Friday, January 8, 2016

Friday: The Universe, Cars, and The Rain....Assurances From Above. Updated 1/9: 08:32 AM


It's another sunny Friday morning in the slow, beach town of Malibu, and that means it's time for another week review of Rants from a Midwest guy in the land of milk and honey. Yes! It's true!! The new year has begun, and life seems to be moving just a little slower for most people recovering from all of the 'holiday' cheer festivities and travel. People's kids are back in school, the new work year is in swing, and the T.V. show Dexter has been on  non-stop since my return. Acutally getting to watch any of it was not only interesting but disturbing and generally why I don't trust the police. I guess my housemate only gets to work on cars when it's not raining outside! A couple of the higher end ones are pictured below: McClaren P1 and the McClaren A1. LOL.

The rain was coming down the other day. So much so that it flooded out certain parts of the L.A. roadways on the whole but also closed a number canyon passes due to mud and rock slides. I only know this because I was driving into Malibu the other morning only to find myself with a number of other cars stuck behind a, wait for it, snow plow!! The only way to clear the roads of debris is by plowing all the 'stuff' to the side much like we do in the Homeland. It was a bit unsettling at first, but then I realized I had my sunglasses on because the road shine like gold from the sunlight! It was a beautiful, messed up drive, but I'm happy I didn't have to have my heat on to stay warm while the roads got cleared! Yes!! Hahahaha. 

After months of avoiding it last year, I finally finished reading the Brenne Brown book, Daring Greatly, this last week. Reading through it, I gained a new perspective on the origin of shame, guilt, and a host of other emotions that people experience from their childhood into their ending adult days. All of it based on the basic principle that our humanity is hard-wired to want to belong to something, be loved by someone, and be accepted for who we are (However we developed that sense) by the people we value the most at a minimum. Brown goes into detail on developing coping methods, which she calls the development of shame-resilience, with which we can resist the feeling of becoming defensive, small, and unimportant. We need to be able to wield those tools within our homes, our work places, and relationships because without them we run the risk of becoming detached, uninterested and maybe miss the opportunity to have a full experience of life and experience the gamete of emotions; this is only possible when a person exposes themselves and become vulnerable as a person to another or even themselves.

On the whole, it made me think of my life, what I thought, and how I reacted to various people and situations. Everything from my interactions with various people, their reactions, and their ways of being and the slowly emergent patterns of shame in them. It changed my perspective on a couple of very close people to me and how things happened between us. I had to apologize in a recent email to one of them in light of my new perspective, and it made me appreciate that person even more. It's not an easy thing to...that is...to be vulnerable to someone else, to take risk of being rejected, or failing, or even more optimistically, succeeding because you never know how others will receive you or your actions. But then again, if you don't do anything, you can quite possible miss everything.

On a different note, I've been living in what seems to be a surreal dream where I've been providing service in Malibu to the wealthy, famous, and unusual. The people I get to provide chiropractic care to are people that I've seen in movies, or in magazines, or own big companies. They seem as normal as everyone else. The only difference is that say all they needed to do was take a risk and believe in what what they felt or thought about themselves or what they wanted to do was all it took to make it happen. Yes. True story.

One of my recent patients, an A-list actor in a number of actions films, was sharing some small talk with me as I worked on some of his physical issues. He thought it was funny that I had a bit of Midwest accent as much as I didn't realize he was Scottish. We laughed about a few other things, but at some point he made light of the fact that I had 'arrived' and was interested in how I did it. "How did you end up on Ron's team? He's the number one guy in Malibu, and your state is far to just end up here."  As is always my response to that question, I said, "I came here for a girl and job." I wait a few seconds and follow up with, "I still have the job. Hahaha." He looked at me and laughed and got mildly more serious as he nodded in some kind of agreement that I had made the right move in showing up. What I thought he was gonna say was, "It'll be a story were few stood against many till the end," followed by, "This is Sparta!!!" But what he actually said was,"You never know what will happen till you show up." He grunted out while I worked on some of his scar-tissue. We both laughed a bit, and when it was over, I dismissed myself to attend another patient. I couldn't help but think that I must've needed to hear that again accept this time it wasn't a homeless guy saying it. I guess.

That's the end of another rant from a Midwest guy in the land of milk and honey. I'm starting another book this week that I picked up at the recommendation of my CPA, "Startling Late But Finishing Rich." It's on investment strategies. If it's worth it, I'll share what I find. Till next time, "Be Well. Do good work, and believe." Current Life Sound Track: ONE by U2.

It is not the critic who counts; 
not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, 
or where the the doer of deeds could have done them better.
The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, 
whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; 
who strives valiantly; who errs, 
who comes short again and again, 
because there is no effort without error and shortcomings; 
but who does actually strive to do the deeds; 
who knows great enthusiasms, 
the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause;
who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, 
and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly.... 
Theodore Roosevelt

#GetAdjustedToTheGoodLife #Whatsmissinginthispicture #Californiadreaming

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