Welcome to the AppalachianTrailCafe.net!
Take a moment and register and then join the conversation
Take a moment and register and then join the conversation
Inspiration
This site uses cookies. By continuing to browse this site, you are agreeing to our Cookie Policy.
-
-
-
-
-
Inspiration comes from past hikes & wanting to see more.
-
-
That looks like the west side of Huguenot looking south in Acadia. Perspective is everything. That stretch is very mild. You have to almost lay down to get that shot to look like that. I could be wrong. But I think I have taken a picture just like that. Beautiful, rewarding views for very little effort. Acadia is full of such shots.Non hikers are about a psi shy of a legal ball.
-
-
-
-
Always disliked the question "Why are you hiking the AT?" Like I should have some high ideal or lofty spiritual goal. Clearly the sage who coined the phrase "It's just walking" was a student of Alan Watts ...-
L.Dog
AT 2000 Mile LASHer '12-'15 -
-
-
-
-
www.appalachiantrailclarity.com - Life on the A.T.
Sometimes you find yourself in the middle of nowhere, and sometimes in the middle of nowhere, you find yourself. -
LDog wrote:
Sh*t! I don't carry a machete. I guess I've been doing it wrong.
Probably a pile of them by now at the Hawk Mountain Shelter."Dazed and Confused"
Recycle, re-use, re-purpose
Plant a tree
Take a kid hiking
Make a difference -
-
This one never gets old.www.appalachiantrailclarity.com - Life on the A.T.
Sometimes you find yourself in the middle of nowhere, and sometimes in the middle of nowhere, you find yourself. -
LDog wrote:
Sh*t! I don't carry a machete. I guess I've been doing it wrong.
I've got one that I use when we do our AT boundary monitoring.
There are a couple of areas where the thickets and brush are so heavy that a machete is the quickest way to make our way through it. -
F-it #5 has been my MO for 30+ years now.If your Doctor is a tree, you're on acid. -
-
#3 and #6Lost in the right direction.
-
-
-
-
But that still means that I let it rain.
It's not like I stay out in it with some forlorn hope that it will change because I asked some mythical entity to make it stop.
I rolled the dice and decided town was a better option.
Resident Australian, proving being a grumpy old man is not just an American trait. -
OzJacko wrote:
But that still means that I let it rain.
It's not like I stay out in it with some forlorn hope that it will change because I asked some mythical entity to make it stop.
I rolled the dice and decided town was a better option.
The rain always stops at some point.
Most of the time just long enough for you to take your rain jacket off, then it starts again.Sometimes you will never know the value of a moment until it becomes a memory.
Dr. Seuss -
-
I hear there is good hiking in Spain if you avoid the plains. "The rain in Spain falls mainly on the plain."I am human and I need to be loved - just like everybody else does
-
WanderingStovie wrote:
I hear there is good hiking in Spain if you avoid the plains. "The rain in Spain falls mainly on the plain."
I can tell you with some authority that the rain in Spain falls mainly on Galicia. (That's the bit in the Northwest corner.....
Resident Australian, proving being a grumpy old man is not just an American trait. -
-
-
-
7 Ways to Start Being Healthier Right Now
Gary Z McGee
“True wealth is the ability to fully experience life.” –Henry David Thoreau
In an otherwise unhealthy world it behooves us to become healthier
people. Why? Because it compels the unhealthy world to balance itself
and become healthier despite itself. But also because we humans are the
reason the world is unhealthy to begin with.
We’re the problem. But we can just as easily choose to be the solution
by becoming healthier people. Here are seven ways we can start being
part of the solution instead of part of the problem.
1.) Be more proactive about your problems
“The only way that we can live, is if we grow. The only way that we can
grow is if we change. The only way that we can change is if we learn.
The only way we can learn is if we are exposed. And the only way that we
can become exposed is if we throw ourselves out into the open. Do it.
Throw yourself.” –C. JoyBell C.
We all have problems. Some are worse than others. And some problems
can’t be controlled. But usually the problems in our life stems from the
simple fact that we are living an unhealthy lifestyle. If this is the
case, start facing your problems head on. Take full accountability of
your life, and the course it is taking.
Focus more on what you can control, like having a healthy disposition
toward life, and let go of the things you cannot. Whether your problems
are physical and you need more exercise, or your problems are spiritual
and you need to get out into nature more, make it a point to discover
the basic underlying factors of why problems occur in your life, and
then be proactive about transforming or reconditioning those factors
into a solid foundation so that you can begin to cultivate a healthier
lifestyle. 4
2.) Be brutally honest with yourself
“There are so many things I would rather be than good. I would rather be
engaged. I would rather be humble. I would rather be genuinely
provocative. I would rather be present.
I would rather be interdependent. I would rather be challenged. I would
rather be wise. I would rather be real. It will never be enough. It will
always be worth the discomfort.” –Courtney E. Martin
Be engaged with who you are right now. Be fully present with what it
means to be you in this moment. Feel what you like about yourself. Feel
what you dislike about yourself. Feel in what ways your mind, body and
soul are healthy. Feel in what ways your mind, body and soul are not
healthy.
Be brutally honest with the things you feel you need to change, and then
use that honesty as a starting line to dash into a new and improved
life. Don’t wait for other runners to show up, they may not. Don’t wait
for a referee to sound the gun to start the race, sound your own gun.
Authentically provoke yourself. Be fully involved with what makes you
tick in both negative and positive ways, and then make the best of that
information in order to be a healthier person right now.
3.) Be more kind to yourself
“It is beautiful to feel in a body built for feeling, and exist
intensely on a planet exuding intensity.” –Victoria Erickson
Dontletyoumindbullyyourbody
We have a mind, body and soul built for feeling. So do we busy it with
feelings of anger, hate, sadness, jealousy, and negativity? Or do we
busy it with feelings of love, kindness, happiness, compersion, and
positivity? We have a choice. We can either be a victim of the world, or
we can be the world. What we feel is more important than why or how we
feel it. It’s a matter of disposition.
If the world is giving us a reason to be angry, hateful, sad, and
negative then we should recognize that’s the case, embrace those
emotions, and then promptly and responsibly, transform them into more
positive emotions. Not because we wish to deceive ourselves, but because
we wish to become healthier people.
Being kind to oneself is more than just positive affirmations. It’s
about being a mindful, proactive agent of change for the better, a
catalyst for healthy change. Even if you have no “reason” to be kind to
yourself, you should still be kind to yourself; otherwise you’ll forever
be stuck as a victim of the world.
4.) Make your own happiness a priority
“The purpose of life is not to be happy. It is to be useful, to be
honorable, to be compassionate, and to have it make some difference that
you have lived and lived well.” –Ralph Waldo Emerson o2_mask
The above quote seems to contradict the premise, but I argue that it
actually reinforces it. Emerson is correct– the purpose of life is not
to be happy. It’s everything else he said. But it just so happens that
everything else he said IS what makes us happy. That’s the beauty of it.
A direct side-effect of becoming useful is that we become happy.
The more honorable our intentions are, the happier we will be with the
result. The more compassionate we are, the happier we will become in
regard to others. Really making a difference in the world brings about
deep happiness. Living well, that is living healthy, is a profound
source of happiness.
So no, the purpose of life is not to be happy. The purpose of life is to
do things in a healthy way so that we give ourselves a chance to be
happy. Put the proverbial oxygen mask on yourself first. The oxygen mask
is a metaphor for health. Making your own happiness a priority is first
making your own health a priority. It’s circular. One feeds the other.
And it will be a sacred cycle that will continue to feed your soul.
5.) Learn from your mistakes
“I have not failed. I’ve just found 10000 ways that won’t work.” –Thomas
Edison
Look for the silver lining in tough situations. Mistakes, if we can
learn from them, can be stepping stones that lead up to a healthier
version of ourselves. Remember to accept things when they are less than
perfect; because, really, they will always be less than perfect. And
that’s okay.
It has to be okay if we are ever going to achieve something truly
worthwhile. If you’re not making mistakes from time to time, then you’re
not trying hard enough and you’re not taking enough risks. Push
yourself. Fail and fail often. Take calculative risks. Gamble
conscientiously. Don’t be afraid of losing a battle; just be afraid of
losing the war.
The only way you can lose the war is to refuse to learn from your
battles, especially your failed battles. So get back up on that horse,
little soldier. Appreciate that you are growing and improving more in
your defeats than in your victories. Learning from your mistakes will
help you to consistently become a healthier version of yourself.
6.) Appreciate what you have
“Love is not about possession. Love is about appreciation.” –Osho
It’s easy for us to lose sight of what we already have.
After all, we’ve already achieved it and we’re now focused on the next
goal. We’re ready for the next step, the next rank, the next pay jump,
the next bigger and better house or car. We want want want to achieve
something more more more than what we already have.
It’s all a part of being a hamster on the hamster wheel that is the
modern day rat race. The stress can be a crippling thing: mind, body and
soul. Before you know it, you’ve worked your entire life toward
something “more” without ever taking the time to appreciate what you
have. But life is not about possessions.53093-Appreciate-What-You-Have
Life is about being possessed by the love of life itself. It’s about
appreciating what we have, who we are, where we’re at, how we got here,
why we’re here, and what we’re going to do about it in this moment,
right now, so that we can become healthier people.
Not healthier because we accumulate possessions or titles or pay raises,
but healthier because we accumulate more and more loving appreciation
for the process of being a human being going through changes in an
ever-changing world. So appreciate what you have, especially your
health. Take a deep breath and learn to enjoy what you’ve already
achieved so that you can be in a healthier place to achieve even more.
7.) Forgive yourself
lets-make-better-mistakes-tomorrow1 “The first step toward success is
taken when you refuse to be a captive of the environment in which you
first find yourself.” –Mark Caine
We were all of us born into a conditioned state. Our modern
civilizations have raised us to believe and to behave in ways that are
not conducive to healthy living. As such, we have been conditioned to
behave in unhealthy ways towards each other. But there comes a point in
our growth when we become mature enough to realize that we were innocent
victims of an unhealthy culture. Forgiveness is the remedy.
It’s the medicine we can use to wash away the soul-crippling guilt
attached to our past behaviors. This doesn’t mean we forget or choose
not to learn from our mistakes, not at all. It means we are releasing
ourselves from the bondage of guilt so that we can free ourselves to be
worthy of health.
Forgiveness is a way of letting go of the world needing us to be a
certain way (unhealthy), so that we can move toward being in the world
in a more authentic way (healthy). Indeed, it provides a platform for
the reinvention of love. When we forgive ourselves, we forgive the
world. And such forgiveness has the potential to change the world for
the better.its all good -
-
-
The road to glory cannot be followed with much baggage.
Richard Ewell, CSA General -
-
I loved it, Hiker Boy.www.appalachiantrailclarity.com - Life on the A.T.
Sometimes you find yourself in the middle of nowhere, and sometimes in the middle of nowhere, you find yourself.
-
Share
- Facebook 0
- Twitter 0
- Google Plus 0
- Reddit 0