The Highest High

When I researched Mount Everest, I discovered a very fascinating fact. So fascinating, that by all standards it is unbelievable. If you read my prior posts on Mount Everest, you would know that at the summit, it is a death zone with an atmospheric pressure about one third of sea level pressure, meaning there is about a third as much oxygen available to breathe as at sea level.

So what if I told you that there is a life form that can survive in that hallowed air space where other life forms meet their demise? It would hard to believe wouldn’t it? It is hard for me to believe and I saw it in print.

Flying high over the would-be record breakers and human debris are bar-headed geese - the highest-altitude flying birds in the world. They migrate over Mount Everest.

At 29,028 feet, Mount Everest can provide an arm’s length to heaven and every spring, flocks of these high flyers fly from their winter feeding grounds in the lowlands of India through the Himalayan range, directly above Mount Everest, on their way to their nesting grounds in Tibet. They fly 1,000 miles a day - one way.

These stunning birds with two horizontal black stripes on the back of their white head slightly resemble a Zebra just starting to get stripes. Being powerful flappers, as opposed to soarers, they are masters at utilizing tailwinds to propel them to their destination and can fly 50 to 100 miles per hour.

Bar-headed geese have such a determination that they can even fly in crosswinds without being blown off course. It’s all in their grand design, especially the flapping. They propel themselves across the skies and over the mountains by sheer will. In doing so, they generate body heat, which is retained by their down feathers. This heat, in turn, helps keep ice from building up on their wings.

Isn’t the universe perfectly calculated? More than Sir Issac Newton’s second law of motion that states, the rate of change of momentum is proportional to the resultant force producing it and takes place in the direction of that force - but in a way that is beyond all science and all reason. An equation entrenched in the wonders hidden in the sky and the mastermind behind that wonder.

It’s a mystification that dares to be demystified, a puzzle with undefined pieces - a labyrinth of consciousness and spiritual refinement.

For the same reasons man cannot survive at Mount Everest altitude are the reasons the bar-headed geese can survive - universal perfection.

Somewhere between the spiritualists and scientists are uncharted answers. Answers that lie there without explanation. Answers that just are. We can’t explain them, we can just accept that there is a force behind the curtain directing the show.

Why else would one man’s meat be another man’s poison and one man’s descent be another man’s ascent? It is perfectly calculated as the cycle of life - birth - death - rebirth. At any given moment, we are all experiencing them.

The bar-headed geese are unsurpassed in their ability to survive. They have conquered that sacred space, that corner of the sky which we can all master - between self and God.

Life teaches us how to fly. It gives us wings so we can rise above situations. We fly when it's good, we fly when its bad. Even when it’s bad, it’s not really bad - just a shift in perception. We just have to keep flying.

The Ice Ax Cometh

After reading about Mount Everest, I started to wonder what it would be like to actually climb it? I saw myself in full climbing gear;
double plastic climbing boots with liners covering my wool socks, holding my ice ax, being held by my climbing harness while wearing pile pants with side zippers, a down parka, synthetic gloves, balaclava (I love these, brings out the real cat burglar in a person), 100% UV glacier glasses, and lipscreen.

That’s a lot of equipment to carry, not to mention the toll it would have on my back from hanging vertically, looking up to the open mouth of sky and slowly climbing inside. I know how Michelangelo must have felt when he painted the Sistine Ceiling.

The spontaneous vein in me would love to do it, but the pragmatist
handles this mental Supreme Court decision with caution, which I cannot disagree.

The boundless spirit in me says, “I can do it.”

The pragmatist says, “If you know you can do it, why do you have to prove to yourself what you already know?”

The boundless spirit enthuses, “But I want the world to see that I can do it?”

The pragmatist explains, “The world doesn’t care if you can or cannot do it. The world has enough on its plate.”

The boundless spirit adds, “But what if I want them to care?”

The pragmatist clarifies, “You shouldn’t worry about what the world thinks of you. Their thoughts don’t carry any weight in your Soul. You don’t have to prove that you can climb a mountain, swim across the ocean, set a world record, or try to win any accolade from what others deem is worthy - you’ve already done that by being here. You have won. You were born.”

The boundless spirit reflects and continues, “You mean, I don’t have to compete with anyone. I don’t have to feel inadequate when I don’t compare with anyone. I don’t have to...."

The pragmatist finishes, “All you have to do is feed your Soul. Care for it. Love yourself. Love what you do. Love how you do it. Love where you live in your heart. Love what you say - and say everything with tender loving care. Be aware of your tone, your language, your intent, your effect. Love all of life and all of live will love you.”

The boundless spirit adds, “That’s why I keep you around. You make a lot of sense. I must admit, being an Angeleno (native to Los Angeles), I don't do well in the cold. Certain things belong in the cold and I am not one of them. I am used to sweltering days of summer all year long, people in shorts, t-shirts, roller blades and kids wearing Heelys (shoes with wheels.)

Although I have climbed many Mount Everests in my mind, I could never do it outside the realm of imagination, it’s just not practical. I can’t imagine how I would feel stepping over dead bodies perfectly preserved in ice - that perished trying to accomplish greatness in reaching the goddess of the sky.

I would hate staring into their frozen faces, imagining what they were thinking - who they left behind - seeing their dreams stopped in mid stream - just to end up on top of a 60 million year old formation of rock - it’s just not practical.

The pragmatist says, “Touché!”

Mountain Mondays

Mondays are mountain days. Days when we may fell like our head is on the chopping block. Perhaps days when we lose our head? It’s hard facing confinement when we were running free through wonderland not less than 48 hours ago.

Through some strange phenomenon, the work that was completely finished on Friday somehow gained momentum over the weekend and now sits in a massive mountain glaring at us.

If we try to ignore it, it gets bigger. If we try to deny it, it screams our name. Our head has to take the red eye flight from a weekend of frolicking to a week of work. Though work is a four letter word, it is one word, we can’t live without. The letters don’t work singularly, they work together.

I think I have figured out what happens in between the days/daze. When Monday rolls in, we have to snap back into our position as a worker. We compare the week with the weekend and therein lies the rub.

On Monday, we are narrating our glorious weekend tales in vivid detail to our friends/coworkers and by doing that reliving them. By mid week, we start replacing work images with weekend images which ironically allows us to get through the week, but this method doesn’t work on weekends.

During weekends, we expand our weekend images, but don’t dare replace them with week images. Okay, I confess that I am not a theorist, but the above theory works for me. My head is the home of potent stimuli and invention that rivals any Nobel Peace Prize winner and I in my infinite wisdom will one day prove it to you all. Maybe the Pulitzer Prize is more my speed? Or better yet, the Blogitzer? (Daydreams about all of the possibilities.)

In an effort to make your work day flow a little smoother, or just assist you in your daydreams, I will leave you with facts about the tallest mountain in the world; the one and only Mount Everest. Just knowing that my work isn’t piled as high as Everest, I can get through the week a lot easier; that is as soon as I stop daydreaming.

Mt. Everest was named for Sir George Everest in 1859, the British surveyor-general of India and it was once known as Peak 15.

The mountain, which is part of the Himalaya range in High Asia, is located on the border between Sagarmatha Zone, Nepal and China.

In Nepal, it is called, Sagarmatha (goddess of the sky.) Some Nepalis also say that Sagarmatha, literally means "head of the ocean" or "head of the sea."

Tibetans and Chinese call it Qomolangma, or Chomolungma, (mother goddess of the universe) after the goddess Jomo Miyolangsangma
Chomolungma.

Everest was formed about 60 million years ago and has an elevation of
29,028 feet, or 5 and a half miles above sea level. This is equivalent to the size of almost 20 Empire State Buildings.

The first ascent of the peak was by New Zealander Edmund Hillary and Nepali Sherpa Tenzing Norgay in 1953.

Mount Everest has two main climbing routes, the southeast ridge from Nepal and the northeast ridge from Tibet, as well as many other less frequently climbed routes. Of the two main routes, the southeast ridge is technically easier and is the more frequently used route. It was the route used by Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay in 1953 and the first recognized of fifteen routes to the top by 1996. This was, however, a route decision dictated more by politics than by design as the Chinese border was closed to foreigners in 1950 after the Chinese invaded Tibet.

As of 2003, more than 1,200 people from 63 countries, including 75 women, had scaled the peak. Some 211, including six women, climbed the mountain more than once. As of 2003, 175 people had died on Mount Everest; 42 while descending after reaching the summit.

By the end of the 2007 climbing season, there had been 3,679 ascents to the summit by 2,436 individuals. There have been 210 deaths on the mountain, where conditions are so difficult that most corpses have been left where they fell; some are visible from standard climbing routes. About 150 bodies have never been recovered.

Climbers range from experienced mountaineers to relative novices who count on their paid guides to get them to the top. This means climbers are a significant source of tourist revenue for Nepal, whose government also requires all prospective climbers to obtain an expensive permit, costing up to $25,000.

Most attempts are made during May before the summer monsoon season. As the monsoon season approaches, a change in the jet stream at this time pushes it northward, thereby reducing the average wind speeds high on the mountain. While attempts are sometimes made after the monsoons in September and October when the jet stream is again temporarily pushed northward, the additional snow deposited by the monsoons and the less stable weather patterns (tail end of the monsoon) makes climbing more difficult.

While conditions for any area classified as a death zone apply to Mount Everest, it is significantly more difficult for a climber to survive at the death zone on Mount Everest. Temperatures can dip to very low levels, resulting in frostbite of any body part exposed to the air. Because temperatures are so low, snow is well-frozen in certain areas and death by slipping and falling can also occur. High winds at these altitudes on Everest are also a potential threat to climbers. The atmospheric pressure at the top of Everest is about a third of sea level pressure, meaning there is about a third as much oxygen available to breathe as at sea level.

On May 8, 2008, the Olympic flame reached the top of Mount Everest, an emotional moment for China and the crowning of the Beijing Olympics torch relay.

See, work isn’t so bad is it? At least we don’t have to climb Mount Everest. We each have our own mountains to climb, so let us climb them with vigor and without hesitation. Let us climb them without looking back or looking down. If we climb them with strength and courage, we will get to the summit of life.

God grant me the serenity to accept the mountains I can not change, climb the mountains that I can and the wisdom to know the difference.

Reggie's Magnificent Escape

We don't have very many local heroes like Reggie. He's a renegade. An outlaw with a rap sheet 7-1/2-feet-long and 120 pounds. In 2007, he escaped what he must have thought was death row.

He wanted to taste freedom again. Taste a life in which he had grown accustomed. Many people tried to capture him over the two years, but he was a slippery character. The thought of someone making shoes, belts, wallets or handbags out of him didn’t sit well with him.

Thinking that a life of solitude would do him good, he hid in a lake for two years while the news of the world passed him by. Little did he know that people would still plot to capture him. Oh, did I mention that Reggie is an alligator.

Here’s where the story gets a little sketchy. Sometime a little after that 2 year period, Reggie decide to pop his head up to get a little sun and that’s when he was noosed by a man with a dog-catcher’s pole and whisked off to a waiting cell at the zoo. That was on May 24, 2007. All the while Reggie thought he was having a bad dream, but it was really a nightmare.

Reggie was first discovered in the water of Lake Machado in August 2005, having allegedly been dumped there by owners who thought him too large to keep as a pet. For the ensuing two years, a parade of would-be captors -- official and unofficial -- tried unsuccessfully to seize him, running up a bill of $200,000. Even the late Crocodile Hunter, Steve Irwin was going to take a stab at capturing Reggie, but he never got the chance.

Reggie wasn’t going to take this lying down. The reptile brain was in full swing. The reptile brain has a singular focus: survival. It doesn't think in abstract terms, and doesn't feel complex emotions. Instead, it's responsible for fight-or-flight, hunger and fear, attack or run.

With just a week into his life sentence, it didn’t take Reggie long to plan his escape back to freedom. While zoo keepers thought he was resting, he was busy calculating, strategizing and waiting for the right time.

When the lights went out, Reggie went to work. As the weather gets warm, an alligator’s strength increases and so does its agility. He had to move quickly. He skillfully climbed a chain-link fence at the back of his enclosure, then scurried over a series of brick ridges, all within a matter of minutes.

He hit the ground running and followed another chain-link fence about 500 yards to the loading dock area. The sound and sight of trucks and people startled him so he hid again. The next morning, zoo officials noticed that he was gone and gathered a posse to find him.

They soon found him hiding out near the zoo loading dock. One of the officials jumped on Reggie’s back, threw a t-shirt over Reggie’s head, and wrapped duct tape around his snout. Authorities put the cuffs on him and hustled him back to quarantine.

When Reggie returned back to his new home, his fans were waiting, wearing t-shirts that held his name, taking photos of this once elusive star and chanting, “Reggie. Reggie. Reggie.”

When the yellow truck pulled up to his habitat, five zoo personnel emerged carrying the fugitive, whose face was wrapped in a white towel.

Disappointed and agitated at his capture, Reggie was hissing mad; almost as mad as Paris Hilton when she too was returned to her cell. They took him inside and removed the towel and a black band that bound his mouth. Not wanting to be Reggie’s lunch, they all scattered to safety. Needless to say, they just didn’t want to throw in the towel.

I like Reggie. We can all learn from him. He is represents freedom. He can’t be held down by convention. He doesn’t give up. He honors the relationship he has with himself - it’s more important than anything.

He knows what he wants and he’s not afraid to go after it. We are all escaping to get to spiritual freedom. All we have to do is drop our old ideals and renew ourselves. Renew how we feel about life. Renew how we feel about ourselves and others. Renewal brings freedom.

Freedom brings peace. No matter where you are in your life, you can attain freedom to make you feel alive. That’s what Reggie has. Even though he is in captivity, he is still free. Maybe one day one of us will hold him in our pocket, around our waist, on our arm or our feet, but we won’t forget Reggie. He is a legend.

This weekend be free. Run with the wind. Fly. Be happy. Be free.

The Face Of Love

I am not a big flower fan. I like their fragrance, design and pure beauty, but as far as I am concerned, they die too quickly. While I enjoy and appreciate joy that they bring, I wish they lasted longer.

I had a friend who used to be a florist and occasionally when I went into the shop, I would see various people excitedly buying flowers; roses, carnations, tulips, gladiolas and pansies.

Surprisingly the most popular flower was the sunflower. People seemed to be snapping them up like crazy. The shop could never keep them in stock. When the shop closed for the day, I stayed and helped my friend clean up.

On the floor was a sunflower that had gotten trampled in the rush to buy his relatives. When I picked it up, it seem to emanate a warmth, a peaceful presence, a life energy, a spiritual vibration, a love, if you will.

Sunflowers are not petite like roses, or fluffy like carnations, not even particularly attractive, but very alluring. As I stared at it, I got a sense of peace. It was almost like I was holding a live presence in my hand.

I felt drawn into this unusual looking flower. Something had to be inside that flower. The energy pulled me in like a force of nature. As I looked deeper into it’s center, it looked like a face and I’m sure it was winking at me.

I had to know more about these magical flowers. The scientific name of sunflowers is Helianthus, Helia for sun and Anthus for flower.

Sunflowers are one of the fastest growing plants. They can grow 8 to 12 feet tall in rich soil within six months.

The tallest sunflower was grown in The Netherlands (25' 5.5" tall) grown in 1986 by M. Heijmf.

The largest sunflower head on record measured 32 1/2 inches across its widest point and was grown in Canada.

The shortest mature sunflower on record was just over 2 inches tall and was grown in Oregon using the Bonsai technique.

Sunflowers requires only 90 to 100 days from planting to maturity.

The sunflower is native to North America and was used by the Indians for food and oil. Some farmers use it to feed their livestock.

We use sunflower seeds to make oil, bird seed and for snacking. They have lots of calcium and 11 other important minerals. They do have 50% fat, but it is mostly polyunsaturated linoleic acid.

Wild sunflower is highly branched with small heads and small seeds, in contrast to the single-stem and large seed head of domesticated sunflower.

Sunflower heads consist of 1,000 to 2,000 individual flowers joined together by a receptacle base. The large petals around the edge of a sunflower head are individual ray flowers which do not develop into seed.

A well-known sunflower characteristic is that the flowering heads track the sun's movement, a phenomenon known as heliotropism.

The daily orientation of the flower to the sun is a direct result of differential growth of the stem. A plant-growth regulator, or auxin, accumulates on the shaded side of a plant when conditions of unequal light prevail. Because of this accumulation, the darker side grows faster than the sunlit side. Thus, the stem bends toward the sun.

Most people think a sunflower "follows the sun," but that actually happens when sunflower are very young plants, long before they are ready to bloom. A field full of sunflower looks beautiful first thing in the morning, as they point their faces toward the east. By noon they're pointing straight up, and by evening, to the west. If you check back the next morning, they'll be facing east again.

The French word for sunflower is tournesol, which literally means "turn with the sun."

Sunflowers date back to ancient times? Carbon dating of seeds found in North American clay date back nearly 3,000 years.

Early American natives used the sunflower long before corn and beans were brought to America. They ate the seeds, ground the small kernels into flour, extracted oil from seeds for their hair, and used the seeds, flower petals, and pollen to make dyes for face paint, cloths and baskets.

In Peru, the Aztecs worshiped sunflowers, they placed sunflower images made of gold in their temples and crowned princesses in the bright yellow flowers.

Sunflowers made their way to Europe in the early 1500’s. They were used for gifts carried by Spanish settlers returning home.

The great Russian ruler Peter the Great liked sunflowers so much when he saw them in Holland he took seeds back to Russia. By the 1700’s sunflower seeds were being eaten all over Russia. The former Soviet Union grows the most sunflowers and is the national flower of Russia.

Sunflowers are the state flower of Kansas, USA.

Sunflower stems were used to fill lifejackets before the advent of modern materials.

The Sunflower paintings of Vincent Van Gogh show a mental connection not only between the artist's name and the painting, but also between the artist and the influence of Sunflowers on the development of art through these paintings. Van Gogh's Sunflower paintings have altered mankind's perspective of art and life. These Sunflower photos captivate the mind and leave you astounded in their simplistic beauty.

Most of us call them sunflowers with an "s." But according to Mary Lou, whose work in sunflower breeding took her to many parts of the world for 23 years, sunflower never turns into sunflowers - - ever! So, if you have one sunflower or twenty, you still have sunflower. Period.

The large, cheerful heads of sunflowers are associated with goodwill, friendship, and happiness. Beautiful in small groupings in a garden, planted over large plots of land, or growing wild, these flowers native to the Americas give every person who sees them a reason to smile.

So many facts about sunflower(s) that they are making my head spin.
Since that day, I look at sunflowers in a different light. Every time I see one, I look at it with a knowing glance. We have the same goal - we just want to make you smile.

We are like sunflowers. They turn toward the sun for nourishment and growth, while we turn towards love for the same benefits. Let your love turn others into sunflowers.

That day, I took the sunflower home, put it in some water and it lasted much longer than any other flower. I have changed my mind about flowers. They are here for a reason - to give us love - and love changes our perception of love.

Are You Wealthy?

Nature is a professor. A sage. A mystic. A prognosticator. A reflector of man. It’s fury gets our attention, bends and breaks faith, but in the end nature doesn’t really change. It’s a catalyst.

Man also has a nature that bends and breaks faith. A nature that by default is faulty, but still redeemable. A nature that is forever facing the tides that pull us under the current. A nature forever questioning position and repositioning ourselves to fit a society of superficiality, wealth, status and debasement when all we need to do is to value our own worth and character.

I am not saying that affluence is the root of all evil or that it doesn’t have its own rewards, which of course it does. Without affluence and philanthropy many charities would be out of business. Even the government gives us an incentive to be philanthropic by way of tax deductions.

Outer wealth is measured by numbers, a googol that is bandied about like status Ticker Tape. We have become quite familiar with three household names over the years that are mentioned so much that we think they are a part of our family.

Whenever the names, Warren Buffet, Bill Gates, or Oprah are so much as uttered, the phrase that automatically comes to our mind is, “They are rich.” In reality, we don’t know how wealthy they really are. We just think because they have money, they have everything, but they don’t. It behooves us not to keep measuring our worth against theirs.

Not only does it make us feel inadequate, envious, and literally worthless, but it’s counter productive to our own goals.

When Tony Robbins can charge $8,000 a head for a seminar to motivate us, then something is wrong with our sense of purpose. When Donald Trump or Robert Kiyosaki can get millions for speaking to us and telling us how they did it, it is nothing more than their individual experiences that were meant for them solely.

What they all neglect to tell us is that there is no formula, no magic, bullet, no genie in a lamp, nothing other than they were all fortunate to be aligned with their destiny. They seized their particular circumstances, unique only to them and within their karmic grasp.

To think that you can replicate their success is a misconception. When Donald Trump bought The Empire State building for one million dollars, no one else wanted it. It was in bad condition from years of neglect. He immediately had an opportunity to rehab it and bring it back to its former glory which added tremendously to his outer wealth. Many motivational speakers have similar stories.

The irony is that when a wealthy person falls, no one wants to know them anymore. When an elephant falls, even the frogs kick him.

So how do we build our own wealth? The true wealth of our spirit, heart and Soul is simply constructed by apprizing, not monetizing ourselves. We must invest in our dreams, our animus, our reason for being. We have to motivate ourselves to be active thinkers, believers and forerunners. Make getting up in the morning a breakfast of champions.

With the smallest of efforts, we can at least begin to tip the scale
of depth and perception and not be confetti that falls into a barren landscape of numbness. Why traverse through life with a soulless existence?

I have faith in man and its nature. It is a nature that in its most defiled consequences, cleans up well. A nature that governs our consciousness. A nature that although bends and cracks along the surface, does not really break altogether. It only looks that way on the outside.

Man is resilient and forever growing. If we don’t change, we don’t grow. If we don’t grow, we die. Not just physically, but mentally, emotionally and spiritually.

We have to embrace all that we are and embrace all that we live. Find value in everyday living. Tap the inner life waiting to spring forth. When we start to dig, we will soon hit a gusher that will splash us with wisdom, the fountain of truth and the secret to happiness.

We must disabuse the definition of what society calls wealthy and embrace real wealth. It’s in valuing ourselves that we reach our true wealth. And a wealthy Soul is priceless.

Ready, Aim, Aspire

“The greater danger for most of us
lies not in setting our aim too high
and falling short;
but in setting our aim too low,
and achieving our mark.”

~Michelangelo