more normal than not

Listening to a podcast yesterday, I heard the interviewee say that he’d heard a friend and fellow fitness expert say that the place where we really start to grow old is when we stop jumping.

Jumping?

Jumping.

That’s pretty wild.

I don’t jump anymore if I can help it….things feel kind of dry or something in the knees….kind of ….vulnerable….so I don’t jump.

Somewhere along the line I thought that maybe part of growing older was getting stiff and losing the ability to do some of these things…..like jumping.

That’s a bunch of….hooey.

When I’m moving….using the muscles….working the connective tissue…..keeping the joints lubricated….I don’t hurt like when I’m just sitting in the Mail Jeep….and then coming home to recuperate from….just sitting in the Mail Jeep.

So…I need to start doing some jumping again.

I’m not ready to grow old.

I better not….these little kids run around….I better be able to run around with them.

It’s interesting to me to listen to some of these podcasts with people who are living a fitness based lifestyle.

It’s possible….I hear them talking and I realize that it’s possible to live like that.

Stiffness and lack of mobility don’t have to be a part of getting older….or, maybe, don’t have to be the main focus of growing older.

Maybe “main focus” is a better way to describe the situation.

When did we accept that somewhere in our chronology was a point where we stop being active and settle in to the slow downward slide?

That’s nuts.

Health and wellness are lifelong pursuits.

What’s so hard about remembering that?

I read that people have stopped wearing wristwatches.

They use their phone now if they want to tell what time it is.

I wear a wristwatch.

Even though my Tracfone would tell me the time, I don’t carry it with me….so I still wear a watch.

This morning, I woke up at 5:01.

At 5:02, I realized that the cat had been in all night….hiding somewhere in the house.

I fed the cat on the porch at 5:03.

At 5:05, I put the water on to boil in the electric kettle.

I found and took my vitamins by 5:08….and by 5:18, I was walking up the stairs with my french press full of coffee, ready to write a few words and to continue getting ready for my day….and preparing to enjoy my pending caffeination.

I remember looking at the clock when I went up the stairs, and it said, “5:18”.

I felt late….like something had been taken from me…..a moment I missed or could have used to be busy at something else.

The sun comes up, the sun goes down.

That’s a pretty gentle indication of what happens to a day.

But….these digital shifts…the minutes and seconds….atomically synced….that’s kind of a harsh reminder of what I’m not getting done.

That’s not as gentle as a new sunrise….or the sight of the sliver of a quarter moon across a grassy field.

It’s 5:35 now….5:36 now….electonically perfect….accurate.

I stress over “being on time”.

I think that it’s some kind of courtesy for people to be able to check their watches or phones, and in the exact moment that I promised, I appear.

I appear….on time.

I guess that’s a good thing.

It’s 5:40 now. (I checked the email)

You know, though….time is just another of our weird inventions…really.

We figure out a new way to track it….with a synced GPS….with something “atomic”……and we think that we have a chance to corral it….to keep it manageable….managed.

Managed.

Hah.

“Awareness” doesn’t mean “understanding”.

People say that time is money.

That’s probably true.

Time is just like money….a ghost….another construct….just a thing that we made up.

It’s a thing that we fool ourselves into thinking we can control because we know how to measure it very accurately.

The sun and the moon….the seasons…..that’s the time we should be paying attention to….but we worry about the time we can bottle up….5:44, now….and say, “yes….I do know what time it is….it’s 5:45 now…..you’re welcome:”

Of couse, having said that, I’ll worry about getting Nate to school on time….and then getting to work….on time…..and then finishing my job in the time they’ve given me to do it.

I will worry about time.

I will spend a good chunk of my time worrying.

About time.

That’s nuts.

How would I spend my day if I couldn’t flip a switch and make it seem like the sun was still shining….even though the moon had been out for hours?

(It’s 5:49 now, and Nate is up. That’s why I hurry….this quiet time is elusive and disappears rapidly. Nate is up.)

Just once, I’d like to be late for something because I couldn’t stop watching a new sunrise….and wasn’t wearing a watch.

I may as well be wearing one of the collars they put on dogs to keep them in the yard.

That watch keeps me from bumping up against an invisible fence!

Freaking time.

I was listening to a podcast yesterday and the fellow that Tim Ferriss  was talking to, Ed Cooke, was talking about perception.

He was talking about a memorable time when he was younger when he realized that his perception didn’t reach out to a tree that he was looking at….the tree came to him.

His eyes didn’t reach out to the tree….they received it.

I’m paraphrasing badly….and probably misunderstanding what he was saying completely….but it was pretty interesting.

We’re receptors….and then we color our experiences with our conception of what we think we’re seeing.

That was pretty interesting.

I guess that’s why two people can look at something or experience an event and come away with completely different feelings about what happened.

Maybe what he was saying was that we don’t really influence what we’re “receiving”….we just color it with our ideas and prejudices.

Maybe he was saying that perception isn’t an activity?

I couldn’t drink enough coffee to really understand what he was saying.

What do I know, anyway?

That’s the way I see it, at least.

It’s a big ego trip to suppose that we’re the hubs….the center of the universe…..that everything in the world circles us….and that all that we see comes somehow from us.

We don’t pull it in with our tractor beam eyes….(tractor beam? is that right?)….we only receive.

We don’t make the wind….we just feel it on our cheek.

And….how about Laird Hamilton….talking about his “most gifted” book…the one that he liked to share the most…. being the Bible!

That was pretty cool….pretty straightforward….not preachy or prosletyzing….just straight up.

I’m hearing a lot of interesting things on these podcasts.

It’s a lot more educational than listening to the “zoo crew”.

(I was pretty down on Itunes ….thought that it was an evil thing….some weird monopoly….yucky…but man….the podcasts are plentiful and a lot of fun and very edumacational. Talk about preconceptions?! I need to get over a few of mine.)

That tree is still coming to me.

 

 

Look at some of this guy’s work.

It’s so elegant….so considered and considerate….beautiful.

He’s a “western artist”….Jim Harrison used his paintings on the covers of many of his books.

Just good.

Just….good.

There’s so much “flash” in the art world….so much noise….

I appreciate this “quiet” stuff so much.

Russell Chatham.

Look him up.

This interview is by AJ Scaff.

You can buy copies of the DVD of this interview….along with extra content… by getting in touch with him at gonefishin2009@yahoo.com .

Sustained enthusiasm.

Sustained.

Man.

That’s where it’s at….that’s where I need to be on a Tuesday….drinking another cup of black coffee…and feeling sustained enthusiasm for….whatever and everything.

Of course, there has to be a worthwhile target for the sustained enthusiasm.

I remember working at the bookstore and talking to an older lady who was buying a price guide for Beanie Babies.

I made the mistake of saying something like that I wondered if they would keep their value….and she countered with, “They better! I’m putting my grandchildren through college with these Beanie Babies!”

It upset her that I’d raised that question.

I dont know if she just loved the little dolls….or if greed had taken over….but, in the end, at least, the Beanie Baby economic plan didn’t really hold any water.

I guess that her sustained enthusiasm didn’t have something strong to latch onto.

She was riding the wrong train.

So “whatever and everything” isn’t appropriate.

I need to be enthusiastic about the right things.

That’s a lot of pressure before the second cup of coffee.

I do think that the key to….(what? whatever and everything?)….that the key to….the key to (takes sip of second cup of coffee)….oh! yeah….the key to any success that I’m ever going to approach….whether by design or by accident….is my level of enthusiasm.

Enthusiasm backed by action, of course.

You can’t just run around with your hands in the air, shouting “YEAH!!” …and expect to get anything worthwhile done.

You can’t stockpile Beanie Babies and gleefully rub your greedy hands together….and suppose that your enthusiasm has been well-aimed at a deserving target.

Well-aimed enthusiasm is a powerful thing.

You could move mountains with some well-aimed enthusiasm.

I guess that we all can muster some sustained enthusiasm from time to time…but, usually, in my case at least, the stuff that I sustain enthusiasm for can be kind of goofy choices.

Oh, well.

This morning the popup on my computer said that one of the Duck Dynasty guys was going to “drop some stunning news”.

That wasn’t something that I was enthusiastic over….but it bothered me that I couldn’t get it to load.

What should I care about that kind of stuff?

What should I care about weird news that’s everywhere?

That’s an enthusiasm diverter…muddying the water…a shiny bauble hanging over the garden….distracting the crows from the business at hand.

I couldn’t drink enough coffee to avoid being distracted by the latest news from the Duck Dynasty family….apparently.

Caffeine doesn’t bring focus if focus isn’t already there.

Man….I start with a title…..and go from there….and sometimes, by the time I’ve had a couple of cups of coffee, and am veering and lurching towards the end of another blog post, I realize that the title was really just a tease.

The title is a lie.

Of course enthusiasm can be overrated.

You pick some goofy path to be enthusiastic about…like, “MAN!!! THIS CRYSTAL METH YOU JUST COOKED UP IS THE BEST!!! WHEEEEEEEEEEEEE…..I CAN REALLY GET MY ENTHUSIASM BEHIND THIS BATCH OF CRYSTAL METH!! GOOD COOKING, HOLMES!!! GOOD JOB!!! WHEEEEEEEEEEWWWWWWWWEEEEEEEEE!!! THIS IS SOME GREAT CRYSTAL METH!!!”….you pick the wrong path, and enthusiasm is just going to keep you locked into the wrong ways of living.

You’ve got to have a good target.

Aim well….and keep it up.

Aim well….sharpen the ax.