Archive for the ‘Living Deliberately’ Category
I found this amazing ad. Great Story Telling.
Photography – it leads you down some darn interesting paths.
Yep, that’s a guy, in a skirt running through a mountain stream barefoot. But that’s only the beginning. He’s also suffering from Brain Injury where he really only remembers days back before details fade completely, leaving him with just the concepts. AND has intense vertigo. Yep, he runs trails that have steep drop offs.
Meet Deacon Patrick.
I met up with him because he wanted some photos for his website of him doing his barefoot or primal running. He walked up to the truck where I waited – wearing a skirt. I’ve known Patrick for awhile now and honestly, it really didn’t phase me. I knew there was a reason for it. We talked for a bit, but I noticed he wasn’t able to follow the conversation well – something was distracting him. I hoped it wouldn’t call off the photo shoot.
“Are you wearing perfume? Used flowery soap? Something scented?”
“No – I go as scent free as possible.” I said.
“Well, you smell very…flowery.”
I know Patrick is sensitive to various things – sensations that rob him of his brain energy, and it can be something as small as flickering light, or an uncomfortable chair or a scent. It’s what makes photographing him interesting because you can only use natural or steady light – no flashes. He stopped and investigated, going over to more closely smell the petunias about 10 feet behind me. I couldn’t smell a thing.
“That’s it!”
He identified the smell and we continued on. We took a few shots near a small lake and then headed up to the trailhead. Well, he headed up – I wimped out and went back to get the truck. I started up the hill and soon realized I’d not make it without shifting into 4WD. He actually just ran up – like it was nothing. hmmm – I said, thinking of how I really need to get in better shape.
Why barefoot? I’ve been reading the fascinating book, The Brain That Changes Itself, and it makes sense. What he’s effectively doing is using his feet to tell his body which way is up. There’s an early chapter that talks of using the tongue to replace the part of the brain that tells you how your body is positioned on this earth – letting gravity be the sensation to tell your brain which way is up (turn your head to the side and pay attention to what gravity does to your relaxed tongue).
Patrick lets his feet figure it out – they feel the land beneath him as well as the center of gravity of Patrick’s body above them and his feet communicate with the rest of his body and it works – he stays upright. The photo above was of a stumble he took. I gasped after taking it, thinking he would fall, but he had told me that his body just takes care of it and it’s many steps later that he realizes he may have stumbled – if he notices it at all. And that’s exactly what happened. He just kept on.
So, why the skirt? Again – sensations that take over his brain. He’s tried various outfits, but the skirt (he often wears – and looks fabulous in – a kilt) gives less sensation which in turn allows him to run farther. And for him, it’s all about what works to let him live life as fully as he possibly can.
THAT’s Living Deliberately.
Taking action, no matter what, to live your life as fully as possible. Do what works. Figure it out. Don’t let anyone convince you it’s not right if it works. Ignore critics. Sweep the stumbling blocks out of the way. Find the joy.
I have to say that the progress he’s made in the past year or so based on paying attention to God’s Engineering really wakes me up to find that I need to pay attention a bit more. My fibromyalgia has taken a toll on me lately – and so much of what he writes about on Mind Your Head Co-Op applies to me as well. I think it’s time that I start formulating my own long term recovery from FM.
You can read more about his amazing story and his latest project (to run 20K for 20 days – check out the video of him running barefoot there ) on his website – which I manage for him (disclaimer).
Success begets success. By co-creating with God, we connect with our God-given worth and that helps us heal all the more. ~Deacon Patrick
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If you could make one wish, right now, at this moment, what would it be?
No story behind the click on this one because my wish is different from yours, as it should be.
This photo embodies the possible…take a few and dream big…dream wide…dream deep.
And to seal that dream – take one step toward it.
Happy Friday!!!!
A Bit o’ Green for St. Patrick’s Day
Can you believe we’re almost though the first quarter of 2010? St. Patrick’s Day marks that for me. 4th of July will mark basically the end of the second quarter. So it’s time to step back and take a look and evaluate goals and decide what I want done by the 4th of July.
For the past couple of months (well, 11 weeks now), I’ve been taking a scrapbooking class, Design Your Life, over at Big Picture Scrapbooking. I have to say that it’s really impacted my life in so many ways. It’s connected the dots for me with learning Adobe’s In Design. I’ve found a method to scrapbook and document life simply and effectively for me (Photoshop + In Design). But the biggest impact has been simply an attitude shift.
In the class, Cathy refers to us in her videos as Designers. Hearing that over the past few weeks has sunk in. The first time she said it, I did my usual, “oh, I’m not really a designer.” Yet as the class has gone on, I now hear it and it sounds natural. I do think of myself more as a designer – amazing what taking yourself and your skills seriously can do for you.
I decided to apply that to a few other things. Rather than “helping out a few folks with their websites” I changed that to “I am a website manager helping on various levels for my clients.” Just that slight shift in thinking pushed me to learn more platforms than just WordPress (though I still find it the easiest to teach people how to use it). Geeky thing is, I really LOVE finding solutions that work for people and make their lives run a bit better. So with each new platform I learn, it’s another potential solution for someone or some other project I have going on in my own pipeline of projects. All of that just from a slight shift in thinking – of taking my efforts more seriously and recognizing the value of them.
Thank you, Cathy. I may not have done every assignment or jumped in on the message board much, but the class shifted my life in rather a tectonic fashion. So, on St. Patrick’s Day (gotta tie that in here somehow), I could think of it as luck that I decided to take the class – but I’m more inclined to think that all of us make our luck by just taking action – taking a step, any step, toward a goal and trusting that God will fill in the rest of the details. Live Deliberately + Trust.
Oh – and that photo up there – the green St. Patrick’s Day photo – that’s the photo (or maybe another one from that batch – I keep going back and forth between two of them) you’ll find on Friday as the The Story Behind the Click over on my Photography Blog.
It seems that template got me thinking much more about doing a better job of organizing this website. Funny how doing one thing leads to the next – must be that Flylady Kitchen Sink idea. Who knew my template was my kitchen sink online? The platform I’ve used worked well, but things feel cluttered – not unlike living in a house for 15 years and slowly accumulating too much stuff. It’s time to bring in a few moving boxes, a dumpster and build an addition.
If you click on PHOTOGRAPHY up there in the top bar, you should have (if I did it right) a new window open up with the photography section of the site. It’s going to take a bit to shift things over, but I’ve made a start.
THIS space will become my Mountain Life Blog – pretty much a jumble of all those other things in my life. I think all of this will allow me to better focus what I’m doing with my business and not clutter that up with a recipe, or dog story, or whatever odd things come up.
I’ve also updated the About Janet page. I need to start writing more in my own voice to better reflect who I am. Watch out – time to live a bit more deliberately – life is good and it’s getting better all the time!
I think all artists have to define success for themselves – just so you know when you hit your own ‘success.’ And while none of us can define it for another person, we sure can recognize it and celebrate it when we see it in someone else.
Not long ago, an artist friend of mine made a leap that I certainly see as well deserved success – Deb Trotter, the Cowboy’s Sweetheart licensed some of her work to be featured on leather items. I saw her post the other day about a second licensed work for Icon, and I cheered for her and made a mental note to ask to see them next time I headed up there. Then today the UPS truck brought me a Valentine’s package from my folks (FedEx brought me my repaired camera early this morning – a day for things coming in, I suppose). The “Val and Tiny’s Day” gift was filled with goodies yet to open and yummy cookies (THANKS, MOM!) and an extra surprise from Deb and WOW – it looks SO good!!!! This little key coin purse is the perfect size for when a cowgirl wants to travel light – just what I love. THANK YOU, DEB! And CONGRATS on such a wonderful “Living Deliberately” example!
To help me reach my goals this year, I plan to spend the last week of each month going through my accomplishments of the past 3 weeks. You see, normally I beat myself up for not sticking to resolutions or finishing as much as I thought I could at the beginning of the month. Then discouragement sets in. (Why do the negative thoughts come so easily?) The only way to change this pattern is to set a new one in its place.
This is where the little journal where I jot down what I do each day and my scrap daily project comes in handy. It gives honor and validity to what I do. All those small steps taken add up to more than I realize and looking back on them builds me up. Writing it down also works to keep me tuned in to how I choose to spend the hours of each day.
I also look ahead. Where do I want to be in various projects by the end of February? What steps do I need to take to get there? By the end of this week, I should have a better idea. Plus, I have this whole week to hunker down and crunch out work to add to the list of January’s accomplishments. How wonderful!
In doing this, I find myself jazzed about this week – this month and next – and 2010. It seems like 2010 may look much like 1988 – a year when so many folks found huge shifts happening in their lives. I’m ready for that shift – for the next step. How about you?
