that by the end you’d really like to write about all of it, but you’re so exhausted that you rush through your gratitude for it because you’re ready to crash in bed.
The Kreiling Paradox
Long story short, I am also thankful for saying yes to a hike. There’s a time sensitive project I wanted to work on in my woodshed today, but Becky and Gavin were going to go for a hike while Dominic went snowboarding. I followed my own advice – when someone asks you to go on vacation with them, exercise with them, or hike with them, the answer is always yes. To this day I’ve yet to regret going on a hike instead of doing whatever else I was going to do.
We headed out to Wildcat Mountain State Park and enjoyed a winter wonderland completely devoid of anyone else. The only company we had on the trails were the three deer watching us from a hillside. Being in the wild is always music for my soul, the snow added even more peacefulness and serenity to the time out there. I’m excited to head back down to that neck of the woods later this week.
It was a little snowy 😉
After getting home I went up and got to work on my project. Part of it didn’t turn out as I’d like so I started over which was simultaneously frustrating and liberating at the same time. The hours flew by as I made tremendous progress in spite of the do over.
Before sitting down to blog I opted for a board game with the boys. We’d played Wingspan for the first time last night and LOVED it so we fired it back up again. I probably should have looked at the clock before starting the game, but again, I’m so grateful for the time I had with the boys playing games and joking around. What an excellent way to wrap up the weekend.
Time to crash and enjoy falling asleep before my head hits the pillow!
The extremely short version is that when Admiral Jim Stockdale was taken as a POW he noticed that there were people of a certain mindset who survived (as he did through SEVEN years or so of being held captive and tortured) and people of another mindset who died of a broken heart before they were able to experience freedom again. The biggest difference in mindset was optimism… and not for the better. Crazy, right?
The people who had this optimistic mindset that they would be released by a certain date would fall apart when that day came and went and nothing happened. They believed that they would be set free, but they also blindly believed that things would work out in a certain way and in a specific timeframe.
The people who survived were able to do a very Stoic balancing act. They firmly believed that everything would work out. Many believed that their experience, horrific as it may be, would be something that would transform them for the better. They would survive and become stronger as a result of the experience. This would be a defining chapter in their lives. The ones who survived had an unwavering belief that they would make it.
They balanced that mindset while confronting the brutal facts around them. There was no timeline in which they could count on this to end. There was no specific way they would get out. There were terrible things happening to them that they had to survive, and those terrible things would continue to an undetermined amount of time. They dealt with the brutal facts while holding onto their unwavering faith that everything would work out.
What’s interesting is that this is very similar to what Viktor Frankl shared in Man’s Search for Meaning. Frankl said that those who set a falsely optimistic goal of being set free by a certain time often fell apart once their self-imposed deadline came and went. By focusing on something they created in their own head they pushed beyond what should have been possible, but then fell apart when things didn’t change on the other side of their fictional finish line. The ones who survived absorbed each moment and knew that it may continue forever – though their faith was that they would find a way to utilize their suffering to make the world a better place. The survivors found purpose in their suffering and decided they must survive – no matter how long it continued – in order to transform their suffering into purpose.
So why am I thankful for this today?
As 2020 keeps winding down there are more and more messages all around us portraying this epic shift in all of our lives at exactly 12:00 midnight on January 1, 2021. That’s not going to happen. Everything that is currently going on will continue into next year. Remembering these two examples is critical for my mind to to keep at its forefront right now. I’m finding it’s easy to let the changing of the calendar fool me into a false sense of security. It’s so easy for me to mentally skip past the next week and see it as a “throw away” as the last week of the year.
By remembering the Stockdale Paradox and Man’s Search for Meaning I am reminded to have unwavering faith that everything will work out in time. There is much I am able to control, my locus of control lies in my ability to choose my mindset and to live in the present knowing that there will be a brilliant future – in time. Regardless of what happens around me I will soak up all that happens and see it as opportunities to grow and become stronger. I will maintain my unwavering faith in the future while recognizing that any of the challenges of COVID are far from over. I do not know how long it will last, but I do know it will not last forever. I am grateful for the opportunity to be tested and to forge my soul through the current fire. It will all work out in the end, even if it is difficult and hurts in the moment.
Have faith that better days are ahead, live fully in each moment – even until this happens. Do not wish my life away for something out of my control. Even though it may hurt and cause discomfort it is the sensation of growth.
What a day we had in Maui only a couple of years ago. One day we will be back.
One of the things that is nice about being a red headed step child is that you learn to march to the beat of your own drum. Fortunately for me my family and I all march to the same crazy beat. Our Christmas Day has been a very “Kreiling” kind of day… and I am grateful for each moment of it.
The entire day has been filled with laughs and time together. We went for a drive to pick up the dogs. We made and ate a delicious meal together. We went for a walk together. We’re now chilling on the couch and watching a movie together.
Throughout the day we’ve spent a ton of time doing one of the things we enjoy most – playing games together. Between a gift from friends and gifts for the boys from us we had quite the pile of games to play. We didn’t quite get through playing each of them today, but we had a great time playing the ones we did!
Why I appreciate most about days like this is all the time we get to spend together. I can’t imagine a better way to spend Christmas than as a family like this. Laughs, smiles, love, and togetherness. It was a perfectly Kreiling Christmas.
Thankful for Forty 