Old Man Look at My Life

"It doesn't matter how many times you walk that hill, it never gets any flatter." That was the comment from a neighbor as I passed by one day. Whatever happened to small talk about the weather or sports when someone you live near but don't know passes by? Change has been my companion these past few months. Maybe it's been yours too?

Change is like music and much else in life, the destination is the journey. Really hard for our culture to process this. I am definitely in the birth channel heading for something new. Wild, surreal life experiences have been my clue. I've had several mashup moments packed all at once with great recognition and great fear (like being eaten alive almost to the point of speechlessness during an interview for a job I would never believe I was even close to qualified to do, for example).

Watch for these kinds of feelings and events! You may be going through deep change too. The darkness of these experiences can blot out the light of revelation that's coming in like a lightning bolt. Sounds religious but it isn't. Mystical maybe, but that's just me.

Many people have told me I am lucky to be able to objectively stand back on my life and realize that this is happening to me. This lovely duet by an entertainer I am coming to love for his immense (and musical) talent(s!) helps conceptualize a "hindsight mindset." Love you Jimmy Fallon!



I have a feeling that I am not alone with all this change, so here is a collection of things that have helped me that may help others reading:

An  interesting perspective about "the cake" of life written by Spotify Product Designer, Tobias van Schneider. It's another form of the story I read to my daughter, Who Moved My Cheese. It is hard to fight this as we get older. We are less likely to take risks, explore and imagine. Not because we are tired but simply because we have fear. Misery is company and familiar. Sadly for some, it's also identity. Risk is a blank slate, an unknown. It leaves the work of creating to the risk taker.



What does it look like back there? You know, in your past. Have you taken a risk to peer backward lately? Create your own path by looking to your past and finding the jewels. In doing so you will find your future "pasth (path+past)."

In 2008, I discovered Tuttifoodie.com and reached out to author and foodie, Lisa Schiffman. Tuttifoodie was kind enough to sponsor my philanthropic twist on Sugar High Friday-the Pies that Evoke Dreams Project.

Lisa has a great message about following your path here that she shared earlier this year for Creative Mornings Oakland. She talks about chance and how it led to publishing her book, Generation J, as well as the launch of the Scharffenberger Chocolate Adventure Contest.




Change feels a lot like wandering. I love the Tolkien poem that begins "Not all who wander are lost" But I would add to it:


Map house/structures by Laura Van Duren. Work was on display at The Flight Deck, Oakland in January 2015.