Listen.....

After watching a self-help guru speak about one of the ways to reach inner peace, I decided to take his advice.

He spoke of how seldom we allow ourselves to "listen to the silence." He recommended that I find a place where there was no mechanical noise. No TVs, no ticking clocks, no whirring computers. This was harder than it sounded.

I succeeded only by unplugging a DVR and taking a clock to another room. Finally I was ready to "tune in to nature." I closed my eyes and sat in silence......ready for the epiphany. What would nature say to me? Would the song of a bird ring clearer than ever before or would the sound of the wind rustling the fall leaves become her whispering voice.

Time passed, then, in an instant, the answer came! Nature had spoken. She said, "look within" through possibly the loudest stomach growl I had ever heard. My own body was making fun of me and I found it hilarious. The stomach rumble was followed by the sound of my own laughter. I could not remember when I had last heard it. It was good to hear.

I guess the guru was right, but, I think he had something else in mind.

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There are NO Twin Peaks.....



I sat down at my desk to consider a blog post and spied this doe grazing about 60 meters away.


There are days now when the body I am trapped in seems foreign to me. 

It seems impossible that this is the same body that pedaled me cheerfully, just a few short years ago, over 103 miles (165.7 K) through the rolling hills of West Tennessee .  It was a beautiful autumn Sunday, with temperatures in mid sixties (F) and very little wind.  I was one of nearly one hundred cyclists that rolled out from our Beale Street starting point.  For most of us it was our first attempt at a "Century" (100 miles in one day).  Most of the group wouldn't complete the circuit that rolled north of Memphis along and often within sight of the Mississippi River and back.  I did finish the ride though admittedly I complained a tad when my bike's computer/odometer rolled to 100.0 miles and I found myself still a few miles from the finish line back at Beale Street. 

My ride had required over six hours in the saddle and at an average speed over 16 mph, I had burned in excess of 3,800 calories.  While no Lance Armstrong, I was happy.  Hell I was ecstatic!  If you love to exercise and know what I mean by "Endorphin Rush" then you can imagine how I felt after 6 hours of steady pumping and the free beer provided by this ride sponsors.  I was, unknowingly, at my peak.

It is funny, in a sick way, how the peak of your life can slip by unnoticed.  Life doesn't give you a reminder that you had better pay attention because how you feel right now, this very instant, is the best you'll ever feel for the remainder of your life.