Adventuring

Hey there,

Adventuring is life enhancing!

I've just recently returned from an incredible month of snow adventure travels in the USA, and thought I'd share with you how life enhancing adventuring can be and encourage you to do more adventuring in your own life.

I feel so refreshed and alive! So filled with a renewed sense of how magical our world truly is, how wonderful it is to meet new people, see new places and deeply connect with nature.

We started our adventures with a couple of weeks snowboarding and skiing in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. What an amazing place it is! Incredible snow and incredibly friendly people. Fresh powder falling from the sky most nights. Blue sky days. Stunning views of the Tetons. It was so much fun that you'd wonder if it's legal :-) I have to say, as I've said before in this blog... snowplay is incredibly life enhancing! If you love the snow, then make sure you get out and play in the fluffy white slippery stuff this year. And if you haven't ever availed yourself of the magic, then let me say, you really owe it to yourself to give it a go. Snow creates a fresh palette of beauty to explore, play and adventure in. It opens up new ways to move through gravity. It facilitates immediate flow state. Meditation in motion. Fun! Exhilaration! Incredible!

We followed this up, with 10 days in Togwotee, Wyoming. An amazing place, where back country snow-mobiling is king! Here we enjoyed sled trips out to Yellowstone's Old Faithful and Grand Canyon regions. Such a stunning contrast of volcanic activity, steaming guysers and the pristine beauty of ice and snow.
 

Snow-mobiling is an incredible way to explore the wilds. The power is awesome! Snowmobiles really are Life Enhancing Devices! And going backcountry on 160HP freedom machines is a whole 'nother way to mix adrenalin with passion and scenic beauty. I was in petro-sexual heaven :-D

We also went dog-sledding. Gliding along the trails in sleds pulled by 12 trusty and ever-willing hounds. What a hoot! It's also a wonderful way to explore the back-country. And boy do those doggies love to run! They are ever so eager and wag their tails the whole way there and back. Hearts of gold and boundless energy. After a day of dog-sledding I felt uplifted and inspired by both the experience and the role-models set by our team of dogs. They know how to make exercise fun and how to pull together to achieve. Wonderful.

Finally we hopped across from Wyoming to Minnesota for 10 days of snow adventures with our good friend Thomas 'Sully' Sullivan. Sully is an amazing person. So full of life and passion for making the most of every single day. He is a writer with some 80 published novels and short stories and his work broadly ranges from the excellent and Pulitzer nominated literary satire THE PHASES OF HARRY MOON through to sci-fi and thrillers, including his latest paperback release THE WATER WOLF (free chapter on his web page). If you haven't already, check out my blog posts on some of Sully's takes on life enhancing: Inspiring your Soul and Freedom is life enhancing.

Sully invited us over to the States to stay with him and go x-country skiing under the stars in the back trails around Elm Creek and Crow Hassan. He was the impetus and seed crystal for our snow-adventure holiday. An incredibly generous and gracious host, he took us out snow-shoeing and x-country skiing in all his favorite places, where we got to appreciate his fine culinary treats (raisin bread peanut butter and jelly sandwiches with melted coffee blast ice cream...) and all the fractals you could ever desire in the starkly contrasted decidous trees silhoutted by the moon or sun, depending on the time of day we were out adventuring.

Along the way we got to do an ice fishing adventure, and serendipitously connected with some of the wonderful people we met on our travels.

Adventure is life enhancing!

Yes, adventuring is truly life enhancing! New things, new people, new places. It connects you with a deeper sense of self. Connects you with the world. Opens your horizons. Suffuses your life with freshness, passion, adrenalin and energy. Adventuring makes you feel alive in ways that normal day to day life just can't provide.

So here's my gift to you... a question...

What adventures can you bring to your life now? What adventuring could you do tonight? this weekend? this month? Soon. Now!!!!

Adventures don't have to be huge or involve overseas travel. They can be as simple as a walk in the park at sunset. Or a ride on your bike along a new pathway you haven't yet explored. A visit to a beach or forest you haven't been to in a while. Getting out with some friends to a new restaurant. Going away for the weekend. Anything that you find fun, different and inspiring. And even better if it involves being out in the natural world.

As Sully reminds us "The cues to magic are all around you... The magic is in the effort".

So make the effort and go adventuring. It's truly wonderfully life enhancing!

smiles and cheers,

Grant

Life Enhancing Devices

Ok, thought it was time I listed out my favourite LEDs (Life Enhancing Devices) and why I think they're so good. Some of them I've already specifically blogged about. Some of them I'll blog about in detail in coming entries.

As you read the list, think about the devices in your life that really add value to it and to you. What are they? How do they enhance and augment your life?

Read the list I've shared here and then please leave a comment about what's on your list. What are the most Life Enhancing Devices you own and wouldn't be without? What would you recommend?


Mind Machine - Brainwave Entrainment Device

Number one on my list. This is the most Life Enhancing Device I own. It's fantastic. At the touch of a button you get transported into the selected mind state, drifting off and returning at the programmed time. It's relaxing and revitalising. It feels wonderful. I LOVE it!!! (Read more about it here)

emWave Heartmath Biofeedback Device (and other similar biofeedback devices)

A great LED for controlling your autonomic nervous system and getting in touch with your heart-brain. This technology allows you to access deep meditative states and relax your whole mind/body. I highly highly recommend biofeedback devices such as the emWave.

Sound machine & Delightful Wakeup Device

Ahhhhh, the peaceful sound of the surf, a waterfall, or even the delightful tones of rain on the roof, all at the touch of a button. Such a great way to sleep and to overcome the inevitable ambient noises of living amongst other humans. Combine that with a clock that allows you to wake up to your own choice of CD or MP3 or Nature Sound and you have a wonderful way to start your day, peacefully refreshed and delightfully awoken. I mean, who the hell likes to be alarmed by the rauckus sound of an alarm clock or some radio announcer telling you the terrible news of the day...

Motorbikes

Yay! Petrol-sexual devices. I love them! Motorbikes, sportscars... LED's that allow you to move through space, go places and are optimised for fun, acceleration, control and connecting and enhancing yourself through velocity, movement and space.


Kayaks

Watercraft such as kayaks and canoes are such wonderful LEDs for gliding across the liquid medium, enjoying meditative experiences, while getting great exercise and seeing places that are not accessible otherwise. I can't recommend kayaking as a life enhancing sport too highly. Give it a go. You'll likely enjoy it immensely.


Computer/Internet

Yup, if computers and the web aren't life enhancing, then I don't know what is :-) They have opened out, expanded and automated our lives in ways that were almost unimaginable 50 years ago. We can now connect around the world, cheaply and interactively. The web is like a giant brain, filled with information and knowledge that you can google in a second. Whether its buying stuff you would never have been able to source previously, connecting with people of similar interests that you would never have been able to find previously or finding answers, advice or information that you would never have found before the web, the internetworked mesh of computers and minds is the most incredible Life Enhancing Device we have. My advice is to keep riding the wave of accelerating change and stay up to date with your web technology. Lead the change and reap the benefits.


TENS

Transcutaneous Electrical Nerve Stimulation - a great technology that can be used to gate off and control pain and help relax and induce healing. These inexpensive devices are life saving if you ever get a pinched nerve or pulled/strained muscle. I would never be without one in my medicine cabinet. They really work!

MP3 Player

Wow! The ability to take my whole music collection anywhere I go - to listen to anything I want, whenever I want. Small, light, inexpensive and portable. I can listen to music, personal development talks, academic lectures and historical recordings of famous people. Do I need to say more? The MP3 player is truly a Life Enhancing Device.


Massage Chair

Gotta love a leather reclining swivel chair that has multiple levels and modes of massage. Sit back, set the program and for the next 20 minutes be massaged and relaxed. It's heaven! Combine this with the Mind Machine, and you are transported to another world!


Snowplay Equipment

Snow is the most magical material. It transforms the world into a fairyland. And the ability to ski or board on it... to glide down slopes, x-country through trees and forests. To camp in it. Play in it. It's one of the most wonderful and life enhancing experiences I can think of. If you've never learned to ski or snowboard, do yourself a life enhancing favour, and do it. Book in for a snowplay holiday, take lessons and enjoy the ride of your life!


Musical Instruments

The ability to make music is wonderful. To lose yourself in the sound and the auditory-kinesthetic experience. Combined with modern digital technology and given how inexpensive musical devices and instruments have become, you'd have to be crazy not to add some to your life and learn how to use them. Whether its a traditional acoustic guitar or an electronic drum machine, it's a wonderful life enhancing and expanding experience to be able to create music and melody in your life.


Wilderness Hiking Equipment

I love being out in nature, in the wild. Just me, the equipment I'm carrying on my back and wilderness. I love the immediacey of it. I love how you have to respect it and move intelligently through and with it. Nature can kill you if you don't pay attention. There's no abstractions here. No buffering. It makes me feel so alive and refreshed. And wilderness hiking equipment LED's allow me to control the risk of the experience and to move safely and comfortably through the environment.


Home Theatre

Amazing. A theatre in the comfort of your own home. The BIG screen and surround sound, with Active Sub-Woofer experience, anytime you feel like inserting a DVD and hitting the remote control buttons. Gotta love that! No hopping in the car and driving to a Cinema. No lines. No noisy, feet on the back of your seat, rustling of pop-corn distractions. No waiting for the movie to start. Get yourself a couple of Gold-class leather recliners, a home theatre system with a roll down screen and digital projector. Damn inexpensive these days. And you're in movie heaven. Now that is Life Enhancing! :-)


Breadmaker Machine and Coffee Machine

You wake up to the mouth-watering aroma of fresh baked bread and freshly brewed coffee. All automated and programmed the night before. I mean, can the day start any better than that? Yep, I think I have to add these to the list of totally Life Enhancing Devices.


Spa and Sauna

Lay back in the warm bubbly water. Relax. Let the jets and bubbles soothe those cares away. A home spa and sauna has got to go on the list of LEDs. These days they are quite affordable and definitely worth the investment in pampering yourself and delighting your senses.


Digital Cameras

How cool is it to be able to take photos and videos of pretty much any aspect of life you want! And so damn cheaply. Then to be able to display them immediately. To back them up. Print them out on your own printer. Display them on your home theatre. Or, (and here's another LED) display them on a LCD Picture Frame. I loooooove digital cameras. They've allowed me to capture images of so many of my adventures and life experiences that I would otherwise never have been able to afford to capture in the days of analogue/film cameras.

These days I've got underwater POV digital cameras, that strap on my helmets and can record full audio visual capture of my kayaking, snow boarding and motor bike riding adventures. I've got a watch that's a digital camera. A dental digital camera for looking at and recording my teeth with 40x zoom (go figure, it was so damn cheap I figured I may as well have one, so I can look at what's going on in there). And a myriad of other digital cameras. Combine all these with some good Video editing software and you can create wonderful movie and slide show experiences to capture and share your memories. My helmet cam even has a button that allows me to automatically upload the vids to Youtube. Gotta love that :-) Yup, I truly think digital cameras are life enhancing.


Mobile Phones

Yeah, I know. Everyone has one. But if you are old enough to remember BM (Before Mobiles), you'll know just how life enhancing they are. The ability to connect via phone, txt and email, anywhere, anytime, has to be up there as life enhancing. And with mobiles now becoming full-on entertainment devices and rolling in a lot of the functions of the LEDs described above, means they just get better and better.



Ok, there's my list. So what's on your list? What are the 3 top LED's in your life?

Please click on the comment icon below and share your list. I'd love to hear your thoughts and learn what you and other people think or feel are life enhancing devices.


smiles and cheers
Grant

Life enhancing fluffy white stuff

Well... seeing as we are enjoying one of our regular sojourns up in the snow, I figure it's timely to blog about how playing in the snow is very, very life enhancing :-)


I don't think it matters what sort of snow play you do, whether it's downhill skiing, snowboarding, x-country skiing, riding a skidoo or just tramping and camping out back-country with a pair of snow-shoes strapped to your feet, they all add refreshing life enhancing value to your life. I've done them all, and every year we get out and about in the snow using every available form of snow play equipment, and we always come back feeling more alive, filled with delight and having had/done an awesome time.

So what is it about the mountains and snow that is so wonderful?

To begin with there's the beauty. Snow flakes falling and drifting from the sky, painting a pristine world of cleansing, calming white, creating a visage that lifts the spirit. The snow blankets the ground and dusts the trees with icing. Crystals hang from branches. Sun glints and rainbows across the softness like diamonds cast by natures hand. In the snow, everything seems more real, clearer, more alive.

Then there's the exhilaration of movement, speed, acceleration as you move and glide down the fall line. The feeling of riding a snowboard or a set of skis, over moguls, cutting swathes through the powder is akin to the petro-sexuality of motorbike riding. It's visceral. The adrenalin is addicting. It's blissful.


Added to all that, there's the value and effects of exercise. Snow play gives you a great workout. More oxygen flowing through your lungs and blood stream, bringing muscles alive. Washing the toxins from your system.

The flow of skiing, boarding or even snow-shoeing provides a 'broaden-and-build' positive emotional experience. It increases levels of serotonin and dopamine flowing in your system. It expands your creativity. It's pretty much impossible to carry the stress of work or life into a day of snow-play. To successfully and safely ski or board from the top of a mountain, you need full attention and the whole of your being committed to the unconscious competence of rider and device as one. This engagement is meditative and engenders peace and joy in your spirit.


Finally I guess I'd like to add that it's just plain awesome fun! Snow play brings out the wide-eyed spirit of the child. And the apres ski adventures add to the fun. If you stay up in the snow-fields then there's wonderful food, great company, lots of good wine, the odd sauna and spa experience and delightful walks after dinner in the star filled sky, crunching over fresh fallen snow crystals. Ahhhh, does life get any better than this?!!

So, if you aren't already a convert to snow-play, I seriously and playfully suggest you add some snow-play life adventure to your life. And if you are already an aficionado of the snow, then may I encourage you to go do some more of it. Make sure you get out and enjoy the life enhancing beauty and delight of playing in the fluffy white stuff every year of your life.

Treat with care

Just one small reminder and caveat... snow is cold and slippery, you need to be skillful, careful and treat it and alpine environments with respect. Be aware of the risks of hypothermia and always dress appropriately and take the necessary safety equipment with you. If you love and utilise the snow intelligently it will love you back and add immense value to your life.


happy life enhancing snow play,
and many smiles, Grant