WEST COAST TRAIL: 10 YEARS LATER

Hiking the West Coast Trail was a watershed moment in my history and it happened exactly 10 years ago this week. In many ways that seminal week provided the inspiration and catalyst to make many changes in my life - most for the better. As a result, I wrote my first book and more importantly, proved that if we put our mind to it, all of us can accomplish anything. The memories continue to be vivid and I caught myself the other morning, sniffing the early morning August air and being transported back to that incredible week.
That was also the morning that I visited my friend Gord Strandlund. For those of you who have read my book, The West Coast Trail: One Step at a Time, you will remember Gord as my hiking partner, friend and foil on that adventure. Life has been very challenging for him since then as he was diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer's Disease. He is now confined to a lock down care facility and he continues to struggle with memories, speech, eating and several other physical ailments. It is a hell of a disease that I am sure many of you have had some experience with - truly devastating.
The frustration and fear exhibited by its victims, including Gord, is so sad to see. Gord and I still share that week in August, 2003 and while he has great difficulty assembling his thoughts into a full statement, we can still share the memories as he smiles and remembers various incidents. Fortunately, I am still able to fill in his thoughts as he spills out a word or phrase to describe one of the wonderful stories that we spent so many years sharing before the disease took full control.
In the end, that is what we are left with isn't it, the memories of success, the conquering of fears, the goals attained, the challenges met, the laughs shared, the tears spilled, the hurts healed and the loads lifted. There were many moments on the West Coast Trail that one or the other of us was not sure we could make it but when we looked up the trail and saw our partner plodding ahead, one foot in front of the other, we gained strength and resilience and kept on going.
I had a very nice text message from Gord's daughter Christy on Tuesday, celebrating the tenth anniversary and her realization that it still remains one of the highlights of her father's life. It is very high on my list of life's highlights too and a big reason for that is the friendship that was cemented with Gord that week.
Hang in there buddy - may all of your trails be happy.

MY FRIEND GORD

If you are regular visitor to this corner, you may know who my friend Gord is. If not, let me give you a quick version. I have known Gord for over 20 years and a few years ago we decided to backpack the West Coast Trail in order to ward off an impending mid-life crisis (neither of us could afford the Corvette or the hot young thing??). The West Coast Trail turned into a life altering experience for me and a life-affirming experience for Gord.
You can always read about that stuff in my book - there's a link on this page.
Anyway, I hope you will give a thought, and a prayer if you are so disposed, for my friend. He was diagnosed with early stage Alzheimer's a few years ago. Today, he and his wife made a visit to the doctor and from there, Gord was driven to a long term care facility, where he will now spend his days and nights.
He is still lucid most of the time but requires constant supervision and care.

Hang in there buddy.

THE LEARNING CURVE

Ah yes, the learning curve and going back to correct mistakes. It takes time to understand and become familiar with new technology and sometimes we have to go backwards in order to move ahead. I have been submitting articles to Ezine regarding how to get ready to hike the West Coast Trail and 2 have been published and 8 more are in the can. Last night I was reviewing those articles along with the recent ones and realized I had made some errors with the coding. Consequently, I pulled all of them, corrected them and resubmitted them. This accounts for the message on the Ezine widget on this page stating that there are no articles by yours truly. I'm sure they will all make it in the next few days along with 2 new ones.
It's a little like life isn't it? We proceed with a course of action, make decisions based on information at hand and then discover some new facts and occasionally get the opportunity for a "do over." I can see the sun peaking out from behind the clouds so maybe the analogy of a "mulligan" would be a better one. Anyway, you get the idea - coming soon to a screen near you - more Ezine articles for your reading pleasure.

NOW YOU KNOW..

It's been an exciting week in several ways and watching my Flames trounce Philly with the 2 new trade deadline additions in the line up, was icing on the cake last night. A couple of other things this week too, including a cheque for sales of my West Coast Trail book in the U.S. of A. which surprised me since I really haven't launched any promotion yet. On that note, I decided to submit a series of articles to Ezine, the largest online magazine and I learned this morning that they have been accepted and will start appearing next week. The topic: The West Coast Trail and how to get prepared for it. Once again, speaking of the West Coast Trail, my weight loss program seems to be working quite well and I am now down to the same weight I was when we completed the WCT. Consequently, I was forced to buy a new pair of pants last night since I was looking like some sort of food deprived refugee, from the back side anyway.
I've managed to complete and submit one of the three tax returns that I do each year - my son's and after "the girl's," will finally be able to start on my own. It seems to get more complicated every year so thank goodness for the software packages that are now available. Some of you may know that I have entered into a fairly intensive learning program regarding Internet marketing that is going well and in these uncertain economic times, continues to offer an interesting alternative source of income - there's a link to the right of this page, if you are interested. If all goes well and I can put a little extra time into it, I hope to create my own online webpage and promotion for my second book, which anyone will be able to simply download onto their own computer and print out. I know it can be done, I just need to learn how to do it, because that's the mission, rather than have someone else do it for me.
Our annual Legacy midget hockey tournament is full and begins in 3 weeks with 16 teams from all over Western Canada and Switzerland. We have in the past few years, left for Hawaii shortly after the tournament but this year, with 2 out of town weddings to attend and a fair amount of company expected here, will go to Kelowna for the wine festival instead - my diet may get challenged that week! I haven't thrown away the baggy-ass Dockers just in case...

BC Trail

tale of a BC Trail

Here we are in February and I must admit that with all of the time spent on the treadmill lately I am constantly reminded of the greatest BC Trail that I have ever experienced. It's the grand daddy of them all - the West Coast Trail - located on the western edge of Vancouver Island overlooking the Pacific Ocean. On most lists of the top 10 backpacking trips in North America, this is 7 days of heaven or hell, depending on your viewpoint and how much rain is coming down. I trained hard for that adventure and reached the bare minimum of physical prowess to successfully complete what was absolutely the experience of a lifetime. I was no backwoods backpacker before this trip but with the help and inspiration of my buddy Gord, I worked hard for about 6 months prior to the trip and then was able to absolutely revel in the sights, sounds and smells of a BC Trail that has inspired many books, including my own.

The West Coast Trail: One Step at a Time wrote itself in many ways as I relived and recounted all the training, excitement, challenge and satisfaction that a middle-aged heart could imagine. One of the keys to both experiences was the concept of middle age and wondering if I would be physically able to handle a back country hike on the rugged BC shoreline full of deep ravines, enormous trees, mud, rocks and roots. The feeling of success I experienced on this BC Trail while lugging a 55 pound backpack made everything possible, including the retelling of the tale in a book. One should not mistake this book for a trail guide but might find it more interesting as an inspiration to other men and women who have reached the age and stage in their lives when they need to test themselves.

I am often asked if I would hike this particular BC Trail again and I find it difficult to answer the question. I would love to recreate the feeling of euphoria and achievement that I felt at trail's end knowing that something very important had just transpired in my life. It was like walking through a door that opened on to a land of possibility. I have hiked and camped many a BC Trail over the years, but nothing compares to the West Coast Trail for accepting and completing a life changing challenge. Yes, I would!

MORE LESSONS FROM THE TRAIL

" it's always 5 o'clock somewhere."

There may have been a few libations involved but last Saturday night after a day of adventure, 4 of us were sitting on the deck basking in the glory of ourselves when someone suggested that my book, THE WEST COAST TRAIL: One Step at a Time would make a great movie. They waxed poetic about the thrills, spills, humour and inspiration and ever eager to receive compliments, I listened as they rambled on. One of the participants was my hiking buddy Gord, whose fame has spread after our exploits on the Trail. Since I am totally unknown to any Hollywood producers and for obvious reasons (check my picture) have no interest in testing out the "casting couch," the only thing we could turn to was speculation about the possibilities. At some point, the ladies asked who would play the two main characters in our Oscar winning spectacle and so Gord and I, ever mindful of presenting the right public image, began to offer suggestions. Clearly, the obvious choices we decided would be George Cluny to play Gord, since there was a similarity of hair-do's. The only leading man that could possibly maintain the integrity and vision and thus able to play me, was none other than.........Brad Pitt, due to the similarity in body-types.

The libations may have turned to drinks at some point........

FIVE YEARS AGO

Five years ago today started an adventure that may be the most profound event of my life to date. My friend Gord and I, after many months of preparation, started hiking the West Coast Trail, a seven day backpacking trip that is always on the top ten list of world class hikes. It's not so much that the five years since have gone so fast but rather, that so much has happened in the interval; new houses, travel, grandchildren, careers, births, deaths, marriages and miracles, health, friends, projects, cars, finding out my birth father is still alive and then the discovery of a passion for writing. This week also marks the launch of my first book, The West Coast Trail: One Step at a Time, the story of that amazing week, on Amazon.com. I also leave today for my second visit to Myrtle Beach and return to my sixtieth birthday party followed by a glider flight over the Rocky Mountains!

I can only say that I am absolutely blessed and truly grateful that I followed that hair-brained idea that was suggested in a coffee shop about attempting a backpacking trip that was far beyond my ability. Life really can change with nothing more than a thought.

MORE LESSONS FROM THE TRAIL

" always, a sense of peace and calm overtakes me"

from THE WEST COAST TRAIL: One Step at a Time

"So, Mr. Smarty-Pants hiker boy, I read your comments about finding some quiet time and about silence and darkness and early mornings, but how do you keep from falling asleep?"

Excellent question my young apprentice. This is a practiced technique and falling asleep is a very real possibility but it is also part of the process and part of the discipline. First is to decide to keep the time brief - really only five minutes to start - and then gradually allow your mind to go into a neutral place where you will need to gently set aside thoughts as they come up. No berating yourself here, we have been programmed to fill the empty spaces in our minds with thoughts and the challenge is to resist it. It will happen anyway and you will catch yourself "thinking about not thinking" and then something else will arrive and you won't even realize it but you've gone off on a trip to your "to do" list or the grocery list or someplace. This is all part of the process and part of the learning but the constant vigilance against unwanted thoughts should keep you awake for five minutes and then stop the process. Keep at it every day until you have mastered your five minutes and you will find that your mind has calmed, you feel more peaceful and more in control of your life - I promise (money back guarantee printed on reverse side of this page.)

A couple of more comments on feelings, instinct and intuition: we all have experience with this gift and can point to various times when we just "had a feeling." We know of people who have expressed this verbally and have heard stories about how someone didn't get on a plane or drive a certain roadway, etc. only to learn later about an accident. I can tell you that there are numerous times when I have slowed down for no apparent reason only to discover a radar trap a little ways ahead. By the way, that "feeling" doesn't happen all the time unfortunately, but often enough to have gotten my attention. Now I know there are a few neanderthals out there who think that this particular gift is the specific purview of women (don't worry, they don't know what that word means) and still insist that it is "women's intuition" and simply dismiss its importance. Too bad, but each of us has this ability and each of us can tap into its power. This is a physical feeling but we need to be listening for it. It's just below the surface of our thoughts and you might just discover it in the early morning, if you can stay awake.

The truth is that this gift works full time, all the time, daytime and night time whether we want it to or not and whether we recognize it or not. Once we are aware of it, we can't put the genie back in the bottle. It may be the closest connection many of us find to truth, infinite intelligence, the universe, spirit or that other character that people insist on calling God.

MORE LESSONS FROM THE TRAIL

"The magic pill...is in the moments of silence..."

from THE WEST COAST TRAIL: One Step at a Time

We left off yesterday with the idea that we need to carve out some quiet time from our hectic days. We noted that most of us are surrounded by distractions that keep interrupting our ability to get in touch with that part of our inner selves that needs to be heard. Driving with the car radio turned off doesn't do it and neither does the mute button on the channel changer although a few moments in the bathroom without a magazine article to read, holds promise. Personally, it works best for me to create a daily ritual, time and place in which I am virtually guaranteed no interruptions. About 5 AM, sitting in my reading chair, lights and all household appliances turned off and then I spend about 5 - 10 minutes trying to turn off my thinking appliance - my thought processor. This is a time of gentleness as thoughts continue to creep in but when we notice it, we make a conscious effort to let those same thoughts go. This is an excellent way to practice the process of getting in touch with ourselves and the truth that resides inside.

Now, to feelings. We have all noticed that when many thoughts come into our consciousness, they also bring an emotional response and each of us has felt that during our lives. For example, if you sit quietly and slowly cycle through the following list, perhaps you will notice, someplace in your body, a flutter or a lightness, or in some cases a heavier feeling or darkness. Go ahead and try this with the following list of words, one at a time and slowly let anything that pops up, come into your consciousness: first love, Santa Claus, theme from JAWS, smell of baby oil, sound of a siren, your mother's hug. There is a distinction here between the thought and the response and it takes most of us some time to identify this. In other words, we almost need to stop thinking immediately following the initial thought rather than continuing to let our mind create an appropriate response. It is not the desired response we are after but the automatic, in the gut, immediate feeling that we are trying to tune into. It is often nothing more than a feeling of lightness (kind of a butterfly in my stomach) response, or a heavier and darker moment and the key here is the physical reaction, NOT the one in our minds. This is the crux of using feelings as a signpost. Getting in touch with our intuitive or instinctual selves is a physical process. Keep in mind (interesting choice of words) that birds do not THINK about flying south, plants do not THINK about producing blossoms and bears do not THINK about eating more berries. They simply respond to a God given instinct that points them in the direction of their highest and best good. We have the same gift!

MORE LESSONS FROM THE TRAIL

"...feelings seem to be a lifelong pursuit..."

from THE WEST COAST TRAIL: One Step at a time

A real life conversation recently overheard in a coffee shop from a table of four men in their mid-twenties who were otherwise apparently intelligent and career oriented young professionals: "We were having this argument about something or other and in the middle of it, she asked me how I was feeling and I said, Fine. And then she got even madder. Maybe I should have said something different, like used a different word or something. Do you have any idea what I should have said?" His helpful and concerned colleague offers, "Well, I'm not sure, maybe you should have said, Good."

This is a true story, as related by a friend at a dinner party last night, whose counselling niche is teaching variously challenged young students social survival skills and was related in the context of how people communicate through text messaging and have lost the ability to interact verbally. The lesson here is our inability to actually express a feeling because we don't know what they are, let alone, how to access them. If you read my blog from yesterday (and if not, why not???) then we began a discussion of how to locate and recognize something called feelings and how they might be useful as we attempt to discern a course of action that is in our best interests. We are constantly being met with the need to make choices amid a sea of conflicting ideas, thoughts, desires and emotions and through a studied refusal to accept the existence of a power within each of us, we have evolved into self destructive beings who seek answers to inner turmoil from an outside world with a totally different agenda.

We have surrounded ourselves with noise, distractions, busyness and a visual cacophony of promises all competing for our time and attention and taking us away from looking inside ourselves and from hearing the inner voice of intuition, instinct and truth. Those are the difficulties we face in coming face to face with ourselves and where do we start, in order to access what is freely available to each of us? Where do we begin to know who we are, what we are and why we are here? What is the first step on the road to finding meaning and purpose?

Step 1: BE QUIET!

Without question, the first gift we need to give ourselves is the space to experience quiet. How in heaven's name can we hear the inner voice of wisdom amid radios, TV's, cars, kids, pets and the million and one distractions that we surround ourselves with? We can start by insisting on 5 minutes of silence every day, even if it means getting up before everyone else or going to bed later than everyone else, or finding a place in the midst of our day to pursue the pleasure and experience of solitary QUIET. In my world, this may be the single best use of those buildings we call churches and most especially if there is no one else there including a priest or minister. An oasis of quiet for us to spend a few minutes in contemplation - step 1 on the road to peace and joy. Go ahead, try it.

MORE LESSONS FROM THE TRAIL

"All ideas create some kind of ... feeling inside us..."

from THE WEST COAST TRAIL: One Step at a Time

The bird, insect and animal kingdoms were given instinct, without the intellect to question it. Lucky them! We too were given instinct, sometimes called "intuition" and because He has a bit of a dark sense of humour, or perhaps we are an experiment gone awry, He added the power to think. Thinking is supposed to place us at the top of the food chain and it has, but we have "thought" ourselves way down the food chain in terms of our ability to do what is in our own best interests. Let's look at this on a very personal level and leave the environmental, technical, political, scientific, medical stuff to another day.

Somehow, in our lack of wisdom (intelligence does not equal wisdom), humanity stopped reacting to its feelings and began to suppress them to the point where we don't even know what they are and if we do, someone is there to tell us to stop. We have successfully ignored the truth that exists inside us for so long that this unwillingness to follow our own truth has literally evolved to the point of ignorance. I use the word "ignorance" here in the sense that we "ignore" what we already know is the truth and we refuse to give voice to the most important gift that God gave us. Instinct/intuition is the most powerful force on earth as it moves millions, probably billions, of animals and birds from drought to a banquet of everything they require to survive and multiply and more. It is constant, consistent and unfailing in its power to create and recreate not just the necessities of life, but so much more abundance than its adherents will ever require to find fulfillment and happiness.

Let me drastically oversimplify how we can tap back into this gift that offers the one true road map to joy, success and happiness (or do some of us have different goals?). When we have an idea or thought, we automatically generate a "feeling" deep down inside us (some would say that this is where God dwells but you don't need to agree for this to work) and this feeling is the sign that guides our action. We need to be a little discerning here because when we were given the power to think, we started adding layers of "thought" over top of these feelings and thus, finding the truth has become much more challenging. We need to probe deeper than the thought level and find the kernel of truth hidden in the feeling that always makes itself felt physically and usually around the pit of our stomach. It may take a lot of practice to find this guidepost but each of us experiences it, each of us has it and each of us knows where to go to find it. If it's been awhile since you felt it, try looking at the things that change your emotional response and trigger a need to react. Pictures of babies, kittens and puppies, starlit night skies, smells of baking apple pies and roses in a vase, music that moves your soul or the sound of waves crashing to shore, an unanticipated hug or a cool breeze on a hot day - capture the essence of your response to these and so many more triggers, go a little deeper than the surface to discover the response in your core and we can reconnect with the gift that shows us the truth, the route and the joy of heaven on earth.

MORE LESSONS FROM THE TRAIL

"...running the 800 stairs everyday

...I hadn't felt that good in years."

from THE WEST COAST TRAIL: One Step at a Time

Years ago, I attended a course in which the facilitator talked about building new habits and how we do that. According to her, we need to do something every day for 21 days in order to lock something in as a habit. So here I am, day two of getting up at 4:45 AM and at my computer by 5 in order to start the day with a little creative writing. In order to make this a lifetime habit, I need to get up every morning ( I suppose that means weekends, too) and start the day like this. Only 19 to go. The course leader used this technique when she talked about breaking old habits as well. We need to go 21 straight days without a cigarette, or sugar, or TV, or whatever our addiction of choice is, in order to break the harmful, habitual effects of our "bad habit."

I wonder why creating good habits is so much more challenging than creating bad ones, or is that just me? Does it have something to do with attitude because on the one hand, we assume that changing or stopping an activity that we label as negative, has to be hard. Haven't we been told that all of our lives and haven't the forces of marketing supported that viewpoint. Just watch a commercial for any ot the weight loss programs and we are conditioned to assume that achieving our ideal weight is impossible on our own without the help of one of the fitness gurus or fading TV stars on display. Perhaps we set ourselves up for failure (which is in the best interests of those weight loss companies) by beginning with the idea that we can't do it. A little like going to Vegas with our anticipated losses already figured into the budget.

I'm kind of all over the place here this morning when the point I simply wanted to make is that our minds and bodies probably don't know the difference between good and bad habits but rather respond to the disciplined daily routine that we establish. So how does getting up at 4:45 AM become a "good" habit and stopping at the DQ around 2 this afternoon become a "bad" one? I don't know the answer to that, so let's tune in tomorrow for more revelations - I can't wait!

MORE LESSONS FROM THE TRAIL

Writing = Creativity + Discipline

The easy part is coming up with the ideas, the tough part for me, is putting one foot in front of the other and moving forward a little every day, in the direction of my dreams. That's why I named my first book "The West Coast Trail:One Step at a Time" since the key as I see it, is taking one step at a time on a regular basis. Back when I was preparing to hike the WCT, I had to work everyday on conditioning and strength and even then, I barely made it. Writing book number one was the same; a little every day in order to support the creative process and keep the whole project going forward. Ditto for book number two, which is now in edit.

Discipline has always been my biggest challenge. In grade school I would prefer to gaze out the window at the passing clouds and dream of riding my bike or playing baseball - almost anything but the droning voice of a teacher explaining dangling participles. In high school my mind wandered to the two-legged variety of distraction complete with plaid skirts and knee high socks that belonged to the all girls school down the street. I could go on here, but I'm sure you get the point. Now I have a new book idea and in order to get back into the process of "One Step at a Time," I'm hoping that getting up earlier and spending an hour in front of the computer before leaving for work will be the elixir I need to start putting it together. Or, winning the lottery might work too.....

CLEAN STARTS AT HOME

So it just ticks me off to see garbage lying on the sidewalks

We don't have air conditioning so that we can avoid the possibility of Legionnaire's Disease - besides, walking to the Dairy Queen for a small turtle pecan cluster Blizzard saves money, provides exercise and, it could be argued, is part of my Olympic training regimen for the seniors power tanning team. I enjoyed my chosen protein supplement ( no banned substances, I presume) and disposed of the evidence into the garbage and headed back home. The route took me past a Seven Eleven where I noticed the usual crowd of cars and kids. As I walked down the hill towards home, I took notice of the assortment and quantity of items strewn about the boulevard, sidewalk, lawns and road. Slurpee cups, plastic utensils, lids, straws, cigarette butts and packages, pop cans and various other garbage. It started me thinking (or at least the brain freeze was slowly lifting), the current crop of high schoolers and college kids take great delight in blaming my generation for the condition in which we have left the planet. They have reason to be concerned but the evidence they leave in their own wake seems to point to a double standard. Like I said at some point in my book, The West Coast Trail: One Step at a Time, we are responsible for cleaning up after ourselves and it would seem to make sense that we take care of what is around us and what we personally control first, before worrying about others. Yep, I know that I am doing exactly what I am blaming others for (but I honestly try to take care of my own backyard) and the younger generations have cause to look at people of my age with disgust for some of the damage we have created. They need to keep us focused on the environment and pollution but just because we screwed up doesn't mean you should too. Pick up your garbage or better still refuse to buy all the packaging but at the very least, have enough respect to put it in a garbage container rather than on some one's lawn. Environment means more than some remote rain forest, it means the streets and neighbourhoods we live in too.

MORE LESSONS FROM THE TRAIL

more about Choice Points

"OK, Mr. Smarty pants hiker-boy," (direct quote) "tell me more about Choice Points and what are they?" Choice Points are something that occur to each of us throughout our lives and begin at a very young age when we bear witness to something that causes us to stop and reevaluate our position and decide our course of action. The decision can be a conscious one or subconscious like the response to some tragic or threatening event in our childhood that we don't even remember anymore. The result is a change in the course or path of our lives. The point of change might result from something traumatic like abuse, violence, hunger, natural disaster, abandonment and not so commonly thought about are the results of witnessing acts of kindness, love and generosity.

Choice Points offer us the opportunity to take a different path from the one we are on now. As a child, these may have appeared to have been forced upon us but that simply isn't true. Two children can experience the same event and have two totally different reactions to it - something is at work here. As we get older, we often choose to ignore the Choice Points that are presented to us by refusing to look inside ourselves and find the spiritual guide that is trying to show us the way. The more we ignore the message, the higher the drama tends to get until we finally choose to deal with it, or not. The accidents become more serious, the illness or disease gets stronger, the financial stress keeps repeating, the careers keep ending, the dramatic episodes of our life start to spiral out of control - all in an effort to get our attention. On the West Coast Trail, I got stranded on a dangerous boulder field near Owen Point and found recurring issues about abandonement and independence rear their ugly heads in very dramatic fashion. Finally, I made the choice to trust in something beyond myself and stand on my own two feet (literally) and move in the only direction left to me - forward!

MORE LESSONS FROM THE TRAIL

"...throughout our lives, we are presented with Choice Points."

from THE WEST COAST TRAIL: One Step at a Time

We are all confronted with choices in our lives. While hiking the West Coast Trail, choices are presented constantly and some are obvious and simple like, going over, around or under a log. Some have larger consequences like whether to hike on the beach or in the woods and sometimes we make a choice between stopping for a rest or climbing the ladder to the next level. While some of these choice decisions do offer a risk to life and limb as noted in my book, most are simply decisions that don't necessarily have a right or wrong attached to them, but all have consequences.

In every day life we sometimes require Choice Points in a more dramatic fashion as we ignore the issues in our lives by filling our time with busy-ness instead of looking below the surface to explore the business of living rather than the living of business. You and I can site numerous examples of people receiving a "wake up call" in the form of a serious injury or health issue to themselves or a loved one. We can point to people who needed to lose everything in order to gain what was most precious. Perhaps we were the subject of something similar. Fortunately, we live in a time of "choice" if we choose to exercise our choices. We can CHOOSE joy, peace, abundance, health, happiness and fulfillment or we can choose illness, depression, loneliness and lack. The CHOICE is ours, the price is the same - our life.

Share your "Choice Point" with me, whether on a hiking trail or sitting in your backyard, I am interested in knowing what lessons have come your way. I will only reprint them if you give me permission to do so.

MORE LESSONS FROM THE TRAIL

"When I was young...it was more important to get to the end of the trip than enjoy the journey."

inspired by a thought from THE WEST COAST TRAIL: One Step at a Time

I've often wondered what it really means to "enjoy the journey." So many things keep pulling us this way and that as we try to balance work, home, family, finances, fitness, spirituality and the million other things competing for our time and energy. In retrospect, we kept learning the same lesson over and over every day while we were hiking the West Coast Trail. We were constantly torn between our need to get to the next campsite and the incredible views and natural beauty that stood in front of us at every moment. In truth, we didn't stop nearly often enough to enjoy what was staring us in the face. Our focus was clearly on the next place to set our foot down without falling off a slippery log, caroming off a ladder or sinking into the mud, all the while trying to maintain some artificial timetable that we had established. The Trail, like life, offered us the opportunity to experience the beauty, smells, sounds, joy and peace if only we would take our eyes off the goal and turn them to what was right in front of us, in that moment. The funny thing is, those are the real goals that most of us express anyway, we just have to slow down and experience them.

MORE LESSONS FROM THE TRAIL

"...recommended for experienced backpackers only.*"

When we hiked the West Coast Trail a few years ago, this quote was on the front page of the map sent to us by Parks Canada. Fortunately, I didn't notice it until I was home safe and sound from the adventure of a lifetime. Many things come with warning labels such as, toys, clothes, televisions, toasters, paint, sporting goods, theatre tickets, food, prescription drugs, cigarettes and booze but the important stuff doesn't have one. Things like love, children, rainbows, bird calls, flower fragrance, smiles and night skies, you know, the important stuff is all available without a lawyer warning us of its dangers. One of the tricky things about warning labels is when to heed them and when to ignore them. Risk is the only thing that truly moves us forward whether on a back country trail or through life itself.
Knowing when to take the risk and step into the abyss is an inexact science but the truth can be felt through our own intuition located deep inside the dark recesses of our mind. Funny thing, but that's where spirituality, God and wisdom are located too. Some pretty interesting dance partners roaming around inside us, aren't there?

* from a thought expressed in THE WEST COAST TRAIL: One Step at a Time

MORE LESSONS FROM THE TRAIL

"... it was just such a great way to experience something that seemed to demonstrate our own place and importance in the universe."

from The West Coast Trail: One Step at a Time

On our last night on the West Coast Trail, we realized that the bright light in the western sky was the planet Mars and that this was the closest it had come to Earth in 65,000 years. Aside from making the night noteable on a memory level and from reminding us of our stature in the universe itself, it served to give us some insight into the concept of time. We humans generally consider time in relation to our own lives as we relate to everything in our world on the basis of a human lifetime. This puts us at a distinct disadvantage when we are considering many things like environmental impacts, climate change, geological movement, evolution, the cosmos and our own place in history. The planet has been here for almost 15 billion years and so the proximity of Mars every 65,000 years is simply a drop in the bucket. When put in that light, it is remarkable how much impact humanity as a whole and individuals in particular, can have on our existence.

LESSONS FROM THE TRAIL

A few years ago I hiked the West Coast Trail located on the Pacific coast of Vancouver Island and then wrote a book about the experience. Information about the book can be found on my website from the link on the right hand side of this page. The entire experience of training, preparing and hiking along with writing about it, produced some life lessons that have stayed with me and now I have decided to share some of them in this space from time to time.

"one step at a time"

Wow, nothing could be closer to the truth. Survival, in the most basic of senses, depended on adjusting our focus to the step we were currently taking. Mud, roots and ladders were the challenges that faced us and offered impediments to progress and the only way to exist was to look no further ahead than to the step we were currently taking. Awareness of what we were doing in that precise moment, rather than thinking about the future or worrying about the past, was the only way to survive. I think this is probably a real life example of what is meant by "living in the moment."