While out on my morning jog earlier this week, I came across an older woman walking her dog. I have a soft spot for Aussie’s, and this looked like a mini, so I pulled my AirPods out to ask. “Morning! Is that a mini Aussie?”
Her eyebrows rounded down at the nose along with a small frown of worriment. “No.” She replied, as if she got that question a lot. Well that was curt, I thought, thinking she might just be in a bad mood or just another grumpy old person. I had athletic clothes on, and was obviously out for morning exercise along with everyone else in Boulder. Did I look like a predator? Someone who mugs their elders at 7am on a Tuesday?
I fake-smiled, “Very cute,” and turned to resume my walk-jog. But before I could put my earbuds back in, she pointed to the sky and asked me what I thought about the birds.
Looking up, I saw about a dozen or so black birds circling a few hundred feet up, and maybe two hundred feet forward. We were just North of Chautauqua Park, one of the more posh neighborhoods of Boulder. Houses obstructed our view, so there wasn’t a clean line of sight to whatever they were hovering over. We both watched in silence for a moment, then I turned back to the woman and raised an eyebrow, “Could be a carcass,” thinking this was a good opportunity for a little revenge about not answering my question. “A bear might’ve got someone's dog… or a Mountain Lion maybe.”
She turned her gaze back to me. “Yeah, I thought so too.” Her voice trembled. “Think it’s gone?”
I felt ashamed, and went to right my wrong. “Hard to say, but with all the morning traffic and people out exercising, I’m sure it’s gone. It probably happened last night.” But my assurance didn’t seem to ease her tension. She looked up again as if a bear might drop right out of the sky on top of her.
“I hope so.” She said.
“Nothing to worry about. Have a good day now!” I said with a wave, and turned towards the birds to use myself as bait while she made her escape in the other direction - the least I could do for frightening an old lady.
I pressed play on my iPhone, then heard a faint, “You too! Have a good day!”, from behind me. And I smiled again. Redeemed.
Read
How I Survived a Wedding in a Jungle That Tried to Eat Me Alive
Two women decide to take their vows at La Danta, an ancient pyramid deep in the jungles of Guatemala. To get there, they must trek through mud, dense forrest, and bugs bigger than I’d like to imagine. This is a great (and hilarious) read on their adventure to a site that’s over 2,000 years old and is still being excavated to this day.
The Famous Artist Wellness Plan
What makes a great artist, great? Their habits? Their routines? Where do they get their creativity? We “average” humans love to think about this in hopes of using in our own lives. To model our behavior from their wisdom. Here is a list of some habits and routines of some of the greatest artists to ever live. But that you might want to think twice before implementing into your own life…
Swallow downers to counteract the uppers (Monroe).
Take anteater for a walk before lecturing in a swimsuit (Dali)
How to eat an Orange
I keep my Cuties refrigerated, those beautiful nectarines that taste better than a fresh batch of OJ. It’s hard to imagine growing up without fruit, let alone a society where even touching one could get you killed. This is true for Dilets, also known as Untouchables. Considered one of the lowest of India’s caste system, fruit is, quite literally, off the table. This is the story of a father who protests that caste (after leaving India I’m hoping…), and shows his love of his family (and fruit) by bringing home as much as possible to share.
The parable of the ox
In 1906, a competition was held at a country fair where contestants had to guess the weight of an ox. Initially, a scale was used to determine who guessed the closest. But as the guesses came in, they noticed the average of everyone was remarkably close to the actual weight. And so, over time, the wisdom of the crowds eventually took over - because why repair a scale when people can give you the answer?
Popular Parental Advice to Teens Throughout History
You can always count on The New Yorker for a bit of fun. Starting from 50,000 B.C. to up 1999, here’s a list of what parental advice to their children might’ve looked like over the years. Here’s a favorite:
1100, England
“Sweetie, if you feel uncomfortable, it’s always fine to say no. Not to your King, of course, who loves beheadings. And not to your future husband, who will own you as his property. You also shouldn’t say no to any priests or popes or scowling nuns, or to anyone with a sword. But, if you don’t like something, you can always whisper ‘No, thank you’ later on, in the quiet darkness of our donkey barn.”
Excerpt
One of the most dominant parts of our conditioning is our personal emotional history, the lingering feelings that have stayed with us that relate specifically to the strong emotions we have felt throughout our lives. Developing an understanding of what we have personally gone through and how these challenges manifest in our emotional and behavioral patterns helps us unlock the rigidity of our reactions. Instead of being trapped in a cycle that repeats the past, we can break the cycle, make different decisions, and feel things other than our most prominent defensive emotions. Our emotional history can sometimes be so dense that it limits our capacity to change our behavior to the point that it keeps us in a state of mere survival. But no emotional baggage from the past is beyond healing.
Lighter: Let Go of the Past, Connect with the Present, and Expand the Future, by Yung Pueblo.
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