"An Immeasurable What If..."

What if.....

What if it all means we should go. You know, even with all of 'That'...

What if all of those other so important distractions, that daily distress, those preoccupations of people and time pressures, the never ending deadlines, family concerns, others issues, lack of support or sleep, that extra work, or feeling quite tired of it all - what if on another level of understanding and need, what if it all means you should go...

Of course, many of these are real concerns, important in their own way, and needing of some time and attention. But, what if, having all of these kinds of storms in our lives - rather than meaning we shouldn't or seemingly couldn't go, what if they all actually are telling us a different secret...

Even while they are trying us, testing us, to see how much we want these adventures; what if much of what we really need many times is to be found in the avocation of our wanderings out there... What if, by going, we discover more clarity, become centered again, more focused yet relaxed, renewed of energy, and so much more able to return to navigate all those other such things back here.

What if, after pondering this seemingly simple question, we each uncover a heretofore hidden and immeasurably valuable answer for ourselves...

What if.....  DSD 

"Become Your Longings..."

"In the mountains... There are times when a person's soul sets forth upon rambles of its own accord...". J. Muir

Become your longings my Friends...
Closely embrace the very things you wish for.
Then take form within your desires.
And become your longings my Friends.
Move towards your most inner knowings.
Mirror those things, those dreams you so long for.
Know that what you want can then be made real.
Take on your commitment and intentions.
Then create your very own motivations.
Look beyond any apparent mists of adversities.
Gaze past any regrets, even from long ago.
Find what is truly heartfelt just for you.
Such longings will then be so very lasting.
The eternal elemental essence of our lives.
Become your adventure longings, your very wantings, my Friends.
And thus create a source of endurance without end..... DSD    

"When We Embrace Our 'Why'....."

"He who has a why to live for can bear almost any how...". Nietzsche
"Such happiness as life is capable of comes from the full participation of all our powers in the endeavour to wrest from each changing situation and experience its own full and unique meaning....". John Dewey
"Ultimately, man should not ask what the meaning of his life is, but rather he must recognize that it is he who is asked...". Viktor Frankl
These words were certainly posed for us all to ponder, especially Nietzsche's above. Interestingly, he was an accomplished mountaineer of his time, and this quote of his is one of my very favorites. 
I have been musing about how there is so much within the subtle significance, the often hidden meanings , for why we do what we do out in the wild places.
I've written this post as specific affirmation for all the links under my "Giving Back & Passing Forward" section. All of the quotes here speak to the amazing and moving efforts these dedicated Adventurers put forth in the important support of so many others and their own trials and challenges...
When we rest and pause for reflection upon what is meant by our adventuring, we discover many impelling reasons. For what purpose do we wander - is it for the freedom, the joy, and the fun of it all...
We ponder too what grounds make up our intentions for our adventures; as it could also involve the deep confidence and competencies developed, and the fulfilling skills we eventually so practice and polish...
All so very true.
Then there is the pursuit of our dreams and visions, which are truly meaningful to us as premises too, are they not Dear Friends...
We often pledge ourselves for other reasons as well, involving motivations not only of our own, but mindful of dedication and devotion for a cause , an entrusting through our adventure efforts in support of others who have their personal challenges of health and life.
Such a weighty 'why' can provide powerful motivations unknown to us before; such momentous justification creates motives that take us so much further, very much farther, and truly more inward...
Every single one of these individual explanations speak to the depth of the 'why's' behind our commitment, our endurance, our resoluteness, even when amidst the challenges, trials, and inevitable storms out there and within. What is of real consequence then, reflecting the why's of our adventure lives, not only represents our chosen adventure objectives like a mountain summit - but more accurately reflect the personal and potent meanings these have for each of us...
So, here I now share a small compendium, a special collection, of further Viktor Frankl favorite quotes that echo such important meanings - for the 'why's' behind and beyond all of what we do out there:
"Man's search for meaning is a primary force in his life... I think the meaning of existence is not invented by ourselves, but rather detected....".
"There is nothing in the world, I venture to say, that would effectively help one to survive even the worst conditions, as the knowledge that there is a meaning in one's life..."
"Suffering ceases to be suffering in some way at the moment it finds a meaning..."
"The meaning in life always changes, but it never ceases to be...".
I hope you have enjoyed this musing today about meaning and reflections among these insightful quotes, as a dedication this adventure season for the wonderful efforts, and the important meaningful work, each of those in my "Giving Back & Passing Forward" link section performs in 'Adventuring for Another Reason' ..... DSD

"Adventuring For A Farther Reason....."

There are so many adventure experiences that may be enjoyed by each of us, so very many terrific interests for being out there... So many motives for such efforts and for taking on these challenges, enduring the trials, pushing through the limitations... They are such personal, individual grounds for going we each hold to, yet on occasion, at very special times, we can move among the wild places for another reason...

Something else becomes the fire in our belly for being out there. Something very special transforms both our purpose and our very being. This evolves from a different kind of motivation, from a whole new level of intention; for why we do what we do in our chosen adventures. There is a unique energy within such reasons. There is also a special kind of commitment towards then fulfilling such an adventure objective. What has now influenced us to go, what then induces us to keep going, is seen to have a very different genesis. We have now chosen and committed to another kind of adventure - an adventure of cause, of purpose, one that we see as so deserving of support. Be it as a soloist, or within the symphonies of a group, we set out on a trail of inspiration, resolution, determination & dedication, that has its' own unique nature within it. We are adventuring for another reason, often for another person, who may not be able to wander the wild places as we might. While they may not be with us, they are causal, truly instrumental, as to why we are out there...

Their needs become our inspiration; their wants become our objective...

We have committed to paying a different price and our efforts, and our following through, are reward enough themselves. We are out there for anther purpose... Climbing, scrambling, hiking, paddling, trekking, biking, running; now for an ideal - for another very special reason...

What might those reasons be for you Dear Friends.......

DSD

 

***Please see all the wonderful sites linked to the right, for many amazing opportunities to 'Adventure For A Farther Reason'...***

"Romantic Realists....."

We adventurers are such romantic realists, when we turn and face that which we each have chosen, as we make our own way out among the wildest of places...

To be an adventurer is at heart, to clearly be a romantic, and yet it seems very much a realist too. We take our dream like visions and make them come true. We move past everyday life back here, and journey into the extremes and emotions out there; and then return with spirits, hearts, and perceptions renewed.

That which really matters become the elements we seek to embrace; what is within the true nature of an experience becomes that which we seek to engage.

As adventurers, we deal with things as they are, while following enthusiasms towards things that are yet to be...

We are so imaginatively practical in the pursuit of our wild passions. So often playfully serious about our fun and our freedoms. We blend risk with romanticism, and distinct objectives with subtle fulfillment's.

Such romantic realists are we, such pioneers and wanderers, poets and bards, explorers and philosophers.

We everyday adventurers..... DSD 

"Of Love And Nature..."

"I love this lake, basin of heavenly tears, tilted from lunar pull, jostling its shore... I love these mountains, stark rock outcroppings, sculpted by the oceans, lifted at some unknown time, isolated in a field of vetch, cleaved by silver falls. A sentinel owl regards me unblinkingly, and beyond alpine forests form a cadence, to a distant moon..."   Deng Ming-Dao

"We Give Our Hearts..."

"I gave my heart to the mountains the minute I stood beside this river with its spray in my face and watched it thunder into foam, smooth to green glass over sunken rocks, shatter to foam again... By such a river it is impossible to believe that one will ever be tired or old...".   W. Stegner

"Of Love & Serenity..."

"Serenity does not cancel hope or adventure, work, or love... It flows through the heart of a landscape... quiet and strong, clear and gentle. Refreshing all we do or dream...".
Patrick Brown
Serenity, contentment, love, and peace... What gifts we discover as we far adventure... DSD

"We Who Love Mountains..."

"To those who have struggled with them, the mountains reveal beauties they will not disclose to those who make no effort. And it is because they have so much to give and give it so lavishly to those who wrestle with them, that people love mountains and go back to them again and again...". F. Youngblood

"Further Echoes From Bernbaum..."

Such beautiful musings and echoes...
"Mountains seem to beckon to us, holding out the promise of something on the ineffable edge of awareness...".
"We climb to hear - whispered in the wind, echoed in the stars - strains of that mysterious music...".
"In some mysterious, inexplicable way, there are valleys and mountains all around us that no one has ever seen or mapped - a world hidden right here, as if in another dimension...".
"Rather than conquer the mountain, the climber vanquishes himself, much as a hermit or yogi overcomes the enemy of his own pride and arrogance on the way...".
Edwin Bernbaum

"An Echo From Edwin Bernbaum..."

"As the highest and most dramatic features of the natural landscape, mountains have an extraordinary power to evoke the sacred. The ethereal rise of a ridge in the mist, the glint of moonlight on an icy face, the flare of gold on a distant peak - such glimpses of transcendent beauty can reveal our world as a place of unimaginable mystery and splendour... In the fierce play of natural elements that swirl about their summits - thunder, lightning, wind, and clouds - mountains also embody forces beyond our control, physical expressions of an awesome reality...".  Edwin Bernbaum

"Go... Start Now..."

Go... Start now...
This reflects the depths of the endless wisdom to be learned from Outward Bound, and those many insights shared our Mountain & Kayak Guides. They all pass forward so much. Yet today, this one elemental concept echoes out so clearly.
Go... Start now...
There are few reasons so important that we cannot begin somewhere. There are too many distractions that always will try to take us off course somewhat. We still need though, to begin someplace. To envision, to plan, to prepare, within our training, then a focus on needed knowledge and skills.
All are beginnings. So go, start now, we are reminded again.
Timing is important, but let us not only wait for what seems to be the absolute perfect time, as that moment may never come. This is what the experienced ones share with us time and again.
Dreams, desires, and passions, have endless energy we can draw upon. But do we not then need to make use of this, or it all wains away they say.
Further inspiration will always be there to keep ourselves going, especially when trials and hurdles present themselves. But those wise ones also share that momentum must be grasped too right when it presents itself.
So go, start now...
Whatever path or trail you envision, begin somewhere this day.
Whichever summit sparks your enthusiasm, initiate, start, set out, step forward, within that very moment.
Even today, our adventure's await each of us. So we need to go, go now.
Our mentors, friends, and close companions encourage us to do exactly that. They hope to see us become the adventurers we ourselves want to be. So they tell us to go, begin now.
Then, when, once having done this, once having gone - then start again, go again, yet again, and ever again my Dear Friends..... DSD   

"Waiting To Be Awakened..."

"What made it incredibly tantalizing was that It, the magic, was somewhere inside me. It had always been there... waiting to be awakened...". R. Schultheis
Dedicated to all those who will be enjoying their first Outward Bound course this year.

"Our Old Weathered Lists....."

"Fortunately, more distant summits are always being discovered... Man throws a stone - his desire - into the unknown, then throws himself in pursuit." T. Cesen
Here is this weathered list I see before me. This very old weathered list. Just some scribblings on worn paper, but such a precious thing these become for all of us...
The ideas started long ago, even before my Outward Bound experiences. Sparks of thought, notes from being inspired, longings I was yet to really even understand.
This old well worn weathered list.
But still does it always engage me. Especially when an unfolding year dawns and during the beginnings of each kind of adventure season. Every spring too does it seem to call gently, yet invitingly and persistently as well.
It almost feels at times too, that this old weathered list, has been like another kind of map and compass. Always there for navigation, for setting course, to keep oneself on track.
This weathered, folded, even a bit torn old list. It has aged, evolved, and shows the wear much as we all do. From objectives, to totals, check marks, and completions. Now it is changing once again more to an endearing tally.
This long old weathered list.
Seemingly, wonderfully, amazingly endless.
A never completed process it is. So happy am I that this is so. For a list like this is as much an adventure journey as our actual wanderings out among the wild places...
This old, composed, weathered list. I hold it in my hand, but it really has been what has supported me. Always full of hope, inspiration and wonder, enjoyment and awe, and endless enduring forever possible moments.
For as J.B. MacKinnon wrote too: "A life list is, in the end, nothing more than a tool to look back on our lives and consider how we spent our brief moments on earth. And what if, in those final breaths, you realize - I never gave anything back...".
An old parchment of sorts is this listing. It has charted what was wanted from out there. Then pointed gently to so much more than was ever first realized from within ourselves here..... DSD   

"Putting Boots On Our Dreams..."

To ponder is one thing. to muse another.
Reflection is wonderful, and dreaming is a gift.
We have such abilities to envision all that we so want to wander among and through. Our minds create the possibilities, and then it is time to climb further...
"Put some boots on your dreams", our Outward Bound Instructor said.
Then we were to learn of the wild places beyond contemplation; of the terrain of taking actions. These were steps on trails of another kind, towards horizons of dreams now made very real.
'Boots on our dreams' - a so potent shared metaphor, said so long ago to us, long pondered over many more seasons, and now passed forward once more to all of you Dear Friends..... DSD

Dedicated this adventure day to all our wonderful Outward Bound Schools.

 

"Begin Where Your Energy Is..."

I've heard Mountain & Sea Kayak Guides, as well as our Outward Bound Instructors, all mention it.
We've seen it in action in the Grand Canyon; experienced it in ways hard to describe while climbing and when out upon the ocean; felt it so sustain us on longer treks.
And we are still seeking out the meanings of to 'go where the energy is'...
I believe this to be a quietly, profoundly, simply important concept for those of us who wander. We only need to witness its' magic once in a fellow adventurer, after seeing them so tired and worn out past where a person would be expected to last. Yet they do...
We see them discover a different source of energy, a whole new wellspring of enthusiasm and motivation to keep on going. It is then we ask: What is this means for motion have they tapped into; what elemental energies have they aligned with?
While as individuals we do vary in our physical makeup, in our internal energies of motivation and drive, and as well in how our external objectives then pull each of us forward - energy is the essence that any adventurer draws upon to make their wild place dreams become real.
Ability is only the beginning.
Energy is what makes it sustaining.
So, what does this mean - 'to go where the energy is'? Could it be about those places of geomancy where a force, some kind of latent power, emanates from the elements themselves?
Might it be the synergy of shared vigour and fun that group activity out there radiates in countless dynamic ways?
What is hidden behind that which incites each of us, that causes our hearts to beat so, that stimulates our mind, our spirit, the very core of our being?
Maybe it is the potential to be discovered within every new experience; possibly the passions each of us have that fuels our personal flames; or also quite likely the endless variations of the elements themselves that never cease to inspire each of us out there. So wherever your elemental enthusiasms wait for you Dear Finder, trek towards them, embrace them, allow yourself to be infused by them. Ask yourself right then, why does this stimulate me so, what is it that I want here, what do I want this to mean, why is this so important for me.
Such questions and the resulting musings will surely guide each of us to where your own lasting energies await..... DSD

"Yet Still, They Began..."

"The one thing that all famous authors, world class adventurers & athletes, business tycoons, singers, actors, and celebrated achievers in any field have in common - is that they all began their journeys when they were none of these things. Yet still, they began their journeys...".  M. Dooley

"In The Dawning Of Our New Day..."

In the dawning of a new day, within the dawnings of our shared early year, we may find so many promises...

A promise of assurances that we will be just fine, just like what our climbing partner offers as they hold out a rope for us.

A promise of possibilities yet to be discovered as when we first launch out from the shoreline.

A promise to enlighten us with being able to see with new eyes, as we always feel when gazing out from that finally attained elusive summit.

A promise that we will indeed find our way because the compass will always point north.

In the dawning of a new day are promises reflecting hope, that which affirms the future, and holds out the potential for as many things as impossible to count as the pebbles on an endless beach.

In the first moments of dawn all things may come to be.

During that first light within a new days beginning, wonderment is always present.

We are promised too that the such dawnings will forever be there for us, full of prospects, new horizons, and gifts of refreshed perspectives and renewed energies.

These are the profoundly simple promises we may discover within the dawning of this new day among the dawnings of our shared early year... DSD

 

Dedicated this early year to all those wonderful wanderers who are Adventuring For Another Reason out there.

"A Beginning Year 'Why'..."

"The Greeks pondered the causes of things. If you had asked them, 'Why are there mountains' they'd give you four causes. The Material cause is the ground has the potential to become a mountain. The Efficient cause is that mountains are just elevated earth standing up. The Formal cause is the earth raised them up. But the Final cause is where it gets interesting. They'd say the Final cause of mountains is they exist because humans need to look up and dream..."
"I've always been fascinated by the why . You know, the oldest questions in the world...". J. Auld

"Our Shared Early Year Map Musings..."

"Who has not spread out a map on the table and felt its promise of places to go and things to do and see... Maps embody a perspective of that which is known, and a perception of that which may be worth knowing." J. Wilford

This seems such a natural time for musings during these early dawning days of a new year. To me, maps are visual metaphors for new ideas...

Maps are more than useful for finding one's direction or sorting out some kind of navigation. Yet they can also reflect a true genesis of creative ideation and imagination. This is pure fuel for our enthusiasm and motivation.

This timing and kind of effort inherently reflects new beginnings and the nature of our 'beginners mind', the ability to see things in new ways and with fresh eyes.

Such new year musings and map reading are all about fresh starts, about things worth wondering over, adventures to ponder about. There is so much fun to be found in the planning of climbs and scrambles to unknown summits, deep canyons to explore, kayaking routes to enjoy, hiking and biking trails to set out upon.

I have always been so intrigued by maps. And believe, as R. Schultheis said, "There are many potential maps of course; physiological, psychological, biochemical, theological, and anthropological." There can be many dimensions to maps; more so than are just apparent on a flat piece of paper.

Especially the exploring, of new places, of ourselves in those places, and of unique perceptions.

These are all means for adventuring.

I have so many maps. Those upon my wall, rolled in protective tubes, old worn folded maps, and those I enjoy discovering while paging through the endless excellent adventure guides to be found out there.

Further to our past years reflections and our early year hopes, map musings re-mind us of what memories we have created and what adventures we wish to have... DSD