Photo: pixabay.com
Risk
Every drive is an ascent of some description,
to reach the peak,
stand on the precipice
and risk the valley
of the every day.
©Paul Vincent Cannon
Paul, pvcann,com
Tag Archives: risk
Risk – a poem by Paul Vincent Cannon
Filed under Five Lines, Free Verse, life
Take Courage
Augusta, the town jetty, and Blackwood River rising.
Fortunately we had raincoats and we knew the rain was coming, but nonetheless, with the wind whipping the rain along, and the cold air pressing in, we felt more than a little exposed. But, because we were prepared we enjoyed the walk. The tide was very high as predicted by the Weather Bureau. There was also a lot of flow from up-river after three major rain bearing fronts have been through and local flooding was expected. You can’t tell from the photo but the timber decking of the jetty looked as if it was floating as the water was touching the underside. We haven’t seen it like that for a while.
Weather exposure can be very serious, hypothermia or sunstroke, the risks are great if you’re not prepared. Preparation means covering up, sunblock, hats, raincoats, warm clothes, appropriate footwear. So that whatever the weather we put on what is necessary to be comfortable and to protect ourselves. However, we know not to wear winter gear in summer and vice versa, and usually we’re good at that.
We’re not so good with emotional exposure. We’re trained, or we train ourselves, to overprotect, and sometimes we wear the wrong emotional gear, like using the mask of happiness to cover depression, or the mask of confidence to cover fear. Rarely do we let others in, we become invulnerable, strong, a veritable fortress. Yet the best possible way forward, the only true way to wholeness is to trust others with our inner world. Of course, it goes without saying, you don’t grab a megaphone and announce your life to the world, but there are people in our lives we can talk to, take off our masks, and be vulnerable with.
As Brene Brown has said many times, in our society vulnerablity, to be exposed, is to be seen as weak. Brown counters this with “vulnerability is our greatest measure of courage.” Brown defines vulnerability as “uncertainty, risk and emotional exposure.” It is an opening of the self to another, whereby empathy becomes the healing counterpoint or the supportive staging point, depending on what we are going through. Brown’s research is thorough, and in it she discovered that every courageous act was underpinned by vulnerability. That tells me that we can only really flourish when we are able to speak our truth and take off our masks and be real with others, then we are whole and not just pieces or segments. The fortress life may serve us well but to really floursih we need to let the drawbridge down from time to time, otherwise we not only defend ourselves against the outsider, we imprison ourselves from the world. I’d rather be open than be a captive! Take courage.
cherry tree winter bare cold has stunted many new buds the wild branch has fruit ©Paul Cannon
Paul,
pvcann.com
Filed under Haiku, life, mindfulness, nature, psychology, quote, self-development
Ramble On
I’ve travelled and rambled a little, but I would say as Bilbo said to Frodo (and later Frodo recalls it) “It’s a dangerous business, Frodo, going out your door. You step onto the road, and if you don’t keep your feet, there’s no knowing where you might be swept off to.” J.R.R. Tolkien (Fellowship of the Ring)
But unless you go out that door there will be no adventure. One doesn’t need to ramble far for adventure, there’s enough going on in every local community to constitute an adventure of sorts. Adventure isn’t always about excitement or danger, it can be enterprise, chance, venture, to take a risk.
For some the risk is maybe even just going out the door, or, having to talk to people, taking the time, travelling even a short distance, being out of your comfort zone, going into new experiences … but to think, there may be conversations, sights, colours, wildlife, history, events, or the beauty of solitude in nature, whatever the outcome, there’s always an experience to be had. It may not be earth shattering or exciting, but yet it may well be profound. And, does it matter where you’re swept off to? Predictability and over thinking are kindred spirits to ruts. A true adventure has to have surprise and spontaneity somewhere in it, and you can’t plan that.
But isn’t that life? Life is an adventure (that’s my experience), life is an invitation to ramble on, you can’t nail the whole of your life down, you can’t control every day of every year. We need to open the doors of our hearts and minds, even to just leave the window of opportunity open to entice us. Strangely enough, all the ifs and buts become a faint memory once you’re out the door.
The tales of the “Hobbit” and “The Lord of the Rings” are all about rambling, adventuring gallivanting, but also a tale about life itself, as most fiction is. The band Led Zeppelin were steeped in Tolkien. If you peruse their lyrics there are phrases from Tolkien all over their original works. But the emphasis is always metaphysical, always rambling, always love and adventure, hence the song “Ramble On” on their 1969 album Led Zeppelin 2. Below is a sound track of that song where the accoustic guitars have been separated out – so no heavy guitar on this one, and the lyrics come to the fore (simple as they are).
Ramble on!
Paul,
pvcann.com
Filed under bush walking, community, life, Literature, mindfulness, music, quote
3 Day Quote Challenge – Day 2
Author Erica Jong is especially quotable, she has continually reflected on the human condition. I particularly love this one, and, though not always fearless, I’ve tried to apply this as my maxim:
“If you don’t risk anything you risk even more.”
It speaks to fear and anxiety, control and any dose of the “What Ifs.” I gaev someone a fridge magnet once that said: “The tomorrow you worried about is the today that you survived.” In that spirit Jong is urging us to engage with life and not let it cow us, besides, what have you got to lose?
Thanks again for the nomination by Soul Write Empire
Rules:
Thank the nominating blogger.
Post three quotes (one per day)
Nominate three bloggers each day.
My nominations are:
Paul,
pvcann.com
Filed under life, mindfulness, self-development
Incubate The Idea And Let It Fly
A nest we found in the garden. The incubation over, the eggs all hatched, the fledglings all flown, the nest redundant.
Incubation is that long period of waiting after the eggs have been laid. The mother’s body heat progressing the maturation of the chicks, then feeding the young till ready to fly and gain their own independence.
The end of incubation is hatching. But incubation is only an entree, a door to life, the nest merely a stageing-post that must be departed. There must be a letting go or incubation is wasted, at best stalled.
The same goes for us, we can stay in the procrastination nest too long if we’re not careful, ideas, opportunities, processes, designs, must at some point be accepted and engaged. The procrastination nest can be enticing, it’s warm and comfortable, safe, a place to glory in the thoughts and plans that might be, just some more refining? But at some point we must let go and let the idea fly, test its wings, and make its mark. I wonder what its like for a chick to take that first leap into the void, for us it might be fear, nausea, discomfort, anxiety. For some it might well be positive, exhilarating, but if it’s not, then we resist and risk missing the moment. You might crash a few times but that’s better than curling up and wasting the idea. Don’t fear the risk, take the leap, your idea is worth that much, so let it fly.
Paul,
pvcann.com
Tend
In the world around me the feedback loop is consistent: “I’m stressed, I’m frazzled, I’m bogged down in work, I can’t see a way through, I’m worried.” Anxiety, according to a multiplicity of studies across the western nations, is on the rise, and across age groups. I have friends who are afraid to take time off work for legitimate reasons lest they lose their job (which is unlikely), while other friends are reluctant to address work issues – they don’t want to rock the boat, they don’t want to risk their reputation, they don’t even stand up for themselves let alone other people. It’s almost like we’ve become servile, frightened people. In looking at it from a different perspective, people are overloaded and weighed down by work, responsibilities, and relationship difficulties.
Perhaps I sound simplistic, but my concern is that we don’t tend ourselves enough! Or, perhaps more accurately, we don’t tend to ourselves appropriately. We read about mindfulness, contemplative lifestyles, minimal living, self-care, but when do we actually put it into practice? My concern is that mindfulness is currently the most written about topic and yet is the least practiced way. Sure, we might go to yoga now and again, take the odd walk, meditate periodically, take the occasional break, but we are inconsistent, and lacking commitment to go the distance (which in fact equates to lack of commitment to self). And we suffer for it, we live in an imbalance.
Without mindfulness we are more vulnerable to the ills we read about, depression, anxiety, lack of self-worth and so on. Mindfulness is not a cure all, but if approached and lived in conjunction with healthy living and a balanced diet, then it is going to make a positive contribution to our overall health. Which is a reminder that there is no one way or silver bullet solution, we need a balanced life to survive.
Tending self is about taking breaks, going on holidays, exercising, spending quality time with family and friends, meditating, reflecting, and just getting down to being. Tending self is not about a singualr focus on the self, it is really a focus on relationships (which means a relationship with nature too) and health. Is it selfish to tend to self – well yes, but in a positive way. The word selfish has had some really bad press over the years, but to be selfish is to really look after oneself, not to exclusively self-indulge, but to care for oneself as one has need. If we are to flourish we need to nurture ourselves. Sometimes I think we need to be a little more selfish and tend to self, only then can we tend to others and the world.
A Senryu
Toast while driving narrowly missing the turn late for mindfulness ©Paul
pvcann.com
Filed under community, life, meditation, mindfulness, nature, Senryu, Spirituality
Risky
Some people worry about Dingoes, and feel it is too risky to be around them. This one came to us at Kathleen Springs. They’re bigger than a Kelpie or a Border Collie, but not by much. Definitely doesn’t have the power jaw of an Alsatian or a Doberman, and tends to saunter rather than run. This was no different to the other Dingoes we encountered. Small, lean, wary, timid but not frightened (too used to human presence nowadays), not aggressive in any way. Certainly not a risk.
Paul,
pvcann.com
Filed under bush walking, Country, nature
Cloaked by Smoke
Last year we were on the road, the Boyup – Frankland road, and we were cloaked in smoke. There was a bush fire burning about 60 kms away, a big one, and the smoke had been pushed by wind across several shires. This section of road is straight and normally you’d see well into the distance, but on this day we had about 80 mtrs vision, and we couldn’t travel at the normal 110 kms either, we were down to 90 at best. No visibility and the possibility of wildlife on the road was too great a risk, so slowly, slowly, till we got through. Even darkness is a better cloak, because the headlights work really well in darkness, but not in smoke, no light penetration at all. When you’re cloaked in smoke, it’s actually worse than darkness.
Paul,
pvcann.com
