Oh my, what a subject!

We could go many places with this post.

Like, why were they so ______________? [You get to fill in the blank]

ZaZ! (Don't ask)

Today we're gonna explore the meaning of your family of origin surname. Could be your father's surname or your mother's maiden name or both.

Wondering why or how I decided on the subject?

A short story to explain: on my way into the garage of the office building this morning one of my colleagues drove in just ahead of me. Let's call him Aaron because that's his name. I'll withhold his surname as a courtesy and out of respect for his privacy. As I nodded 'hello' I wondered what his family's origin was, like, where in Europe did his family originate?

So, after getting setup at my desk (work station) I asked the oracle, otherwise known as Google, this question: what is the origin of the name ____________ [Aaron's surname).

The bots went to work and in a nanosecond the information was returned. OK, that was fascinating and fun to learn...

Hello from Colorful Colorado.

It's really a thing! Google 'welcome to colorful Colorado sign pictures' and you'll see lots of pictures of signs along the highways and byways at the borders of Colorado. I added one below as an example.

What's all the hubbub, Jed?

Well, this time of year many flat landers, a dubious term for people who don't live in the Rocky Mountains, us included, spend every weekend driving up to the mountains to see the aspen change color from green to shades of red, orange, and gold. From late September to late October the colors are CRAZY BEAUTIFUL.

Ashara, our three dogs and I went to southwest Colorado last Wednesday. We drove close to eight hours to Cortez where we stayed through Friday. On Thursday we drove northeast to catch the colors between Cortez and Telluride. We were greeted with breath-taking, eye-popping, and soul-satisfying COLORADO in all it's glory. The artist in me embraced the heart throbbing scenery. 

We stopped in the small town of Rico...

The post for this week is about an article that I recently contributed to.

Actually, I was invited to contribute to an online mag titled Bold Journey which contains stories by people who have overcome problems or dilemmas in their lives and have chosen to share those stories to help more people. As written on the About Bold Journey page: one of the best ways to deal with [those] challenges is to learn from the stories and experiences of others. 

After reading some of the stories that were published I opted to contribute answers to a series of questions that became my story in the magazine. I hope you enjoy my story and read more stories from other contributors in the Building Blocks of Success: Confidence and Self Esteem section.

On another note my wife, our three dogs and I are on a 3-day mini vacation in the southwest corner of Colorado (Cortez) with a day trip to Telluride and the surrounding area to see the colors of autumn in the San Juan mountains. It's absolutely...

Ever have one of those moments when you are so involved in something that time seems to fly? Tempus fugit.

Different from when time seems to stop, like when some bad sh*t is about to happen. This phenomenon is known as ‘stopped clock illusion’, which, I experienced many years ago as I was driving by the capitol building in Denver.  Heading home after a movie I was driving in the far left lane on a ONE-WAY road when I noticed headlights coming towards my mini-me truck in the same lane I was in. Guess what was behind the car. A police car in pursuit.

My mind attempted to make sense of the scene. No way. Couldn’t do it. Instead I slowed down and pulled the truck up onto the grassy roadside and as I turned my head to watch both cars pass on the right everything slowed to a snail’s pace. Every movement was infinite and I saw everything in fine detail and in slowwwwww motionnnnnnn until both cars passed and everything blinked back to ‘real time’....

Oh, my!

It's Thursday morning and hopefully you're looking for my latest blog in your inbox which was supposed to arrive at 3AM!

I have no excuse for missing that milestone. Is there a gobsmacked emoji??

Ashara and I were busy last night taking down the booth and scrims held up with shower curtain hooks and tables and table cloths, and putting them in our car so we can SET IT ALL UP AGAIN at the Body Mind Spirit Celebration that wrote I about last week.

Did you miss the blog from last week? Click here to read all about this fab and fun event.

What I'm gonna do today is share a wonderful post from one of my mentors, Alan Seale. I love his writing style and messages! He even has a fun Share button in the middle, so you know, we can share his posts. Very clever that! Click here to read it.

That's it for now friends. We'll provide updates, maybe even live updates, this weekend on the Harmony's Heart Facebook page while we're at the BMSC. If you live in the Denver area please stop...

The Enlightened Squirrel at BMSC

Whaaaaat the actual acorn is this?

Who is this enlightened squirrel anyway?
What the heck is BMSC?
Why do I care?

All great questions young Padawan.

The Enlightened Squirrel was an inspiration while Ashara and I drove from Colorado to Wisconsin last year when we thought we were moving to the badger state to become resident cheese heads. We were on a 'home and land finding' mission for several days before returning home. Long story short: we’re staying in Colorado for the foreseeable future. We love where we live, we have fantastic views of the Rocky Mountains, our family is happy living on the farm, and we live in a very agricultural community where actual deer and antelope play. Read Ashara’s latest blog post about them antelopes.

 
Home on the range where the antelope play.

OK, so what about this Enlightened Squirrel dude?

Come closer and let’s explore!
[Yah, yah. We’ll get to BMSC later.]

So, Ashara and I are driving and...

Oh, how I love this subject! So much to be grateful for these days.

Let’s start with a quick update on the NOSE BLEEEEEED saga.

The post last week was all about the trials and tribulations of an almost daily occurrence of blood flow where it should not have been coming out. The update and really good news is my nose finally settled down with a daily application of warm Nasya sinus oil in each nostril since last week. Made by AROMABLISS this wonderful oil is the answer to my prayers. ‘Nuff said.

GRATITUDE!

Next, our raised garden of sweet peppers, tomatoes, and eggplants have produced an amazing bounty this year! Lots of hot days, water, and sunshine helped all of those plants to go nuts! Not only those plants but the marigolds we planted 3 years ago came back with a vengeance. We planted them along the outer edges of the garden to keep the insects away and those brilliant yellow, gold, orange, and reddish flowers really work!

The honey bees love them this time of year and we...

Firstly, thank you to everyone who responded to the post last week announcing the nose bleed. Lots of well wishes and concerns for my well-being and health were sent. My heartfelt gratitude to you all.
                                                          

Tuesday last week my nose started bleeding which is not unusual this time of year given the heat and very low humidity index. I’ve had too many of these inconveniences to be worried about. Remedies included a wad of tissue stuffed up the ol’ schnoz, holding still until the blood letting stopped, and taking it easy for a while afterwards.

This time was very different when I felt the onset of a gusher while at work. As I trotted...

How best to describe equanimity?

According to Wikipedia:
Equanimity is a state of psychological stability and composure which is undisturbed by the experience of or exposure to emotions, pain, or other phenomena that may cause others to lose the balance of their mind. The virtue and value of equanimity is extolled and advocated by a number of major religions and ancient philosophies.
Reference: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Equanimity

Another way of describing equanimity is:
I didn’t lose my sh*t during a time of high emotional stress. Instead I maintain an even keel by recognizing the moment when the stress-o-meter starts to rise and BREATHE before speaking what’s already on the tip of my tongue and ready to lash out.

Wouldn’t be a good look.
Wouldn’t be a good time.
Wouldn’t be the right thing to do.
Wouldn’t be right speech.

And, so I practice equanimity daily while I accept the situation and my response to the situation with as much grace as possible....

Quite recently Ashara and I were working with a corporate executive to have one of his teams come out for a day-long team building event with the horses. I happen to be one of the team members so I know this executive pretty well. My teammates were really looking forward to this event.

After several discussions and his assurances that he wants our team to have an event he was unable to approve due to budget constraints. When I heard this news I felt an immediate sense of loss for our team as we would miss out on effective team connection and bonding and for Ashara since the potential income was good for the books.

More than that I felt a sense of loss because I remembered that coaching is so important to me and how I define myself as someone who is in service to humanity. The decision meant that we would not be serving this small group of people and that bummed me out for a few moments. The reason was totally understandable from the executive’s budget constraint perspective. My...