A Black Bear Attack, A Beautiful Sunrise, How to Effectively Reduce Stress

“The mystery of life isn’t a problem to solve, but a reality to experience.”
— Frank Herbert

Good morning, we arrived yesterday about noon back to our mountain top chalet.  We unpacked our car; Parker Van Halen got situated in her new digs finding her chosen piece of wood.  She will gnaw on said wood for a week before it becomes a much smaller version of its former self.

We headed down the hill, got a couple of items for the house, picked up some wine, stopped by to get a bite to eat at Brooks Place Tavern.  Cat and n served us; Bronwyn had a mark on her left eye.  My wife asked what happened, and she said, ‘you didn’t hear?”  My Queen explained we just pulled in after an 18-hour drive, and we were catching up on the news.

I’ll share first that Bronwyn and her husband live in a remodeled school bus.  They currently live in Pine but are moving to Denver due to the scratch on her face.  So what caused the scratch?  They were in New Mexico on single-wheeled vehicles, think skateboard but with a large wheel in the middle.  They were riding at night, had on helmets, and had stopped to check their route.  All of a sudden, Bronwyn is hit by a black bear and shoved to the ground.  She said it sounded like a car crash.  The bear struck her and ran away. They are moving their bus to Denver, where there are no bears.

We got home, and Bay came over.  She had been using the house for her family this past week; she had the place packed, it was in great shape, all the laundry was done thanks to another visitor this past week.  Lynn was in town on some business and stayed at the house in exchange for being our laundry lady. We arrived at a clean and organized home.  I brought about 100 of our favorite albums this trip; we listened to vinyl most of last night.  Bay and I played cards while my wife cooked.  It should be noted Bay kicked my ass; a new game will start today; she’s become a pretty good foe.  Well played, young lady, well played.

We watched some silly show last night before retiring.  We will get up and have a little breakfast before heading to one of our favorite trails for a hike with the pup. I suspect we will land at the Sit and Bull for a late lunch and watch some live music; it’s nice to be back in our mountain community. I love our Indiana home, family, and friends, but my heart feels a little fuller when in the mountains. Who knew a cornfield kid could love the altitude?

I got a call as we were packing up our Air B and B yesterday; my friend Dave called and shared he had just finished a 6-week program using the Positive Intelligence program I’ve referenced the last three and now four days of my soup.  He has a coach that he used; I’ll connect with Connie tomorrow and sign up to take a deep dive into this curriculum.  I can use this in my coaching practice adding another six-hour program for those completing my first six-hour offering.  It’s life-changing information; I suggest you buy the book.

Why?  For example, I woke up and began thinking about all the things I had to do this week.  The meetings, the work, the appointments, and I started feeling stress.  The book explains that you control your mind; you can turn any event into a gift and opportunity.  As I began reframing the tasks into opportunities, my stress level dissipated.  I got up, made coffee, watched the sunrise, and had a genuine appreciation for life.  I snapped a photo of the morning; I’ll share it on Substack; that’s the new platform I’m using to share my work. It allows folks to sign up and get my soup, I still share on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter, but I’ll use this platform from now on.

The last couple of days, I’ve been reading Oh the Places You’ll go to my granddaughter.  Usually, I have a guitar, but since the guitar was packed away, I just did simple readings and gave my input as to what the good doctor is trying to say.  She’s about 18 months old, she won’t begin to understand what I’m doing for another year or so, but she will have a long-form video to watch Grandson share a great story.  I’m ten recordings deep, and I think I have another 20 to go; it’s fun, a daily one-minute exercise of love.

Our Indianapolis home is now being offered to individuals and corporations with a minimum stay of 3 nights.  We hired a third party to manage the booking, maintenance, and cleaning of our home.  We will make some money on our asset that sits when we are not there.  We will block time for us when home and be guests in our own home.  The revenue will help pay off the house; we have a little debt, time to get that off our balance sheet.

My friends Deb and Jerry got me a sign for my birthday, it say’s “Be Groovy or Leave, Man.”  I think that is my new mantra; I’ll take it to in-person meetings and display it proudly when doing virtual meetings.  It’s a simple sign to remind folks not to be an asshole.   My wife is up; we had one coffee filter left, our guests must have made a lot of coffee, there is a large sign on a paper plate written by moi, that states “Coffee Filters!” to remind me to pick some up today, a Monday morning without coffee would not be an excellent start to the week.  I love my coffee.

That’s enough for today; I’m looking forward to our hike; I’ll start setting up group hikes now that the weather is cooperating.  We will also have thought leader meetings at our home with ten to twelve other couples discussing solutions to the problems in our society.  I believe that any issue can be solved with bright, accomplished, and motivated people group thinking, cracking, and then taking action.  Cheers, I’ll see you tomorrow.

“The mystery of life isn’t a problem to solve, but a reality to experience.”
— Frank Herbert