“My  Personal Daily Therapy, published Weekly or so…”

“So long as we love we serve;
So long as we are loved by others,
I would almost say that we are indispensable;
And no one is useless while they have a friend.”
~ Robert Louis Stevenson ~

“Tears in Heaven” is a song by “Eric Clapton” from his Album “Unplugged” I often listen to while “out there”. It for some reason brings me close to Lance and our times together.

[audio:http://www.theoasisofmysoul.com/wp-content/audio/04_tears_heaven.mp3]

“Without a Philosophy of Life, you may be swamped by your emotions and believe that Life is meaningless. You see the chaos in and around you, and you assume that it could never make sense. With this attitude it is easy to latch onto simplistic explanations, which are never far away. An entire industry of “counselors”, “preachers”, “psychologists”, “coaches”, and “gurus” of all stripes are eager to tell you how to live. But these borrowed and purchased strategies aren’t enough when a dark night has really taken a hold of you. You need to work out a system for yourself. You have to prepare yourself for challenges that could be far more radical than you expect”

“It is difficult to know what gives a person the will to live”

~ Thomas Moore ~

It is near Mormon Lake, Flagstaff, AZ. Unusually for us we have checked into a Campground. “Pine Grove”, and it is very nice, very quiet. The temperatures are perfect again. I almost feel as I have finally learned to follow fair weather even though we are here a few days ahead awaiting for Overland Expo to start. Why not explore the area as suddenly next Thursday will be visiting with the good Friends we only barely see once a year and the rides will not be of many, also considering my giving “One~Pan Cooking” Classes which will be at 11 am for three consecutive days.

All is so perfect as I am settling into what was. “Old Faithful” purring while getting to know her again, Spirit happier than ever glancing at me every five seconds now instead of seven. Some form of a plan to visit my Friend Mark in Tucson for a few days after OX catching up on some real mail and vehicle registrations. Then on to Colorado’s heights as I know by then the temperatures will soar at lower elevations.

Yesterday was shadowed by what I call a “nasty” e mail. They come in once in a while. I don’t know why while wishing such individuals would not read these pages. This one was particularly long. It included all my wrong doings. Taking advantage of readers, applying for disability which I never have, Spirit being a Service Dog, having a few Sponsors and using them to my advantage, and on and on. I was always told and believe firmly that any honest path is a good path. No one has been forced to purchase “One~Pan Recipes” or “Merchandise” or a Motorcycle Dealership asking us for a “Presentation”. Sponsors have kindly approached us and, yes, Spirit has opened many doors I have to admit.That such words came in on the day when posting an offering which I am calling now “A Dinner and a Show”. So maybe no one calls for it and I will let it be as I have all my other ideas for us to continue having the honest ability to stay on the road. It truly would not have bothered me if “Lance” had not been mentioned.

Well, yesterday was shadowed but not today. The sun is bright and shining on this path, the only one that enables me to not regress to a will of not to live as others do by being here and now. The same e mail went on intensifying the momentum on the fact that so many as myself have lost Loved Ones asking me “Who do you think you are?… an exception?”. No one truly. Just another Soul riding the peaks and the valleys trying to find some Peace within and for these past times sharing such Peace and Times with others which also have unwillingly been dealt this similar card or a troubled Life or hopefully none of the above.

Is maybe “making a living” for some the most important factor of this Daily Life? It is an “important” factor to “yes” survive month after month, build up a retirement, as few aspects even on this road are not free. It is a commodity most of us must have. All of us. My own vanished and I deal with it.
My second quote caught my attention because of meeting a couple “schooled” in the aspect of giving the Spiritual Seekers “formulas” including “chanting” around a fire with stone Pyramids laid out. I never found out the meaning of it all neither attended or accepted a free consultation. If these present pages have turned out through Lance’s Gift to help others as I know they do through e mails received, I am happy to be doing as such. I know I would not be if suddenly offering “Skype” consultations with those “non existing formulas” as we each are of a different fabric. Their “making a living” does not attract me, it truly actually as they say “turns me off”.

“A Philosophy of Life begins to take shape when you educate your Heart and cultivate your Life. You read, you talk, and you think; you don’t just act. You consider your experiences and take lessons from it. You may need to write these lessons down in a Journal and talk about them with Friends”

I did not write the above, “Thomas Moore” did. I did not read these words eight years ago, I only read them a few days past realizing it is what I have been doing. It is the guidance that has taken me forward instead of giving up these skies which were not at all time very sunny and for that matter as even today the clouds linger some days darker than others.

“Henry David Thoreau” lived in a tiny cabin at Walden Pond outside Boston for over two years to practice a Life of reflection, to help him move more consciously into his Life. “I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essentials facts of Life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived”.

Our Cabin has been our tent, the ceilings “the skies”. No walls per say. It will soon be 6 years. We have spend now 2000 days and nights on the road.

“A Philosophy of Life is a bundle of wisdom you have gathered from your reading and experience. It is not a rigid ideology that allows no development and complexity. It’s a living thing, a developing idea about Life that belongs to you alone. You may want to share your insights and maybe even wish that the rest of the world would adopt some of your principles. But essentially it is your special source of comfort and understanding. It allows you to be yourself, to judge yourself with reference to an absolute and not against the opinions of other Human Beings”.

I thank much this “shadowy” e mail writer and also “those two” Spiritual Advisors as I know too many today get their Life guidance through Television, formulated school teachers and rarely have original thoughts about their own experiences. Such instances are always more awaken times. My e-mails were never replied. Others may have many opinions based on the latest studies but generally have not worked out a deep vision. They are informed, but they have not thought deeply enough.

I am told I think too much. At times I do as now sitting amongst the pine trees with a meadow facing me, Spirit laying in the tall grass, the smells abundant. Riding, cooking… and thinking, and writing expelling the thoughts that might too heavily linger and bring me down if kept caged in turmoil. This is my own therapy and always will be.

In my effort to stay on the road “we” now have a T Shirt and Merchandise store. I think you will like it. “SpiritedOasis”
“Smugmug” for Photos and Digital downloads.
The recipes are on the “One~Pan Recipe” section.
Needing a great Webmaster? Follow the link. Justin is truly the one that allows you to enjoy this Journal and it’s peripheral pages.
We both appreciate your support and hoping we are giving something back.

You be well… Always.
Ara and Spirit and “Old Faithful”