As I wrote last week, I took some time off from work to tackle a few renovation projects around the house. I enjoy renovation work as it allows my mind to problem solve which I love, but also do so in an entirely different way than is usually required. Most of my coaching and fine art problem solving involves the creative, even touching on the metaphysical, but in home renovation, it’s all very literal and concrete. Measurement based. And that feels refreshing to me every once in a while. Last week also allowed for some rest and receivership. I was able to get to the skatepark on the board quite a bit, disco roller-skated myself into a sweaty hot...
Another These Three Things for this week. When it comes, it comes. I listen. I have a skate crew. Yep, that’s right. At 46 years old I cannot overemphasize just how hilarious this seems to me. But nevertheless, I am part of a mighty skate crew that meets weekly to cheer each other on, offer pointers and just hang out and talk about cool shit. A member of our crew is a man named Leif. He’s tall and lean with a warm smile, wears a cycling hat while he skates and drives a 1982 teal colored Camaro. With T tops. So yeah, he wins. This past weekend, my family and I cheered Leif on as he worked a...
Friday morning I took a slam. It wasn't the first time I have been hurt skateboarding, but those times I fell. This was a SLAM. I was playing around in what is known as the big bowl. I've been progressing and working on a little bit of carving. Working my way across an incline, only sideways. More and more each time. It's been fun and stretching myself has really helped me understand how the physics of this ridiculous wooden rectangle on wheels work. I have to be so present when trying something new, one of the reasons I have come to love skateboarding. It is being. Not doing. When my mind wanders, I get tripped up and one way...
I am sure it seems strange to include misery in JOY, but that's kind of what we are tasked with as humans. A constant opportunity to feel all the things. To experience more than one singular truth, to entertain the extremes while acknowledging the significance of the middle. A desire to proceed and progress while allowing feeling stuck to be part of the process. It's a lot being human. A lot. I wasn't planning on starting a new project, but then one happened upon me and the more I played in the possibilities of all that it allowed, it was clear that it had a life of its own. And these moments of uncontrollable commencement are my favorite parts of...
