Passion, no really it matters

Hello all, I want to start off with a quote.

“the only people for me are the mad ones, the ones who are mad to live, mad to talk, mad to be saved, desirous of everything at the same time, the ones who never yawn or say a commonplace thing, but burn, burn, burn like fabulous yellow roman candles exploding like spiders across the stars.”
― Jack Kerouac, On the Road

 

Long before I met my wife, my mother asked me what type of woman I wanted to marry, I said she must have passion, I may have also mentioned Sophia Loren I’m not sure,but we have been married for over 20 years and I have never been bored. I chose my partner based on her passion for life.

I love witty people and talented people and crazy people who live the way they believe in spite of their families and peers.  I like to step out of my comfort zone and meet new people now, I used to hate that. No idea why I just did not feel like facing my fear that I had trouble even defining.

Find your passion and act on it! Go for your dream girl, job, car etc… time is flying by very fast!! I will not waste another day holding back on my feelings. I tell my friends I love them and they make a difference in my life. My co- workers daughter recently sent an announcement to her high school graduation. Her mother said she only has so many cards to mail out but insisted on sending one to me. A very simple gesture that made a big impact on me. So I told her mother how I felt right away and let her daughter know how chuffed I was. It matters to share your feelings with the people you know.

I use my passion to push myself to learn guitar and mandolin, to work out and eat healthy.

I use it also to try and understand the choices I make.

I question my moods, how did I get so happy only to be let down. What had changed???  I have learned the only thing that changed was me letting it happen.

I choose to be optimistic, I know when I meet a downbeat person it’s a real drag, who needs another bitter person to let you know how bad the world is?

I’m very lucky in when I need inspiration I always seem to find it, could be a song or an old novel. The main point is I go seeking wisdom instead of sulky and blaming the world.

Its your life, you must be the captain of your ship! Get moving towards your goal.

If your goal demands time, 4 years of school..no matter what else you do 4 years will pass and you could be living your dream or you could be 4 years older and no closer to being happy.

I know for myself music can alter my mood, I can loose myself and transform my thoughts with a few choice songs.  Perhaps its not music for you no matter , discover what makes you tick and use it to keep you on your path.

Try this, make a list of people you admire, it can be anyone.  Right out ten people, what is so special about this group that is so unique you?

 

As an example.

1.John Lennon,  poet, wit , activist, (fucking Beatle for goodness sake)

2. My friend Jeff, flat out one the nicest folks to walk the Earth.

3. Myrna Loy,  Sexy and confident, when she would walk into a room everyone knew it.  She was so lovely Jimmy Stewart once said “there’s something wrong with a fellow who does not want to marry her!”

4. Vincent Van Gogh, artist with amazing passion.

Just a brief list of people who turned my head and made me wonder why are they getting so much out of life. The bottom line is their driving passion. It does not have to be Vincent taking himself to extremes, it can be the quiet way my pal loves fishing by himself.

We have as far as I know one life, I want mind to be filled with all kinds of adventure and few regrets. When my wife asks if I want to dance,I take her hand and say you bet, even if we are the only couple out there. I do not want to miss one chance to express myself.

So make your list , and see what you can take from these people of passion and spice up your days.

Peace and love all.

Todays basement gypsies tune is from the film “Into the wild” true story of a young man who stepped outside of the safe world of his parents and entered into the wild.

Picture this…

Hello all, the most important weapon in my personal armory is the ability to picture just about anything (good or bad).

It does not matter if we are speaking about weight loss, quit smoking, drinking, getting a new job the list goes on and on. I decide this is what I want, from this point on several things start to fall into place. I get excited with the challenge, I gather facts and read articles on line, I seek out people who have reached this goal and ask them questions.

I then picture I have reached my goal and then what??? So it’s a new car you want. I sit and picture all of it, trading in your old rust bucket, calling your insurance agent, shopping online, walking about the car lots, the over eager salesmen. The new car smell and checking out the new dashboard, what side is the gas tank? I mean I will go into deep detail until the bloom is off the rose and I get down to the nitty gritty and its just a car. I have new higher payment, I’m worried if I get a scratch in the parking lot. Did I buy a new car for me or did I do this to impress someone ??

This little trick of being able to visualize the outcome has helped a lot.

So how do you do it? Well for some people its easy and they just do it(bastards)  For me I had to practice . I noticed some writers could really pull me into their novels, I could smell the rain or the fresh cut grass. So as a wanna be writer I tried to describe in great detail a room I know well. As an example I picture my office at work, not just a desk and a computer and phone. I thought about the shadows from the plants that cross my desk in the late afternoon. The sound of the women who sit just outside my door when they make phone calls. Where my coffee mug sits in conjunction with my pen and calculator. With practice I could feel like I was sitting at my desk even though I was out riding my bike. So I would then do it in reverse, sit at my desk and picture everything I do to prep for a long bike ride, the smell of my garage and lifting my bike down from a hook on the wooden rafters.  My mind grew stronger at drawing these mental pictures and soon I made a vision of how I wanted to look within reason of a short fat bald fifty year old man. Picture all I want I’m still a short 50 year old man, but I don’t act like one. I act the way I feel , very strong and full of energy.

So what do you want? If its an item a big tv or a new house, work hard save your money, take out a loan, call your rich uncle, or rob a bank. Its just money and with money you can get a lot of things,but not much else.

If you want to change your life then start right now with the image of who you want to be, that is the first step in the dance of life. You must be able to picture yourself at the finish line and how you will proceed from there. So in short start acting right now like the person you want to be.

What are you waiting on?

In all of my posts I will tend to ramble on and go off target, hang in there I always get around to the point in due time.

Peace and love all!

As always send me questions or comment love to hear from you.

Here’s a little video from the basement gypsies enjoy!

My Juice Fast (Very fast)

 

I broke all of my established paleo rules and decided to try a 30 day juice fast. In short I chose to give up all the lessons that brought me weight loss,excess energy and general well being. So I chose the Blood moon and dove right in. I started my day at 5:30 and skipped my morning coffee, the fog soon set in to my already questionable mind. I drove my daughter to school headed off to work somehow without my beloved travel mug. I was naked and afraid or at least I was craving some Columbian deep roast . I drank a store bought protein juice because I was too weak to entertain the idea of hauling out the juicer that weighs more then me and sounds like a plane crash.

So by 9am my headache starts first one in a very long time, I know this has to do with my withdrawal from the magical mystical coffee beans, so I push on. Now its lunch time and I go for my daily mile walk near my office. My head is no longer hurting its more like a steady throb of blood beating the life out of me. I stumble through my day no idea of who I was rude too and make my way home.  I enter my castle and think aloud I feel like shit how this be good for me, I do not need to go 30 days to prove how wrong I was, I knew that at 6am this morning.

So I had a nice salad with avocado and some slices of roast beef on the side. I drank a nice cup of black coffee and BOOM the fog lifted and I was able to enjoy a nice two mile walk after dinner.

My little lesson is when you found the plan that works for you ; STICK WITH IT!!! there is nothing wrong with trying new things and I always say challenge everything and see for yourself. So for me a little home made juice sounds pretty good here and there but over all I think I will stick with my veggies and fruit as a solid.

I am looking for people who need a personal life coach, I do not have all the answers (please see above) but I have learned  how to change my way of thinking and reach my goals in weight loss, my  work life and most  of all my personal life and how I feel about each day and everyone I meet.

I try to keep my posts funny and perhaps teach a little along the way. Please feel free to write me with any questions.

Its good to be back on track writing again and drinking coffee!

 

Peace and Love all!

Improv to Improve!

 

Hello All,

 

It’s the start of the real cold season and lots of people have already started to give up on their resolutions for this new year. It only takes a few bad thoughts to sabotage your plans.

A friend of mine is just now starting the Primal Blue print by Mark Sisson and asked me for a quick tip for a meal on the run. Great question, always try to plan ahead for the times you run short of time. I told him to start keeping hard boiled eggs on hand. Taste great,full of protein and it will get you through your busy day. If you have been eating Primal for awhile you will find its also easy to fast for awhile without much effort. Here’s some other tips I use.

I like to eat a big breakfast, I can go all day on that alone if need be.

Apples, I rarely go to work without a granny smith apple in my briefcase.

Dried fruit and almonds.

I also buy some standards things to have on hand like cans of tuna,avocados,peppers,onions,and bags of salad mix.

I can always make a good meal out of these.

This weekend I was looking forward to get a good day of hiking in,plans changed and I had to go to my office and work. When I got off it was pouring rain. The old me would have tossed in the towel but I decided a walk is a walk so off I went with my wife as she shopped for deals for her site (please stop by). I must have walked for two hours. That’s an easy workout and I got to help spend some fun time with my wife.

We found a coffee table that needed to be refurbished but the problem is its so cold in our garage where we work we may have to wait months to this project finished. Solution: I grab some sheets and hung them from a rafter,borrowed a space heater and got busy.

If you want to do anything you just can’t let things get in your way. Any problem that comes my way is a challenge for me to solve. Bring it on, I feel so good whenever I can get anything done.

 

I read a very good tip this week I would like to leave you with. Do not follow anything 100% or you will fail. You need to be able to adapt to the moment. Don’t paint yourself into a corner, I missed a meal so its all over, I ate one candy bar now I’m fat forever etc.. Think on your feet, stay sharp and have fun along the way. 

Peace and Love all.

 

Prisoner of Pain

Hello readers your humble storyteller is back after the holidays and ready for a new year of goals to be achieved ..when my old pal tooth pain came back on the scene.

The two types of pain I can not deal with is being on the verge of throwing up all the time,dizzy, nauseous (you get the idea) and any type of tooth pain!!! On Christmas day I had filling fall out and soon after that the pain set in. At long last I could stand no longer and went and saw my dentist, and in short I need to have root canal and start some gum treatment as well. This year just got a lot more expensive.

 

My past life of not having any type of plan for 40 plus years has been rapidly catching up with me. So its never a surprise to me when something goes wrong, like other idiots I should have seen it coming and often in the way of the idiot I watched it come while I ate crap food.

 

The good news is I am now a man with a plan for just about everything. I set my goals last year to lose weight and did it, how nice to start the new year and not worry about that. So now I have two struggles left that out weigh the others. (went for the pun there) Getting my financials in order and the mess that is my mouth.  The money side is actually been worked on for some time, but now my family has discussions on what we want to achieve in the year,swimming pool , new giant TV in the Man Cave, vacations..all of it needs a plan of action.

My mouth is a lesson in ignore this and it will come back to destroy all you hold dear. Simple plan brush and floss everyday and have great Donny Osmond DNA. I fell short of this and now I am in a new level of pain,which I can only describe as a never ending Mike Tyson punch in the jaw at irregular timing. I would do just about anything to stop this pain that so easily could have been avoided,but now like some fellow from Dante’s path through Hell I sit on a lower level and repeat this agony of not a care in the world to Just shoot me now!

So time to step up to the plate and make a change, I am taking this year to correct everything that I can to fix my teeth. The difference now is, when I leave the dentist this week and the pain has gone away, I know I have just started on my journey to oral health. I have a very hard year ahead of me but that’s OK. I am choosing to confront my fears of the dentist (Marathon Man) and along with our family money meetings we will be able to figure out the best way to pay for it all and still enjoy the new year.

The lesson I keep in mind is after the pain has gone away..the problem is still there, do not ignore it because its not present at the moment. Trust me no matter what the problem is the pain is much worse! “Take care of the little things and the big things will take care of themselves!”

Peace and Love