As has become a tradition for me on Sunday morning, after church and a good workout, I put in Dierks Bentley’s “Live from the Filmore” concert and rock out while making an omelet and sipping my second Venti Drip, Black. Each time I listen through the entire concert, a different song and its lyrics will jump out at me. I have made the claim before that Dierks entire album may have been written after reading my journal as it just may capture my perspective on life better than most. This morning’s song is called “Can’t Live it Down.” Enjoy.
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I’ve been called a rambler ‘Cause I keep my eyes on that horizon line And I’ve been called a gambler ‘Cause I always wanna let my winnings ride I’ve been broke more times than I can count I’ve been stuck for days in a lonely town When my luck ran south
Chorus: Hey I might be makin’ me a reputation Of goin’ my own way and I can’t live it down Got the throttle wide open gonna live it up knowin’ In this life you only Get one go around And I can’t live it down
There’s times I’ve wasted money ‘Cause I know that I can always make more cash But wasted time is something man When it’s gone you can’t get it back So I’ll go on burnin’ up both ends ‘Cause I don’t want a whole lot of might’ve-beens Now that would be a sin
Gonna live for place I ain’t been Make a lot of good remember-whens Right up to the end
This month Annie and I had the chance to travel through the deep south for a great friend’s wedding. On our way back to Dallas from Moss Point, MS I had the chance to introduce Annie to the greatness that is New Orleans. It was described to me as a “City name that can be used as a noun, verb, and adjective – it is just so unique.” This was my fourth trip to the Big Easy, but my first time to share it with someone else. Annie and I did a swamp tour, stayed at the Le Pavillon Hotel which offers a PB&J with milk buffet at 10pm, and did our best to sample some of the local fare and music in the French Quarter.
As we drove away and I thought the highlight of the trip was our time at Preservation Hall, a jazz club just off Bourbon. Amazing music and truly intimate environment. If you ever get the chance, make sure you go.
But later on in the week, the true highlight of our New Orleans experience came to light. Annie and I went to see “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.” As the incredibly imaginative story played on, the images of New Orleans in the movie jumped off the screen as Annie and I had just been there. As the story concluded and closure was reached, the theme of the story, the under current of the tale jumped out at me. That no matter where life’s story takes you, that no matter what trials and what joys you experience, the greatest gift that anyone could hope to be given is the chance to do all of those things with someone they love.
So I reached over and squeezed Annie’s hand and smiled knowing that I, in fact, was that lucky.Tweet
This is a picture of me standing on the edge of the Grand Canyon, about 150 feet past the security fence out on a ledge. I have never had more fun. This morning, while dancing dangerously close to the edge (in life) I came across some thoughts and new perspectives that added some fuel to the fire and some thump to the soundtrack:
If you’re not living on the edge, you’re taking up too much space.—Anonymous
And the day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom.–Anais Nin
Be daring, be different, be impractical, be anything that will assert integrity of purpose and imaginative vision against the play-it-safers, the creatures of the commonplace, the slaves of the ordinary.–Sir Cecil Beaton
Creative people who can’t help butexplore other mental territories are at greater risk, just as someone who climbs a mountain is more at risk than someone who just walks along a village lane.–R.D. Laing
Creative risk taking is essential to success in any goal where the stakes are high. Thoughtless risks are destructive, of course, but perhaps even more wasteful is thoughtless caution which prompts inaction and promotes failure to seize opportunity.–Gary Ryan Blair
Don’t be afraid to take a big step. You can’t cross a chasm in two small jumps.–David Lloyd George
During the first period of a man’s life the greatest danger is not to take the risk.–Soren Kierkegaard
Every society honors its live conformists and its dead troublemakers.–Mignon McLaughlin
The galleries are full of critics. They play no ball, they fight no fights. They make no mistakes because they attempt nothing. Down in the arena are the doers. They make mistakes because they try many things. The man who makes no mistakes lacks boldness and the spirit of adventure. He is the one who never tries anything. His is the brake on the wheel of progress. And yet it cannot be truly said he makes no mistakes, because his biggest mistake is the very fact that he tries nothing, does nothing, except criticize those who do things.–Gen. David M. Shoup
God grants us an uncommon life to the degree we surrender our common one.–Max Lucado
If you don’t risk anything, you risk even more.–Erica Jong
I’ve found that luck is quite predictable. If you want more luck, take more chances. Be more active. Show up more often.–Brian Tracy
Life isn’t worth living unless you’re willing to take some big chances and go for broke.–Eliot Wiggington
The man who goes farthest is generally the one who is willing to do and dare. The sure thing boat never get far from the shore.–Dale Carnegie
No one ever achieved greatness by playing it safe.–Harry Gray
Nothing will ever be attempted if all possible objections must first be overcome.–Samuel Johnson
Often the difference between a successful man and a failure is not one’s better abilities or idea, but the courage that one has to bet on his ideas, to take a calculated risk–and to act.–Maxwell Maltz
Our lives improve only when we take chances–and the first and most difficult risk we can take is to be honest with ourselves.–Walter Anderson
Progress always involves risk; you can’t steal second base and keep your feet on first.–Frederick Wilcox
Revolutionaries don’t get job security.–Ruby Dee
A ship in port is safe, but that’s not what ships are built for.–Rear Admiral Grace Murray Hopper
To win without risk is to triumph without glory.–Pierre Corneille
Too many people are thinking of security instead of opportunity; they seem more afraid of life then of death.–James F. Byrnes
What you risk reveals what you value.–Jeanette Winterson
Yes, risk-taking is inherently failure-prone. Otherwise, it would be called sure-thing taking.–Tim McMahon
You’ve got to go out on a limb sometimes because that’s where the fruit is.–Will Rogers
I am not a complete addict yet, but I have seen over that ledge. When I hear the truly hardcore and disciplined talking about it, I understand the verbiage and can begin to see how my world changes in the continued pursuit. It is not geographically, culturally, or educationally specific. It is something that applies across generations, cultures, and religions. I submit that it is something that reaches everyone of us and if we let it will consume us. It is the life long pursuit of the next level. Growing up in the video game generation, the next level is always the goal. Conquer where you are, no matter how many lives or resets it takes, and then move on to the next level. Start on the JV team, prove you have what it takes, move on to the next level and play Varsity. Take harder courses, prove you belong among the academic elite, move on to the next level. Take initiative, go the extra mile, work for the big picture not just for the pay check, move on to the next level. It is not a lack of contentment with where you are or the circumstances that we find ourselves in. It is not a pursuit that should bred and fester dissatisfaction in our current world and rob us of the joy that can be, and should be, found in each day. But it is the deep seeded desire to never slow down or settle for less than our ever increasing best. To make sure that we never find ourselves with “those cold and timid souls that know neither victory or defeat.” The more we push, the more we strive, the more we learn, the better we become. The better we become, that much more is expected of us. The more that is expected of us, the higher the bar is raised for what our personal best can and should be. Life is too long to settle and to become content with the current level we are living, working, and playing in right now. If you can complete this level with your eyes closed due to the repetitive nature with which you continue to play it over and over again because it is comfortable and you know you can beat it, that is not helping you or anyone in your world. Take it to the next level.
“Anyone who stops learning is old, whether at twenty or eighty. Anyone who keeps learning stays young.” – Henry Ford
Here are some guys that took it to the extreme next level. They were not content with the thrill of the success that they had achieved, so they innovated and gave me a great reason to finally visit my ancestors’ home country. (Video Credit – Uncle Herb) Tweet
The most common quote that I reference by Teddy Roosevelt is:
“It is not the critic who counts, not the man who points out how the strong man stumbled, or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena; whose face is marred by the dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again; who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions and spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best, knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who, at worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly; so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory or defeat.“
But it was pointed out to me today by my friend Skinner on his blog that this was only the begin of an incredible statement. He went on say:
“Shame on the man of cultivated taste who permits refinement to develop into fastidiousness that unfits him for doing the rough work of a workaday world. Among the free peoples who govern themselves there is but a small field of usefulness open for the men of cloistered life who shrink from contact with their fellows. Still less room is there for those who deride of slight what is done by those who actually bear the brunt of the day; nor yet for those others who always profess that they would like to take action, if only the conditions of life were not exactly what they actually are. The man who does nothing cuts the same sordid figure in the pages of history, whether he be a cynic, or fop, or voluptuary. There is little use for the being whose tepid soul knows nothing of great and generous emotion, of the high pride, the stern belief, the lofty enthusiasm, of the men who quell the storm and ride the thunder. Well for these men if they succeed; well also, though not so well, if they fail, given only that they have nobly ventured, and have put forth all their heart and strength. It is war-worn Hotspur, spent with hard fighting, he of the many errors and valiant end, over whose memory we love to linger, not over the memory of the young lord who ‘but for the vile guns would have been a valiant soldier.’”
I know that I have referenced The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho before on this blog, but I have to say, the parallels between the journey of Santiago toward his Person Legend and the the adventure that I have been on in the past year are intense. Though this work is a fictional account, the verbiage and phraseology of the book has worked its way in to my day to day lexicon. Those that have made the best literary decision of their life and read The Alchemist will hear it, those that haven’t won’t. My friend Skinner sent me this quote yesterday from the book and I hope that it is as encouraging to you as it was for me. “What you still need to know is this: before a dream is realized, the Soul of the World tests everything that was learned along the way. It does this not because it is evil, but so that we can, in addition to realizing our dreams, master the lessons we’ve learned as we’ve moved toward that dream. That’s the point at which, as we say in the language of the desert, one ‘dies of thirst just when the palm trees have appeared on the horizon.’ Every search begins with beginner’s luck. And every search ends with the victor’s being severely tested.”
It is a choice. When things are up and when things are down, how we respond and what we do with our new found circumstances is a choice that we get to make. We may not have control over the changes that are made, but we do have control over the way we respond to those changes. In accepting that control and understanding that we are not the victims of fate easily cast about on whatever wave comes crashing in today, we in turn resist and reject the world greatest lie. At no point do we ever lose the title of “the masters of our destiny,” but for too many people, they just give it up. The world greatest lie is that at some point what you do in your day to day world doesn’t effect or elicit change in your life and that you are subject to being a reactionary character in your life’s screen play, always responding to, but never initiating the plot. It is with that mindset that the majority of people go through life, not seeking the higher calling, but accepting and settle for what is already here. Everyday we are making choices and choosing paths that are deepening the ruts in our lives or adding a spring to our step. My decision this morning to get Italian Roast at Starbucks instead of the new Pike’s Place will keep my morning interesting for the next few days as my Baristas question which I will choose tomorrow. My choice to go with Johnny Walker last night instead of Kirin with my sushi ended up being a great call, but maybe not a predictable one. It is in the constant growing and changing that we all are going through at all points in life that I have come to see the most clarity and joy. Some may point to all of the volatility in my life right now as a ‘phase’ that hopefully I will pull out of soon, and that is not far off the mark. But I hope that the change and the volatility that I have come to respect as the catalyst for growth is never far from me in the future. Life is not about finding the answers, life is about asking the questions. Life is not about achieving comfort, life is about pushing on for the next plateau and growing along the way. Life is not about avoiding change and pain, life is about dealing with it and coming out on top any way.Tweet
Every now and then someone (Thanks Uncle Herb) will forward me a video that not only was worth my time to watch the whole thing through, but has greater life meaning than just 6:27 of my day. This is one of those videos:
To read more about “The King’s Pathway” click here
“Every day you may make progress. Every step may be fruitful. Yet there will stretch out before you an ever-lengthening, ever ascending, ever-improving path. you know you will never get to the end of the journey. But this, far from discouraging, only adds to the joy and the glory of the climb.” – Sir Winston ChurchillTweet
As has become a tradition for me on Sunday morning, after church and a good workout, I put in Dierks Bentley’s “Live from the Filmore” concert and rock out while making an omelet and sipping my second Venti Drip, Black.
