It all began in 2018 with a very intricate mandala tattooed on my upper right shoulder. After five years and nearly twenty total hours in the chair my sleeve is finally complete!
Each element of the piece is either sacred geometry or a mandala. Thanks to Greg with Tattoos From Grease for your incredible artistry and vision. To say I’m happy with it is an understatement, I’ll treasure this for years to come.
Back to Basics
Except for a few short breaks I’ve been exercising consistently since I was fifteen. Over the years the natural progression of my routine has been to simplify. My equipment and methods have been honed from a room full of equipment to nearly none. I've eliminated anything that doesn't produce consistent and tangible results.
At age fifty-two I’ve ditched traditional free weights and have switched to a Russian kettlebell routine, Navy Seal Burpees, Qi-Gong, and various forms of cardio (cycling, stair climbing, hiking).
In the last few months I’ve been reminded of the true value of a simple walk. I've noticed even fifteen minutes of walking a day reinvigorates my body and especially my mind.
Usually after the first mile my imagination starts to run wild with ideas for poetry or fiction. Never have I had so many ideas swirling and so many irons in the proverbial fire. Now that it's too cold to cycle in my part of the world my plan is to keep up this routine of walking no matter what Mother Nature throws at me. Considering Minnesota winters can easily approach -40F I hope I can keep that promise to myself.
Hope
Wars...
the SEC's attacks on crypto...
crumbling infrastructure...
high taxes, rampant crime...
crippling inflation...
the chaos of an upcoming Presidential election with zero good choices.
It's easy to feel defeated and start believing the world is completely f*cked. But to do this would be to give up, to give in, we can't do that. The future is way too important.
Lately, it's become imperative for me to actively seek out points of light, things that give me a shred of hope that humanity will pull itself out of this nosedive. As of late, the source of a lot of that hope for me, personally, has been centered around Tesla and SpaceX.
Witnessing teams of talented people consistently defying the odds, convention, and the critics to create innovative (albeit polarizing) products have a way of brightening my outlook about what humanity is capable of.
As silly as it might sound I think to myself if Tesla can make something like the CyberTruck a reality and SpaceX can launch a rocket the size of a skyscraper then just about anything is possible.
https://www.youtube.com/live/s-ZwElJpTTs?si=GqAr6hiBwkuQOA_Z
What fills me with hope might not do the same for you but if you're feeling overwhelmed and defeated right now I urge you to seek out those points of light for yourself. The world seems so dark right now. Search for something, anything that gives you hope. At a certain point it becomes imperative to your very survival to seek the light.
What are your points of light?
Thanks for reading! All for now. Remember…trust your instincts, invest in you, live boldly, and take chances.
(Gif sourced from Giphy.com)
Most of us have experienced a moment of perfect peace at least once in our lives. In these moments we lose ourselves and feel connected to everything. I call these mindful moments. Words can’t describe how complete they make us feel.
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