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...

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....

Oh, yes! I love this fun and tasty subject for the week.

Firstly, let’s look at some definitions of the word confidence courtesy of Merriam-Webster.com:

1a: feeling or consciousness of one's powers or of reliance on one's circumstances
Examples: had perfect confidence in her ability to succeed
                  met the risk with brash confidence

1b: faith or belief that one will act in a right, proper, or effective way
Example: have confidence in a leader

2: the quality or state of being certain : certitude
Example: they had every confidence of success

3a: a relation of trust or intimacy
Example: took his friend into his confidence

3b: reliance on another's discretion
Example: their story was told in strictest confidence

3c: support especially in a legislative body
Example: vote of confidence

4: a communication made in confidence : secret
Example: accused him of betraying a confidence


Attribute:...

The post for today is all about contrast and how it shows up in our lives.

A quick online search for the definition of contrast resulted in this:

The state of being strikingly different from something else in juxtaposition or close association: "the day began cold and blustery, in contrast to almost two weeks of uninterrupted sunshine".

The person who wrote that example must have lived in Colorado.
In the spring.
During the month of June.
When spring becomes summer.
Or, when winter bypasses spring and goes right into summer.
During the month of June.

What’s the point of this?

In Colorado the weather changes in a heartbeat.
On a dime.
Or, like Taylor Swift during her Eras Tour (that’s 16 outfit changes).
Google that!

The other point of this post is how contrast can be FUN!

For all you eye rollers out there keep reading…seriously.

Contrast shows up in myriad ways.
For example:

On Thursday, June 6 my friend Peter and I went to see Brit Floyd at Red Rocks Amphitheater. I purchased...

Hey, You!
Yes, You!

It’s me!
Your Inner Critic, aka, the snarky ‘what in the actual HELL are you doing?’ troll or gremlin voice in your head.

Oh, you know this voice SOOOOOOO well, dontcha?
Dontcha! Dontcha!DONTCHA!!

“Why, if you knew half things you think you knew, you’d be half-assed.”

You know whose voice that really is?
Anyone who criticized you during your formative years.

Let’s list those buggers.

Your father.
Your mother.
Your brother.
Your sister.
Your teacher.
Your classmates.
Your friends.
Your neighborhood bully.

Those blasted trolls are still running your life by telling you all that downer shit, only, you hear them as yourself.

I can’t do ________.
I can’t have _________.
I’m not good enough for ________.
I’m not worthy of _________.

Oh, oh, ANNNNNND, you hear it from your current friends or people you hang out with.
Because.
Misery.
Loves.
Company.

Will it ever end?
When will it end?

The answer to that question lies within.

When...

During a recent trip to the east coast I had a revelation that opened my eyes and my heart.

Ya gotta know the beginning before we get to the juicy part…

I was born in Brooklyn, New York and then moved to Holbrook, Long Island with my family when I was 14. That was a lifetime ago and yet - I still identify with those roots.

“Yeah, I’m from Brooklyn and Long Island.“ stating it like I’m wearing a badge of honor or some such shit.

That is up until quite recently when my wife and I visited the East Coast. We went to Vermont for the total solar eclipse (phenomenal and breathtaking) and then down to Long Island for a few days of visiting places that I haven’t seen in many years.

We had a great time visiting the Long Island Music Hall of Fame https://www.limusichalloffame.org to see the Billy Joel – My Life, A Piano Man’s Journey – The Ultimate Exhibition!  https://www.limusichalloffame.org/billy-joel-exhibit

My...

Let's face it. "Why?" is a terrible question to ask yourself. Here's the reason.

When you ask "Why?" , as in "Why is this happening to me?" "Why doesn't that person answer my calls?" and questions like that, it gives your Inner Critic a chance to raise it's self-serving head (because it's trying to keep everything the same, and you "stuck") and respond like this: "Because you're a hopeless dweeb." "Who would want to hang out with you? You're worthless."

The things you're told by your Inner Critic are NOT TRUE. It's what you heard (usually from someone else, or the TV, or any number of places), and what you've reinforced throughout your life. It happens to us all. 

Trust me when I say there isn't a person out there who doesn't have some version of a blue-suit-cats-eye-glasses-grey-haired-overweight-overbearing-loud-voiced Critic whispering (and sometimes shouting) in their ear telling them what a creep they are. Mine is named Sally Jenkins (with apologies to every Sally Jenkins...

Part 2
We moved back to Colorado in 2013. After 23 wet years we looked at each other and wondered why we were still in the Pacific Northwest.

We missed the sun, the Rocky Mountains, warm days, the sun! Within a year we sold our beloved home in the actual forest, surrounded by actual cedar and alder trees. Ok, it was green and beautiful up there. We felt like wood elves from a Tolkien story. Sometimes, though, being a wood elf isn't enough. What about the Hobbits?

Now we live on a 40-acre parcel with our family of cats, dogs and horses (always in that order), on the eastern plains of Colorado with fabulous views of the Rocky Mountains. Colorado is heaven. Ask anyone who lives here. (A wood elf might disagree.)

We are steadily building our fan base of clients who come to us for some much needed compassion and empathy. Ashara and I are Master Gestaltists, as are our horses (although being more evolved than us, they didn't have to go to school for four years). More on this another time.