Do you ever impress yourself with feats you didn't know you were capable of? This poem, shared during a meditation session recently, speaks volumes:
Alive by Danna Faulds
There's no controlling life.
Try corralling a lightning bolt,
containing a tornado. Dam a
stream and it will create a new
channel. Resist, and the tide
will sweep you off your feet.
Allow, and grace will carry
you to higher ground. The only
safety lies in letting it all in-
the wild and the weak; fear,
fantasies, failures, and success.
When loss rips off the doors of
the heart, or sadness veils your
vision with despair, practice
becomes simply bearing the truth.
In the choice to let go of your
known way of being, the whole
world is revealed to your new eyes.
I visited Austin for a work conference last week. My toddler accompanied me and this was the second time in as many months that I've traveled solo with her by plane. I did let the fear of failure creep in from time to time but when I let the tide carry me, I was lifted up into a state of accomplishment. We did it. A car, a bus, a plane and another car later, we did it.
What else did I do? Eat. I'm incredibly happy there is not a Voodoo Donuts located within 2,000 miles of Portland. I would be there every day, like I was for four days in a row at my strategically located conference. Am I saying I asked my CEO if I could fly to Texas for a conference because there were donuts nearby? I'm not not saying that.
However, I'm equally sad that there is not a Matt's El Rancho located anywhere outside Austin. Their prickly pear margarita is all I need in life from time to time. The server was kind enough to show me the puree they used (The Perfect Puree of Napa Valley) so at least the recipe is in my future. The enormous chips with salt and spicy salsa are epic too.
During the conference, I snuck out for lunch to eat at Torchy's Tacos. Why eat hotel banquet food when you can eat breakfast tacos and drink a peach margarita in the sun? The first time we ate Torchy's this trip, we picked them up and took them to a favorite park: Zilker. A decent chunk of my childhood memories are at Zilker Park or next door at Barton Springs Pool. We ate atop the firetruck on the playground and continued down the hill to wade in the water, spotting fish and jumping off rocks. I much prefer "Barking Springs", the area of water below Barton Springs which feeds into Towne Lake (or Lady Bird Lake as it's called now). But no trip to Austin is complete without jumping in some sort of water to drive off the heat.
Travel home was as successful as the way down with my little champ. To many more adventures both solo and paired...
Alive by Danna Faulds
There's no controlling life.
Try corralling a lightning bolt,
containing a tornado. Dam a
stream and it will create a new
channel. Resist, and the tide
will sweep you off your feet.
Allow, and grace will carry
you to higher ground. The only
safety lies in letting it all in-
the wild and the weak; fear,
fantasies, failures, and success.
When loss rips off the doors of
the heart, or sadness veils your
vision with despair, practice
becomes simply bearing the truth.
In the choice to let go of your
known way of being, the whole
world is revealed to your new eyes.
I visited Austin for a work conference last week. My toddler accompanied me and this was the second time in as many months that I've traveled solo with her by plane. I did let the fear of failure creep in from time to time but when I let the tide carry me, I was lifted up into a state of accomplishment. We did it. A car, a bus, a plane and another car later, we did it.
What else did I do? Eat. I'm incredibly happy there is not a Voodoo Donuts located within 2,000 miles of Portland. I would be there every day, like I was for four days in a row at my strategically located conference. Am I saying I asked my CEO if I could fly to Texas for a conference because there were donuts nearby? I'm not not saying that.
However, I'm equally sad that there is not a Matt's El Rancho located anywhere outside Austin. Their prickly pear margarita is all I need in life from time to time. The server was kind enough to show me the puree they used (The Perfect Puree of Napa Valley) so at least the recipe is in my future. The enormous chips with salt and spicy salsa are epic too.
During the conference, I snuck out for lunch to eat at Torchy's Tacos. Why eat hotel banquet food when you can eat breakfast tacos and drink a peach margarita in the sun? The first time we ate Torchy's this trip, we picked them up and took them to a favorite park: Zilker. A decent chunk of my childhood memories are at Zilker Park or next door at Barton Springs Pool. We ate atop the firetruck on the playground and continued down the hill to wade in the water, spotting fish and jumping off rocks. I much prefer "Barking Springs", the area of water below Barton Springs which feeds into Towne Lake (or Lady Bird Lake as it's called now). But no trip to Austin is complete without jumping in some sort of water to drive off the heat.
Travel home was as successful as the way down with my little champ. To many more adventures both solo and paired...