Strange Mountain for a Strange Week

Strange image, right? This is the facade of one of the rides at Universal Studios Orlando, and it's a bit haunting.

Not sure why but I felt like today's photograph was an appropriate image to summarize my week. It was a week where primal screaming would be a fitting response to several situations, but in the end, not really worth doing.

Unlike this frustrated gentleman stuck with his mouth open and water running out, I'm hoping for a more peaceful, dignified week ahead. And I'm crossing fingers, toes, legs, etc. hoping for that outcome.

As Aristotle once said:

"There is only one way to avoid criticism: do nothing, say nothing, and be nothing."

Well, since that's not an option I can live with, I'll just keep doing something, saying something and being the best person I can be next week and the weeks thereafter.

Neptune Fountain at Walt Disney World

After walking around Epcot Center and touring the countries of the World Showcase, my traveling feet began to feel itchy.

I've yet to travel across the Atlantic to explore Europe. It's one of the things on my bucket list. I'm hoping that before the end of 2013, I'll be able to scratch at least one of the European countries off my list.

Until then, I will just enjoy our domestic tributes to European treasures like this ode at Epcot to the Trevi Fountain in Rome. While this Neptune Fountain is no where close to the Trevi Fountain, it's still beautiful and will do for now.

Not Waiting for the Big Show

Saint Francis of Assisi once said:

Start by doing what is necessary, then what is possible, and suddenly you are doing the impossible.

This insightful statement could be in the running for my mantra for 2013.

When passing by the outdoor America Gardens Theatre at the Walt Disney Resort last weekend, this lone bird perched on one of the empty seats caught my eye and camera. It seemed as if the bird was just waiting for the performance to begin.

It's a great reminder of how we can't just sit by and wait for things to happen. We could just wait and wait forever before anything ever happens. We create action.

Thus, no sitting and waiting for us. As Saint Francis suggests, we must take initiative and start doing the necessary, so eventually we will be making the impossible happen.

Looking Lovely

Yesterday, September 13 was Roald Dahl Day. It's held every year to celebrate the birthday of the bestselling children's book author.

As a young reader, Dahl books weren't my favorites.

From Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, James and the Giant Peach and Matilda, I enjoyed reading Dahl's imaginative tales and characters, and yet shied away from the darkness and at times, pessimism that lurked in the corners of his books. I would usually read his novels once; they never made the "read once a year" book pile.

While I don't expect young adult readers to be light and airy, I think they should express some hopefulness and optimism for the future. Dahl books often failed to strike the right balance between light and dark for me.

In spite of this fact, Dahl was an exceptional writer and imparted great kernels of wisdom in his stories. Here's one of my favorites from his book, The Twits:

If a person has ugly thoughts, it begins to show on the face. And when that person has ugly thoughts every day, every week, every year, the face gets uglier and uglier until you can hardly bear to look at it. 

A person who has good thoughts cannot ever be ugly. You can have a wonky nose and a crooked mouth and a double chin and stick-out teeth, but if you have good thoughts it will shine out of your face like sunbeams and you will always look lovely.

Dealing with Life's Dilemmas

Life seems to be one big long series of dilemmas and it's exhausting.

Decisions need to be made all the time. What do I eat for lunch? How frequently should we meet for that work project? When is the best time to travel for the holidays?

Some dilemmas are minor and others much larger. There are dilemmas that take only minutes to resolve and other dilemmas that take weeks, months or even years to determine a resolution.

Looking out at the horizon or at a sunset like the one in today's photograph creates the false illusion that the world is simple and easy. Perhaps the "illusion" is really the truth. It's possible that the "complicated world" story is what we tell ourselves to feel better about our habit of making life more difficult than it needs to be.

Maybe we should just quiet our minds by thinking of a peaceful ocean to resolve dilemmas quickly and easily and find solutions when there seems to be none.

Anniversary Sensitivity

Eleven years ago today, an unspeakable tragedy occurred in New York City, Washington, DC, and a field in Pennsylvania. The shock and sadness of that day still reverberates from those communities to the rest of the country and around the world.

For people who have experienced trauma, anniversaries can be difficult days. Often, the marking of the anniversary of a tragic event in a person's life can trigger uncontrollable feelings and emotional reactions to seemly "normal" moments and situations.

September 11th is an anniversary that we who experienced that day and the challenging months and years that followed all share. We should speak softly and calmly about this day with others to avoid triggering difficult issues for family, friends and colleagues who may not have addressed or recovered from this public traumatic experience.

Beyond 9/11, we should always try to be sensitive to others every day. We don't know everyone's history and what traumatic experiences they may carry. Paying attention to verbal and nonverbal cues during conversations and interactions can help you navigate the waters of lived experience and avoid those triggers that can be so painful for trauma survivors.

What better way can we honor those who perished on this day eleven years ago than by being better, more sensitive people and helping others work through their trauma to become better, more whole people as well.

Yes, This is Good

What do you get when you watch the sun setting, clouds forming interestingly, and the wind whipping up the river water? A great photo moment.

Even though the dolphin-manatee cruise boat was moving briskly, I was still able to steady my camera to take this photograph of the sunset on the Indian River in Orlando, Florida.

It's just another image that reaffirms for me that there must be a higher power. It's hard to believe that all of this beauty was created and orchestrated by just natural order. At some point, some entity -- and I'll leave you to name it -- put this nature canvas together, stood back and said, "Yes, this is good."

Sailed into the Mystic

Not sure why, but this photograph reminds me of Van Morrison's song "Into the Mystic." I took it yesterday of my friend's dad looking at the sunset during a dolphin-manatee cruise of Orlando's Indian River.

I'll let you decide. Here's the first verse of "Into the Mystic":

We were born before the wind
Also younger than the sun
Ere the bonnie boat was won as we sailed into the mystic
Hark, now hear the sailors cry
Smell the sea and feel the sky
Let your soul and spirit fly into the mystic.

Doesn't it fit perfectly? Here he was looking so peaceful as we sailed toward the setting sun.

Perhaps Morrison intended a different translation for this song, but that's what the song means to me. Being out on the water with good friends making special memories.