Welcome To The Throb Of Life

Welcome to The Throb of Life where you will find my latest thoughts on everything non-technology. Wine, philosophy, personal epiphanies, social discoveries all infused with elements of anosognosia combined with a hint of Medoc and a spritzing of Zen. Feel free to comment and share your thoughts.

For my more technology focused BLOG, visit CYBERTHOUGHTS, or my Ham blog, HamNinja.com.

Photos by The Camera Ninja
My RAC BLOG here. Mastodon

Prime Directive

When you feel overwhelmed, bummed, or just fine, repeat the “Prime Directives” below (yes I’m a Trekkie).  Say the first three out loud.  I’ll start with these three and add a couple more as I contemplate us.

1. Everything is going to be OK. 
   A lot of times, life can seem overwhelming, or your problems insurmountable.  But think back in your life how many times life felt like that and a week later you don’t even remember the situation. 
   
   

2. Never stop flying the plane. 
   This saying comes from my time as a pilot, when my flight instructor told me to never, ever, stop flying the plane.  This gets a lot of pilots killed during an emergency, they stop flying, stall the wing, or run into something.  My instructor told me “If you are heading for the runway and the aircraft is damaged and on fire, they better find your nose wheel on the centerline."  It applies to your life though.  Your life is the plane, and you are the captain.  You may want to crawl into bed and not get up, but YOU HAVE TO KEEP FLYING THE PLANE.  You may want to crawl into a whiskey bottle, do drugs, etc, but YOU HAVE TO KEEP FLYING THE PLANE.
   
   

3. People love you. 
   You need to know this.  We all need to know this.  There are people out there who love you, no matter what your situation is.  No strings attached.

If things don’t feel the greatest, just trying to get rid of that feeling isn’t the way.  Imagine if I, the author, could wave a wand and make sure you don’t have any difficult time,  or experience bad feelings.  I would be cheating you out of a fully lived life.  Sure things suck, you might be in pain, but don’t try to escape.  Escaping is just going to cheat yourself out of the full experience of life.  Like the good stuff, you need to experience the bad stuff.  And, the bad stuff makes the good stuff even better.  Besides, if you escape, you aren’t flying the plane.

Chris Claborne
Aka christian claborne

ThrobOfLife.com

Mini Sabbatical Of Sorts

Given that we are all partaking in a mini sabbatical of sorts, and are sequestered away, how many poets and philosophers will be born this week?

-- Christian Claborne,
Poet, Philosopher, and really bad speller.

Why We Remember Moments When Things Don't Go As Planned

I’m going to take a shot at my theory as to why we remember things from our day or a trip that don’t go to our plan.  The things we remember from a hike or trip are the things that were unexpected or didn’t go to plan. When my daughter was leaving for Spain on a school trip, I sat her down and dolled out some of my  crack philosophy (some would call it crack pot philosophy).  I told her that things never go as planned and that’s OK,  those are the moments that you remember.  When your luggage doesn’t arrive or the rain cancels an outing and you do something else, those are the moments you remember.  Don’t get mad, overly upset and bummed out, experience those times and possibly have fun with it.  Be present, you can’t change the situation.  Everything will work out.  Little did I know I would be getting a call from her two hours later that was one of those moments.

Help The Universe Out

You dancing is how the universe experiences "joy".  Dance a little people!

-- Chris Claborne
(akad christian claborne)

On Setting Goals

“Set for yourself goals, high and noble goals,” a young Nietzsche instructs, “and perish in pursuit of them.” If you arrive at a final destination, it’s a sign that you’ve set your sights too low, that your goal isn’t high or noble enough.

- Nietzsche
Clipped from the article "Nietzsche Made Me Do It", by John Kaag

CHANGE

Change is the spice of life.  Without it, life would be tasteless.

-- Christian Claborne
(aka chris claborne)

Spain, July 2018

What follows is a Captain’s BLOG on my trip to Spain.  Although not many people will read it, It’ll give me something to look back on.

Note:  I’ll highlight some of the key places and phrases, like food that will take you to pictures that are just on that topic.  It will save you from going through all the photos in the album.  If you want to see them all at once, go HERE.
You can also click on a picture for a larger version.

Mari Lú went to Spain as part of the semi-exchange program through the high school.  We’ve hosted several Spanish students from Bilbao Spain over the years and Mari Lú has formed close relationships with them.  She speaks regularly with Paula via video skype.  Mari Lú wanted to extend her trip so that she could stay with Paula and Jeanette was traveling over there to walk the camino.  That would give the two of them a month in Spain, not a bad vacation.  Because of the way schedules worked out, Mari Lú would have to come back by herself.  It’s not something that I thought Mari Lú was ready for.  Although she has done some air travel, she doesn’t have the experience.  I’ve traveled to Madrid and to other locations south, like Toledo and Segovia and then via overnight rail to Granada for an overnight there and into Portugal.  The one place I’ve always wanted to visit was Barcelona before I checked Spain off the priority list mainly because of the pull of the Catalonian culture and fantastic architecture that the city is known for.  I’m into architecture and Gothic treatments are one of my favorite.  Jeanette arranged my travel so that I would fly into Barcelona, have a few days to explore the sites there, then join Mari Lú in Bilbao.  This would give me the opportunity to meet some of the families of the kids that stayed with us and a week in country to do some sight seeing and then fly back with Mari Lú.

Of Artists and Poets

Don't discount artists, philosophers and poets.  One day you might need them to teach you how to live.

      2
-- C  --

You don't need to die to go to heaven

I learned something important last weekend.  You don’t need to die to go to heaven.  I took a wine bottling class.   I was surrounded by wine, helping to move it from barrel to a vat, and finally to the bottle, as well as putting on foil, and boxing them for shipment (and doing quality control of the juice).  It’s the Zen realization that you are already in heaven, every day.  It’s everything, meetings, writing, planning, having dinner, photography, and yes, bottling wine (and juice quality control).

Bowing to others is bowing to yourself

Spend a day looking for the good in everyone you encounter as if watching a sunrise over the ocean for the first time.
You can bow to others with a smile from your eyes, holding the door for them, or giving them your undivided attention.

When you bow to others you bow to yourself... because are are all part of the same one thing, what we call "universe".

Multiple Communities

I have two pictures and two thoughts for this Friday 9/2

I’m just a few hours into my vacation at my summer home.  My neighbor, Colonel Cal Phillips Retired, stopped in to see me.  I didn’t get to see him the last time I was up so we both enjoyed catching up and making plans for a sundowner.  Before he left, he mentioned that his internet wasn’t working and would I mind if he used my WiFi connection.  Of course I wouldn’t mind, I would do anything for that guy… Then he wondered if I could come over and get it working on his laptop for him.   ?
** We belong to multiple communities, work, home, vacation, planet….  I really enjoy that.

My second story (and picture) was from my quick shopping trip to the store at the town next to me.  I was sorta stuck in line while the cashier and the customer exchanged their favorite recipes.  The conversation then turned to how good the New Mexico green chili is this year (it really is the best).  About that time, another cashier came over to get me.
** Before I got too perturbed (I wanted to get home), I realized that this is really the way things are supposed to be.  We rush from meeting to meeting, then soccer, then dinner, then to the store…

Enjoy your weekend, immerse yourself in your community, and slow down.

“Enjoy the Process” -- What I Learned From an Urban Sketcher

Some of my creative outlets are photography, writing, researching, and ideation.  Sometimes, in photography, or when writing, I can be in too much of a hurry to reach the end result.  The same goes for technical work, projects etc.

All the while, forgetting to “enjoy the process”.

I was out photographing a barn a few weeks ago in the high country of Arizona with an “Urban Sketcher”.  I’ve photographed it several times over the years but had a different vision of the outcome for this trip.  She relayed that she often needs to coach herself to “enjoy the process” when she’s doing something that isn’t as much fun while sketching.  I think we also need to combine this with patience.

How often do we forget to “enjoy the process” at work?  Whether it’s project management, working through a difficult meeting or creating a presentation.  If you pause and remind yourself to “enjoy the process” (and I hope you do), you’ll achieve better results and go home with a smile.

The first photo (click on them for a larger version) at the beginning is the subject of the article as well as a work in progress, the b&w shows how is how patience is rewarded by just letting the sun set and enjoying the moment.

Chris Claborne

On impermanence

Teilhard de Chardin had this to say about Dave Rahm's aerobatic performances in his biplane.

"Rahm’s plane shed a ribbon in space, a ribbon whose end unraveled in memory while its beginning unfurled as surprise. "

I don't think there's any better example of him per minutes then an air show.

Throb

You hooked me at wine. You had me at lamb.