Enjoy and get a good laugh!
Wednesday, February 28, 2007
Tuesday, February 27, 2007
Instinct and Elk Poop
we went walking today.
wyatt, aunt bea and me.
it was beautiful ... like 51 degrees ... so our favorite field that's required snowboots since december is now a vast mucky swamp.
the elk that routinely traverse our neighborhood - we live in an area technically defined as a "wildlife corridor", except it's really more of a "dead end" than a "corridor" unless they're in the mood to play chicken with the semi-trailer traffic on I-25, just due east of the corridor - had obviously been to the favorite field too.
i could tell by both the massive hoof prints in the mud - my size 10 sneakers fit neatly in to most of their tracks - but also by the mounds of elk poop littered across the field.
aunt bea thought the field smelled GREAT today. elk poop. treats that have been frozen in the tundra since december were in full thaw.
aunt bea's a retriever. she likes to get things and bring them back to me. she especially likes it when i throw the thing far far away, she gets to run get it and bring it back to me. we then play the "drop it"/"come and get it" game in order to repeat the ritual.
today she was distracted. all those piles of elk "snacks" were very interesting. i suppose it's instinct, being a dog and all, to bury one's nose in a pile of poop.
so this is how the game looked today: i'd throw the green tennis ball. she'd run get it. bring it back and drop it without my having to perform the usual tonsilectomy in order to get the ball back out of her mouth.
(do dogs even HAVE tonsils???)
then she'd run off to a pile of poop in the time it took me to bend down and get the ball again.
job done. back to the cool stuff.
i was curious. this retrieving thing. how strong is that instinct. really?
so i started giving her a little time to get very interested in a particular deposit before i'd get her attention and throw the ball the other direction.
as soon as i'd throw the ball i swear she'd give me "the look".
you know the one - the dog equivalent of a tweenage girl's "eye roll/blink-close-headturn-open" move. i believe it's got a difficulty rating of 8.5.
but off she'd go. i could tell her body was literally tearing her away from the elk patties. she was emotionally invested in those elk patties but the instinct to retrieve was just too great.
"gotta get the ball. gotta get the ball. gotta get the ball."
so it got me thinking about our "instincts" - not necessarily instincts in a technical sense - but really the machine that drives us throughout our day.
mine are necessarily moving me forward.
thanks to some amazing wisdom i've tapped in to, i've been able to reprogram the machine.
override the instincts.
resources like "beyond freedom", "the secret", "the law of attraction", the "traveler's gift", "power versus force", "you2".
and many, many more.
i didn't see the machine in motion until three years ago. before then, i was like a robot moving through my day. some days i liked the things i did and some days i didn't. but always i felt at the mercy of all the stuff "out there".
i was a victim of my circumstances.
now i am a master of my circumstances.
it's like taking yourself off "autopilot".
it takes work. but that's really where the fun part is. because that's where transformation really takes place.
the instinct to "chase the ball", so to speak, is pretty strong. it's my old programming coming through. to chase the "looking good" monster ... to be less than authentic when i've allowed myself to fear conflict ... to be less than courageous when i've broken my Word.
that's what i experience when i allow the autopilot to take over.
but each and every day, i see it more clearly. i spot it in the moment. every second i have a choice.
now i see it.
am i perfect? nah.
but that's why it's a journey:
stepping forward with intent. taking life off autopilot. resisting the urge to "chase the ball".
stopping in the magnificence of life to smell the glorious elk poop.
~aunt bea says "hey."
wyatt, aunt bea and me.
it was beautiful ... like 51 degrees ... so our favorite field that's required snowboots since december is now a vast mucky swamp.
the elk that routinely traverse our neighborhood - we live in an area technically defined as a "wildlife corridor", except it's really more of a "dead end" than a "corridor" unless they're in the mood to play chicken with the semi-trailer traffic on I-25, just due east of the corridor - had obviously been to the favorite field too.
i could tell by both the massive hoof prints in the mud - my size 10 sneakers fit neatly in to most of their tracks - but also by the mounds of elk poop littered across the field.
aunt bea thought the field smelled GREAT today. elk poop. treats that have been frozen in the tundra since december were in full thaw.
aunt bea's a retriever. she likes to get things and bring them back to me. she especially likes it when i throw the thing far far away, she gets to run get it and bring it back to me. we then play the "drop it"/"come and get it" game in order to repeat the ritual.
today she was distracted. all those piles of elk "snacks" were very interesting. i suppose it's instinct, being a dog and all, to bury one's nose in a pile of poop.
so this is how the game looked today: i'd throw the green tennis ball. she'd run get it. bring it back and drop it without my having to perform the usual tonsilectomy in order to get the ball back out of her mouth.
(do dogs even HAVE tonsils???)
then she'd run off to a pile of poop in the time it took me to bend down and get the ball again.
job done. back to the cool stuff.
i was curious. this retrieving thing. how strong is that instinct. really?
so i started giving her a little time to get very interested in a particular deposit before i'd get her attention and throw the ball the other direction.
as soon as i'd throw the ball i swear she'd give me "the look".
you know the one - the dog equivalent of a tweenage girl's "eye roll/blink-close-headturn-open" move. i believe it's got a difficulty rating of 8.5.
but off she'd go. i could tell her body was literally tearing her away from the elk patties. she was emotionally invested in those elk patties but the instinct to retrieve was just too great.
"gotta get the ball. gotta get the ball. gotta get the ball."
so it got me thinking about our "instincts" - not necessarily instincts in a technical sense - but really the machine that drives us throughout our day.
mine are necessarily moving me forward.
thanks to some amazing wisdom i've tapped in to, i've been able to reprogram the machine.
override the instincts.
resources like "beyond freedom", "the secret", "the law of attraction", the "traveler's gift", "power versus force", "you2".
and many, many more.
i didn't see the machine in motion until three years ago. before then, i was like a robot moving through my day. some days i liked the things i did and some days i didn't. but always i felt at the mercy of all the stuff "out there".
i was a victim of my circumstances.
now i am a master of my circumstances.
it's like taking yourself off "autopilot".
it takes work. but that's really where the fun part is. because that's where transformation really takes place.
the instinct to "chase the ball", so to speak, is pretty strong. it's my old programming coming through. to chase the "looking good" monster ... to be less than authentic when i've allowed myself to fear conflict ... to be less than courageous when i've broken my Word.
that's what i experience when i allow the autopilot to take over.
but each and every day, i see it more clearly. i spot it in the moment. every second i have a choice.
now i see it.
am i perfect? nah.
but that's why it's a journey:
stepping forward with intent. taking life off autopilot. resisting the urge to "chase the ball".
stopping in the magnificence of life to smell the glorious elk poop.
~aunt bea says "hey."
Monday, February 26, 2007
How Cool is "The Secret"?
okay, if you've been living under a rock and not yet heard about the movie "The Secret", a phenomenal "documentary" about The Law of Attraction, you deserve to set aside 2 hours and watch it.
tonight.
go to www.thesecret.tv and watch it for a couple of bucks. then buy yourself a couple of copies because you're going to find yourself in conversation with people where you'll want to just hand them your copy.
the basic premise is this: you get what you focus on.
i'm not going to go in to a lot of discourse on how it works or why it works ... watch the movie and you'll get all that.
what i like is when i see tangible evidence that it's working in MY life.
take our house, for example.
we put it on the market in early may, 2006.
because we have the freedom to live anywhere we want, we made the choice to relocate to the TEXAS HILL COUNTRY for a couple of reasons:
1. water - as in water skiing, jet skiing and floating down rivers on innertubes.
2. trees, trees, trees
3. golf
4. grandparents, greatgrandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins
5. rudy's barbecue in leon springs
6. getting to say "ya'll" with wild abandon
in spite of feeling great about our choice to move, quite honestly, i had some deep-seated reservations.
i love our house here.
i love colorado ... it represents a big part of my transition in to adulthood and independence. after all, i left a great job with fidelity investments in boston to move out here with just enough money in my savings account to ski the winter away before finding employment. (if only i'd known then what i know now about the freedom of being self-employed!) driving all the way from boston to colorado by myself was hugely liberating. i was out of the box.
i love seeing pikes peak from the windows in my home. no humidity. lovely summers. my friends. my kids' friends. my favorite deli.
the freedom we have of living anywhere, though, caused us to sit back and realize the quality of life we're choosing to create for our family would be greatly enhanced by this move.
but every time we got the phone call announcing "you have a showing" i would get irritated. sometimes even worse.
ask john. he'll vouch for that.
the house always looked great but the energy i was putting out was bad, bad, bad.
i don't know if it was the record snowfall we've had this winter or what, but sometime around Christmas i decided to get real clear on what i wanted. did i want to sell the house and move or did i want to stay put?
i decided i wanted to move.
i really wanted that for me and my family.
it was quiet through the holidays ... no showings at all.
our realtor "refreshed" our listing in january and boom, we had two showings right out of the gate.
and guess what? they both LOVED the house!
in fact, we'd gone 8 months without 1 contract and now we had 2 really interested parties.
2 cash buyers, which is not all that common when you're talking about a $1.1 million property.
even better? both parties wanted to close at the end of may.
hmmm ... cash buyers and we don't have to move mid-schoolyear.
lovely.
so we're under contract. the inspection went great. our closing date is set for may 29 and on may 31 we're pulling out of town and heading down to the lone star state.
we were chatting with the buyers the other day - they have some renovations in mind and we've allowed them to invite their contractors through to get a headstart on the amazing home theater they'll be installing - and they were quizzing us on why we were leaving colorado.
when we explained it was based entirely on personal choice and not a transfer or a job change, etc. they were blown away. they're a retired couple (6,000 square feet for 2 people!) and a bit envious that we basically live the retired lifestyle they worked years to attain.
"lucky you" they said.
lucky? not a chance.
we're simply very clear on what we want (although it did take me a while to get there when it came to this move!)
we focus on those things and only those things
we remain in a state of gratitude - if you've read the archived posts on this blog you'll see that's a recurring theme in my life ...
we take action (i.e. actually putting the house on the market and playing the "showings" game to win!)
and then we simply watch the magic of life unfold around us.
and that, my friends, is "The Secret" in action ...
p.s. - ya'll, ya'll, ya'll, ya'll!
tonight.
go to www.thesecret.tv and watch it for a couple of bucks. then buy yourself a couple of copies because you're going to find yourself in conversation with people where you'll want to just hand them your copy.
the basic premise is this: you get what you focus on.
i'm not going to go in to a lot of discourse on how it works or why it works ... watch the movie and you'll get all that.
what i like is when i see tangible evidence that it's working in MY life.
take our house, for example.
we put it on the market in early may, 2006.
because we have the freedom to live anywhere we want, we made the choice to relocate to the TEXAS HILL COUNTRY for a couple of reasons:
1. water - as in water skiing, jet skiing and floating down rivers on innertubes.
2. trees, trees, trees
3. golf
4. grandparents, greatgrandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins
5. rudy's barbecue in leon springs
6. getting to say "ya'll" with wild abandon
in spite of feeling great about our choice to move, quite honestly, i had some deep-seated reservations.
i love our house here.
i love colorado ... it represents a big part of my transition in to adulthood and independence. after all, i left a great job with fidelity investments in boston to move out here with just enough money in my savings account to ski the winter away before finding employment. (if only i'd known then what i know now about the freedom of being self-employed!) driving all the way from boston to colorado by myself was hugely liberating. i was out of the box.
i love seeing pikes peak from the windows in my home. no humidity. lovely summers. my friends. my kids' friends. my favorite deli.
the freedom we have of living anywhere, though, caused us to sit back and realize the quality of life we're choosing to create for our family would be greatly enhanced by this move.
but every time we got the phone call announcing "you have a showing" i would get irritated. sometimes even worse.
ask john. he'll vouch for that.
the house always looked great but the energy i was putting out was bad, bad, bad.
i don't know if it was the record snowfall we've had this winter or what, but sometime around Christmas i decided to get real clear on what i wanted. did i want to sell the house and move or did i want to stay put?
i decided i wanted to move.
i really wanted that for me and my family.
it was quiet through the holidays ... no showings at all.
our realtor "refreshed" our listing in january and boom, we had two showings right out of the gate.
and guess what? they both LOVED the house!
in fact, we'd gone 8 months without 1 contract and now we had 2 really interested parties.
2 cash buyers, which is not all that common when you're talking about a $1.1 million property.
even better? both parties wanted to close at the end of may.
hmmm ... cash buyers and we don't have to move mid-schoolyear.
lovely.
so we're under contract. the inspection went great. our closing date is set for may 29 and on may 31 we're pulling out of town and heading down to the lone star state.
we were chatting with the buyers the other day - they have some renovations in mind and we've allowed them to invite their contractors through to get a headstart on the amazing home theater they'll be installing - and they were quizzing us on why we were leaving colorado.
when we explained it was based entirely on personal choice and not a transfer or a job change, etc. they were blown away. they're a retired couple (6,000 square feet for 2 people!) and a bit envious that we basically live the retired lifestyle they worked years to attain.
"lucky you" they said.
lucky? not a chance.
we're simply very clear on what we want (although it did take me a while to get there when it came to this move!)
we focus on those things and only those things
we remain in a state of gratitude - if you've read the archived posts on this blog you'll see that's a recurring theme in my life ...
we take action (i.e. actually putting the house on the market and playing the "showings" game to win!)
and then we simply watch the magic of life unfold around us.
and that, my friends, is "The Secret" in action ...
p.s. - ya'll, ya'll, ya'll, ya'll!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
