#LessonsFromLife

[freshthoughts2020]

LIFE LOGS VOL 5: Lessons from Apr 2018- Sept 2018 [PAPERBACK]

2 Store Reviews

$11.00

The fifth installment of LIFE LOGS serves as the first release since Jaevonn has become a licensed attorney. The lessons in this book occurs before he gained his esteemed title but they’re all the things that led up to such a monumental moment.

But being lawyer as many know isn’t end all to Jaevonn’s life, the creative arts takes a bigger precedent in his mental wheelhouse, which is explored through the various articles in the book.

Please use these as writings as an entertaining tool as much as an educating tool. but don’t take him too serious these are just his thoughts ladies and gentleman.

[mj-writings]

Journey of 'LIFE'- RIDER'S PERSPECTIVE

Life feels like a good ride when one lives in the present, moving from the past with all the lessons learned and looking forward to the future.

Same as in a ride where the rider pasts the roads and moves forward by altering steering, speed, and gears looking at the future to make a successful journey.

If he lives in the past by only looking at the rearview mirror then things could go wrong.

If he completely lives in the present by giving throttle for that instant fun without concern about the obstacles which he might face in the future then the ride may end up with his life. When there is a turn or a deviation in a ride, he should have a look at his past by using the rearview mirror.

Only looking at his destination and not doing the things to be done in the present and completely leaving the past doesn't make the journey complete.

[dispatchusa]

"I believe that everything happens for a reason. People change so that you can learn to let go, things go wrong so that you appreciate them when they're right, you believe lies so you eventually learn to trust no one but yourself, and sometimes good things fall apart so better things can fall together." -- Marilyn Monroe #marilynmonroe #thingshappenforareason #lessonsfromlife #looseevening but #comebacksoonstronger #oldhollywood #legends #celebrity #DiversityNewsMagazine #StevenEscobar #contentcreator #contentcreator4hire

[limitsarefictitious-blog]

Learning new things. The only way to grow and get better at ANYTHING is to keep learning with intention. No matter what your skillset/occupation/calling is, there is something still to learn. Taking the time and effort to truly educate yourself, saves you energy and creates space for more opportunities. Instead of being in a situation feeling like you're in over your head, drowning in the overwhelming realization that you have no idea what you are doing or why, having an idea of what you need to be doing to obtain the ultimate goal that you want to achieve comes from education (and I don’t mean institutional).STORY TIME: I had this flashback today of when I was four years old. My older sisters and I were playing in the pool. I, being so young and small, stood on the stairs splashing around and if was daring enough to tip toe to the last step I held tightly to the metal rail.  Once I glanced out and saw my sisters swimming and playing freely in the middle of the pool, I instantly felt held back and restricted. I called out to my sister Dominique and she came swimming like a little dolphin towards me. She climbed the stairs up to me and asked what I wanted. I ordered her, “Teach me how to swim!” She laughed and turned around and said “like this”, she jumped off the stairs followed by a little dive into the pool and swam away. HA! Well that’s simple. Why didn't I just do that in the first place? I jumped off the stairs and dove head first.......bubbled all the way down to the bottom of the 4 ft (which happens to be a liquid black hole when you are 2 1/2 feet). As I frantically flailed my entire being trying to catch some air, a lifeguard swooped my tiny body up and demanded that I not enter the pool again. What a buzz kill. 

WHY THE HELL DID I THINK OF THIS STORY?! I have no idea but a couple of insights were realized while remembering it. I for one recognized that I wanted to learn something....and folllowed an action from what I thought was a simple task. I didn't think I needed to actually work to swim. It sure didn't look like my sister was working, she was having fun! Following what looked effortless for my sister led me to almost drown. This story is not one to blame my sister for not being a good teacher and leaving me to drown. It is actually a reminder of why we go through things in life and gain wisdom from them. A four year old is eager to learn and will follow what they see.  Sometimes the 4 year olds in us do not go away. Let us be cautious of just doing something because you see it done and assume you know how. Take the time to educate yourself on whatever it is you desire to accomplish. Understand full your intention and what you want from the outcome. When you have taken the time to learn and fully understand, things come with ease and grace. Be ready to jump in and swim, but remember in order to do so, it takes understanding of how to move your entire being in order to stay afloat. 

[billysigudla]

#prayforyouth #lessonsfromlife #itendedwithtears (at Brits Letlhabile) https://www.instagram.com/p/CE1O0WiDep1/?igshid=upsfz6vgsvc8

[natty373]

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A post shared by ☆꧁�� 𝔹𝕒𝕝𝕒𝕟𝕔𝕚𝕟𝕘 𝕪𝕆𝕦𝕣 𝕊𝕖𝕟𝕤𝕖𝕤༒꧂☆ (@nattys_zenness)

💜 Feeling is the greatest power 💜 💓 💓 💓 💓 💓 A line taken from one to the mentoring poems I wrote. To listen to the full piece ... 🔆 Link In Bio 🔆 💜 💜 #love #connection #skit #humour #oldschool #fun #fishingtrip #lessonsfromlife #edutainment #mentoring #auntynatty #wisdom #livingphilosophy #selfhelp #selfcare #liferefinementtherapies #lifeisbeautiful (at NorthSide at the HIVE) https://www.instagram.com/p/Bzq8SnzAhOE/?igshid=3ehu8yalnl9d

[thegentlecowboy]

The New You

a kind of a preface:

In the last years I learned: Humans have much more power and capabilities than we are aware of. In my case, I did never expect that a disease-induced handicap is able to open my heart and my senses for the true satisfaction in life. My companion is  (or was?) called 'multiple sclerosis'. In the last 20 yrs, I managed (and succeeded in) some challenges in my and in others' lifes and never lost my positive attitude. A source of positive energy lives in my soul, I was guessing!

Though besides this, hardness in life has its positive functions. We grow from there. I will demonstrate it in the following posts. Some of my learnings were a big surprise for me. How to lose much and feel free on the other side – I did not expect such a positive impact of loss.

The way the environment, the background shaped us ... makes it difficult to stay authentic, to be really who we are. After some years, I could accept that I was in a state of constant loss – losing body functions due to small damage in the neurologic system. Was it really the reason or is there more behind it. In future posts, I will cover this question. After accepting my fate, I draw my conclusions about what the doctors (and science) say: You can't get better anymore. You can be happy if you stay in your current state. More likely is that you will lose more and more. OK. Let's play a good match with a bad set of cards – my conclusion out of this.

Since I started to trust in my own healing and restoring power, things change more and more to a better side: nutrition changed, self love improved (later, I will write a lot about self love and its importance), started to feel my body better, supporting this by physiotherapy (I call it sports), every day training and hearing more and more my inner voice saying:

It was the old You, who learned to accept and to adapt. But now there is the new You starting – the new You is the one who learned that we can heal ourselves if we carefully consider our environment and our energy levels. The new You is caring about getting better, not about to slowly disappear completely. My travel just started – I don't know where the flow of life is carrying me.

Takeaway:

Find your inner self and listen to it. The environment is a reality that tries to create us – but the inner voice should be your guide, not the words of others.

[embones]

What does emigration do to you?

What does emigration do to you?

This is a very current question, as many of you might contemplate a change of citizenship and/or country in the wake of Brexit. Usually, when you read about emigration, they are either dry numbers or glorified brochures from travel agents. Lest be honest, many of us wanted to move to the place where we had spent holidays in hope that this summer bliss might spread on the rest of our lives. And…

[dispatchusa]

"I believe that everything happens for a reason. People change so that you can learn to let go, things go wrong so that you appreciate them when they're right, you believe lies so you eventually learn to trust no one but yourself, and sometimes good things fall apart so better things can fall together." -- Marilyn Monroe #marilynmonroe #thingshappenforareason #lessonsfromlife #looseevening but #comebacksoonstronger #oldhollywood #legends #celebrity #DiversityNewsMagazine #StevenEscobar #contentcreator #contentcreator4hire

[dav-lee]

Today I woke up for work at 7:30AM. On May 14th, my first day of work, I woke up at 6:30AM. Despite the change, I still make it to work by the same approximate time every morning; 8:15AM. With each 15 minute increase in sleep time, I’ve found that I can still make it to work on time and each time I make it to work on time leads me to push snooze a couple more times the next day. One other thing I’ve found is that once I get used to waking up later, it is excruciatingly hard to go back to waking up at an earlier time, no matter how little the time difference may be.

I like listening to soundtrack music as I leave my apartment in the morning. It makes the start of my day feel as though my route down the stairs and to the bus stop will lead towards a monumental and life-altering event… I end up in the same cubicle every time. 

[shiteskypesays]

Here is what I learnt from Mexicans.

Frazier 2015

[dispatchusa]

"I believe that everything happens for a reason. People change so that you can learn to let go, things go wrong so that you appreciate them when they're right, you believe lies so you eventually learn to trust no one but yourself, and sometimes good things fall apart so better things can fall together." -- Marilyn Monroe #marilynmonroe #thingshappenforareason #lessonsfromlife #looseevening but #comebacksoonstronger

[helensclimbingandcakes]

On the 6th August there is a trial for a place to compete in the Seeding round, then if successful the competition. In a bizarre moment of "I am a participator" type attitude I signed up. All that seems to be required is that the participant has to be able to climb 5.12c on plastic. Well infact I can onsight that at my local gym .... so why not? Never mind I am likely going to be up against professional gymnast-type climbers in their twenties, some one has to make up the numbers right?

So upon my return from the International Climbers Festival in Wyoming I headed inside to prepare. Its a million degrees in Boulder right now anyway, so seems like pulling on plastic for a while could be worthwhile.

Its been a hard week so far, and today I am forced to actively follow the advice regarding rest  I found in this article: 

http://www.climbing.com/skill/resting-the-strategic-way/

Yesterday I did a full 6 hours not counting walking up to a crag in Boulder Canyon only to take one look at the baking hot wall deciding that outside climbing might be more detrimental than successful in these conditions. It was 30 degrees and only 8am. At Movement climbing gym we did about 6 laps of the steepest wall over 2.5 hours. Then I went home for a break and to refuel. However I mostly did other activities such as writing, walking the dog, around-the-house-jobs etc. This is not rest. If I want to do this climbing thing seriously and plan on doing multiple workouts a day I need to actively focus on resting.

So I managed to switch off for an hour and watch half a movie right in the middle of the day. Very weird for me to do this, but to get the most out of each workout total rest is important. At this point I was really dreading how I would feel by the end of the day with so much of my workout still to come. At 5pm it was off to the Little Yoga Studio for a level 2 Vinyasa class and back to movement for another 6 or 7 pitches with Tiffany who is also doing Psicobloc. We worked on speed climbing difficult routes. Despite my feelings of dread earlier in the day about how I would feel after all of this it wasn't that bad. Yes I was tired, but I managed to complete a steep 5.12c that I had fallen off earlier in the day and was still trying hard. Adequate rest and fuel through the day pays off. 

Quick update on the 2 week yoga binge:

If you read a previous post: The Joy of Yoga you will have gathered I am on a bit of a yoga bender. So far I have done 9 days in a row on top of my usual workout schedule. I have to say (and I don't mean to be cliche) but it has been a bit of a journey. If I wasnt entirely clear in my earlier post (it wasn't exactly clear to me at the time when I embarked on this mission) I decided to practice yoga everyday for two weeks. I really cant explain entirely why I put this task on myself. During this time I have experienced a whole range of emotions including;

real tears,

happiness,

joy,  

anger - mostly at myself for dreaming up this stupid challenge and for some reason this thought usually appears during warrior 2)

apathy - usually occurs on the way to yoga or in the hour before (with thoughts  like: 'ahh it wont matter if I don't go today...' '....what difference will it make?'etc)

Grumpiness around about day 5 and 6 it felt like the two weeks would last forever the feeling was a lot like climbing a mountain and reaching false summit after false summit before the top. 

Euphoric feelings of reaching the top such as today on day 9 while I rest and look forward to my 3:45pm Yin class. 

and most frequently tiredness - possibly from the many hours of climbing training I am doing, but the added yoga classes perhaps unfairly gets most of the blame for this. 

To be continued, only 4 more days to go!

In addition I stopped drinking any alcohol during this two weeks. However this has not been at all difficult and I can honestly say I haven't even noticed the change. That is likely because I really didn't drink much in the first place, just the occasional low alcohol beer. While I am really looking forward to the end of the yoga challenge I haven't even given a thought to the first beer I will be drinking..... well that is until now as I write this. 

[helensclimbingandcakes]

The Reality of Self Promotion

Why are you here? Why read this site. It has taken me quite some time to come around to the idea of ‘putting myself out there’. I almost pride myself in the fact I don’t wear labels, don’t have fancy new gear, and don’t have to answer to anyone either. There is no pressure for me to perform, and I don’t have to pose for any photographs. However I do need to replace various items, a rope twice a year, and right now I need a new harness. It seems like I go through shoes faster than anyone else I know. Friends and family have said; ‘why don’t you put yourself online, advertise a little then you could at least afford some new clothes!’ Right now my newest down jacket is 5 years old with a broken zipper. Weirdly I have three down jackets, and they all busted there zippers within the same month. Perhaps a sign?

  But it wasn’t the need to look like a shiny glittery sponsored climber that finally prompted me into launching this website and blog. It was my teenage diaries. I used to keep a diary in high school and first years of Uni (aka Collage). It wasn’t a private diary, in fact it was well known among friends and some even read it cover to cover. I wrote it for others to read, and the only condition was that they had to write in it too when they read something worth a comment. It was this realization that this diary was like the modern day blog that prompted me into developing a website. It was popular back then, so perhaps people still want to read about my silly, embarrassing, victorious, joyful, sad or even boring (at times) adventures.

  I was thinking about who would want to read about me; climber-cake-maker-firefighter wannabe.  I am not breaking any records in any of those areas. But I am unique and interesting. I made a decision many years ago not to solely focus on climbing but to keep developing my career alongside climbing. While I am by no means close to the best climber in the world I am a solid 5.13 sport climber and can onsight 5.11 trad pitches ten pitches off the ground in Yosemite. To me this is an achievement considering I have a degree in Biology, Business Management, a Masters in Emergency Management and 7 or so years of work experience in government departments.

  The climbers I admire the most and the one I aspire to be is one that makes climbing sustainable and can do more than just climb. I believe it is more difficult to work full time, maintain a training schedule, maintain personal relationships and a well behaved dog, develop interests and climb at a competitive level than be a professional climber. Recently one of my closest friends said to me; “Helen, it’s all those things that make you a whole person”. She said this after I had put the idea of giving up everything to pursue a particular climbing goal past her.

  This is the ever present dilemma; give it all up just to climb.  But at what cost? It has been a mystery to me how pro climbers can afford to live before they get to the point where they are good enough to live off the money they make from sponsorship deals.

  I have been climbing dirtbag for about 10 years. Some of those times have been more dirtbag than others. By dirtbag I mean living life to climb, living cheap, living with no fixed address, following the climbing weather, wearing second hand clothes, second hand climbing shoes, and generally looking like I am one step away from homelessness. In fact one time I was sleeping in the Barcelona Airport (airports make fantastic free and safe accommodation) and I woke up to this incredible smell of sweaty burned rubber and feet. It was this homeless guy who had rolled out his layer of cardboard next to my punctured therma-rest and gone to sleep alongside me. The only apparent difference was that I seemed to have a little more stuff, and hopefully smelled a little better, hopefully. 

  But I am perhaps not a true dirtbag lifer. Periodically I have had a job and I have lived in fixed accommodation I even own the place I live in right now, and I have a couple of degrees under my belt. But for each of those times I have had a saving plan and usually a plane ticket and a 6 month trip planned for the future. My work to climbing ratio seems like an even split.  I save money and believe in a philosophy of work-less-spend-less. I don’t usually develop attachment for material items; everything can be sold, stored or given away so I can move on at one time or another. My greatest expenses are flights, petrol (aka gas), and food – eating healthy is a total must. I cut corners in some areas, meat for example is usually too expensive, as is drinking beer at a pub and eating at restaurants, so those are real treats. I never eat USA fast food, and am good at purchasing bulk items and making my own granola and power foods.

It was while I was living this lifestyle in a Ford (will never own another ford for as long as I live) Windstar Van that I met my equally thrifty husband Josh. We met on Sickle Ledge on the Nose route of El Capitan, Yosemite, CA. That’s another story. I have to thank him as he is currently working full time and I am lucky enough to be able to continue to live the life I am accustomed to while he is working.  It is with his support and encouragement that I have come to live in Boulder, Colorado, in a small town house with an adorable dog named ‘Rabbit’ and I have come to the point where I am “putting myself out there”.