Monday, February 23, 2009

"Storm Calm....."


"We cannot control the wind but we can adjust our sails." Anon
"You can spend your energy trying to calm the storm; or you can let the storm rage, and calm yourself." Anon


An ageless truism... Influence what we can... Let go of what we cannot control...
As relevant to adventures as with the rest of our lives.....
DSD










Friday, February 13, 2009

"Your Summit Quietly Awaits....."


Whatever that wild place goal... However you define that adventure project out there... That 'summit' is quietly awaiting you.
It knows you are pondering its beauty and the many challenges too. It patiently and quietly calls to you in your thoughts, through your dreams, and among those images that resonate deeply inside of you. This elusive goal, that 'adventure summit' has become one of your callings. It is a call for new experiences, a call towards a long journey, a calling that will fulfill a longing...
Your 'summit' experience awaits patiently for you, as you expand your awareness of what is possible out there, as you begin your adventure plans and preparations, and especially as your enthusiasm and desires reach out towards it...
Some say as we become focused like this, we also develop a mystical connection between ourselves and the experiences we dream about. I also believe your 'summit experience' can sense your keenness; just as you do its' presence...
There is a karma, a sharing here, that is both powerful and predictive.
Your 'summit' quietly and excitedly awaits as you will always take something to that adventure, just as the experience will always share something with you to bring back home.
No matter how you define your adventure 'summits', no matter what choice that may be... be it mountain, ocean, canyon, northern lake, or other adventure experience... it is most surely, yet quietly, awaiting you.....
DSD


My thanks to Mick for his meditative images above: http://www.flickr.com/photos/mickrange/

Monday, February 09, 2009

"The Embers Of Hope....."



It seems, at times, that things can seem so much darker before any new day dawns...
The unknown appears to worry us so; before any light shows upon the horizon...
When I ponder darkness, I also muse over 'embers'...
An 'Ember' is a seabird, well known for its' stamina and long voyages within unexpected wild places. A time to 'ember' is a time for meditation; a time set aside for establishing perspectives...
The 'embers' found within our wild place camp fires hold the hopeful potential too for new flame, warmth, and sustenance... There are always live coals still out there and within us adventurers as well. The glimmer of such 'embers' wait for us to rediscover them. This energy, this source, is a powerful metaphor and can be one of the deepest wellsprings for our feelings of hope - perceptions that say we can trust in our futures, that give cause to possibilities not yet seen.
Adventurers are very familiar with struggles, with the unknown, and thus sense the importance of embering...
Such 'embers' are more cheerful expectations, that we will indeed be inspired once again, that we can believe that moments of trial will certainly pass, that regardless of such storms, we will most certainly persevere... These are the many promises to be found within the 'embers of hope' my friends.
We are all adventurers in such times as we are facing this early year... The new fire that will assuredly take flame from such embers allows us to see beyond any darkness... The new horizons we will then see more clearly have always been there; they are just hidden from us... Waiting for us to find and fuel the embers of our shared hopefulness and our adventure spirit...
DSD



Monday, February 02, 2009

"Just Pictures On A Wall..."


When I was quite young, decades ago, I was able to visit a very experienced, wise, and aged mountaineer whom I admired greatly... He had journeyed to wild places I had only dreamed about and embarked upon elusive adventures that I could hardly yet envision. In his small, but very comfortable home, he was surrounded by mementos from afar. On one wall in particular, were mounted some stunning pictures of this adventurer, most of summits of immense rock, the deepest snow, and ice so sharp and blue. I would sneak away while others were visiting and spend as much time as I could gazing intently upon these images of adventures on that wall of mementos...
I could always also see myself in the reflection of the old glass of these pictures. It was a surreal experience, because besides the adventures being depicted there I could also see my own face smiling back at me... Those moments were to set me upon a path of wild place desires and wonderment that I still follow today.
In later years, after many of our own journeys, I started my own tradition of having large picture copies of adventure experiences made to put up on our den wall. There are dozens of them now, from Outward Bound courses, elusive summits, river rafting, sea kayaking, canoeing, long distance treks, among other so very special wild place journeys... I know they are just simple pictures on a wall, but mementos like this, images so vivid, are so very subtle and powerful at the same time. I often return to our den for quiet moments after busy days and especially during my painting sessions, to listen to selected music, and to relive the moments of what is reflected there on that wall... I really need such reconnection's when these same images in my mind become fuzzy like the dusty frames do, and have faded due to sun and the passage of time...
I was so much younger then in many of these photographs. Yet even now, when I need to fan the embers back into flame to recreate my own motivations, the experience of looking upon that wall and reliving memories, assists me greatly.
Recently we had company over; some close family and friends. Later in the evening I noticed one of the much younger guests wander into the den. A bit later I strolled over to look and see what might be holding his interest. It wasn't my old wood ice axe, or any of the many stones laying about, nor any of the many adventure titles of books or other wild place mementos on those shelves... Instead he was gazing up at those many framed pictures, much as I done so very long ago... I didn't want to disturb his moments, and knew I would ask later anyway, so I left him there to wonder and ponder...
While they are just pictures on a wall, I am sure the young ones can see, can envision themselves in the reflections there... and the special cycles of inspiration may just begin again...
DSD