All Eyes on You, 2014

Tonight I kept up with my longstanding tradition of voluntarily spending New Year's alone. A couple of them

My blurry image of this prime, quiet spot for ultimate firework
viewing.

were spent on the dock listening to the neighbors' party guests yell out the countdown, reading Frankenstein in my parents' living room, just flat out asleep, and one or two others. Last year I broke that tradition and spent it with a large crowd of loved peoples, and my first New Year's kiss since I was 14'ish. This year, alone on a milk crate with a 180 degree view of Town Lake and fireworks filling the skyline it felt good to get back into the old ways as lonely as they may be. If there were a duck nearby, I would have grabbed it and given it a kiss.

I am a being of reflection. So much so that I make the reflection of the Tetons over a glacial lake on a still day look blurry. If you've ever questioned my ability to reflect, then you don't know me that well and have obviously never visited this blog before. And that is not to say that I reflect well or in the right direction. But if a day goes by that I have not reflected on it, then it means something bigger must be on my mind.

So naturally New Year's is a time where everyone reflects on their past 364 days.

And naturally I fall into that year after year.

But this year....

Nope.

I know a lot of people that have had a much worse 2013 than I could imagine. It really seems it just has been a tough year for many people. At times it felt like I was wading through glue. 2013 did not really give me much. I moved to a new city and worked full time. That's the gist of it. But really, I didn't receive anything most likely because I didn't give anything either. And with all the people that I have met that are absolutely deserving of good fortune and an easy break, who am I to ask for better? Many out there truly deserve better.

So if I am not reflecting (anymore at least because let's be honest I've been reflecting about 2013 on an hourly basis all year) then what am I doing?

Just trying to keep my head up and move forward because I am sick and tired of getting tossed flaming bags of dog poop every time I attempt to take a step. That's over. Do you hear that, 2014? It's over. 2013 was a bully and now we are playing by my rules, and I promise I will try to return to my passions, inspirations, curiosities, and affections for travel.

If you've had a tough 2013, I am here to state again: 2014 is going to be better. It just has to be.

Type 9 With a 1 Wing

Let's talk about the Enneagram shall we?

First of all, when you search the leading sites regarding the Enneagram (ie. enneagraminstitutue; enneagram.net, etc), you may find that this personality theory, based from hundreds to thousands of years of spiritual oral tradition, is all about fluffing up your traits. When a lot of people look into these things they want to know the good things about themselves, and so naturally websites will focus on the pros and only lightly touch on the cons. This is not what the Enneagram is truly based upon.

So for example, a label is often associated with each personality type. I am a type 9 and most websites label this type as "Peacemaker." However, the essence of the Enneagram is based upon how we have trained ourselves to survive, labeled as compulsions. Our personality is a "sin," where sin is defined as anything that is a hindrance to our true selves. So instead of being labeled as a peacemaker, I should be labeled by my compulsion: Avoidance of Conflict. I desire for everything and everyone to be in a state of harmony but to do that I have adapted an avoidance of conflict. I am not saying that there aren't positive traits to each type, but the base of the Enneagram is to discover our true selves and reach a sense of spiritual enlightenment, so to say. In order to do this we have to whap down the fluff and get to the real, gritty core.

http://www.enneagramwork.com/welcome.html -This sites provides ways for others to relate with personality types.

http://www.enneagram.net/types.html -A good sites for more detailed descriptions of each type.

http://www.enneagraminstitute.com/dis_sample_36.asp#.UpgJCoXbJr0 -Short, 36 question test. I like that this site gives traits at different levels of personal health.

My roommate has a book that details the history of the Enneagram and moves through the types on a very deeper basis. It's pretty good. Pretty much 17 times more helpful than the websites I've looked at in pursuing "a journey of self discovery." Fluff will only melt away in your hands, and in the end is just a temporary happy filling. Vices are tangibly harder, and you can have exhilarating battles against them. Coming on top stronger and better. I am currently reading the Hobbit and have had attempted an outlook on life very similar to the adventures of Bilbo and the dwarves.

Being a type 9 makes me intensely empathetic, and I am very happy to be associated with many of the nice traits that can come from obtaining a mentally and physically healthy type 9 personality. But there are truer discoveries to be made when taking the less appealing traits and chewing on them for a while. My dilemma is that I cannot stop putting others before myself and my own needs (as Type 9 graciously points out), but in order to begin the road to self discovery this is exactly what I need to do.

I encourage everyone to take a look at their own personality types via the free short test in the link above. And share with people in your lives. If we could understand that we are all not the same (we all coping in various ways), then we would be able to get along with each other and effectively communicate better.

The world would be a better place. It just would.

Among Other Things, Respect

Full disclosure: The past couple of months have been grueling. Not necessarily bad, just very intense. Just 5 days ago I was prancing around the garden center, choreographing moves to my musical "The Grand Outdoors" and laughing. After a great day of climbing at Camp Eagle this past weekend I sat alone by the river, listened to a toad calling out to the night, watched the moon and clouds reflect brightly over the water and thought to myself, "I have been in a bad mood for a year." And truly, I have.

Over the past several weeks I have tried to maintain a candidness in myself  that I have never before experienced. I have wanted to grow and be completely honest with myself. It is so easy for us to say, "Well, this is not my fault. That other person should have done such and such." Instead of that I may say, "He should have respected me, but I also should have done better at demanding that respect from him with my presence and words.' And that has been my theme this past week: respect.

What I've learned is that there is a fine line between accepting something as disrespectful or receiving an action as a product of the other's personality that isn't intending to be disrespectful and that we cannot change. Because we cannot change personalities of others. But we can say, "When you say/do that, I feel disrespected." And if there personality is of character, then he/she will try to honor that request in the future.

Two nights ago I am hoping was the pinnacle of this rough and rocky terrain. I came home from a great two days of climbing and good times to find that my house had been broken into and my things along with my two roommates' things had been sorted through and taken. It took a few moments for me to realize what happened, I quickly searched the house with my guard up that someone could still be there, and in the loneliness of my new home my nerves began to shatter.

Later that evening I got stung by a honeybee and out of precaution I took a Benadryl. I fell asleep quite early and remained in a state of emotional numbness for 36 hours. Yesterday I just "was." Benadryl is a powerful drug for small people. But I never experienced anger, or the "Why me?" phase. But I did feel disrespected.

Last night I went to bed early out of grogginess, and about midnight I woke and the numbness had been broken. Quickly after that came the breakdown and tears (Boo, poor me.) But they weren't tears for sadness, they weren't tears of frustration. They just came. When you experience 1,001 emotions in just such a short period of time they need a way to escape. And escape they did. I asked for understanding and told myself I am strong until I fell back asleep. "I'm feeling a lot better. I think I will go for a walk." *Monty Python reference*

 No good backpacker knows anything about the terrain by staying in the valley. Sometimes you have to take the grueling 1 mile hike to the top of Pilot mountain in order to see the beautiful overlook of Blue Ridge Parkway with a strong sense of "I did it." And from there, you can know where you are headed.

*

Demolition and the Rebuild

Today as I waited on a friend to come and pick me up I witnessed the demolition of a class Austin small home. All over South Austin unique homes are flattened and boring "eco-friendly" boxes are built in place. The character of Austin is deteriorating at an incredible rate.

It was sad. To see something that contained memories, good and bad, and a 50-year history be destroyed in just a few moments. Demolitions of homes are sad indeed.

But in my own life these past few weeks I have moved through my own demolitions. Dismantling many barriers to find fears behind them, hidden like cockroaches in crevices and just as nasty to look at. There have been moments where I have faced with myself moments of intense honesty and brutal realizations. These tough tidbits are worth it.

I find myself dating back to moments of pain that happened over two years ago that built impenetrable mounds of self preservation. Slowly, I am moving forward until I hit another impediment.

One thing I have discovered is how emotional of a person I am, in all ranges. I am empathetic, I get hurt easily, I cry way more than I like to admit, but it also incredibly easy to bring up my mood. For a long time I have felt there is something wrong with me that I get this way. And there are things I can do to help my mind remain more on ground level. But it is never wrong for me to feel the way I do. My emotions may seem silly and invalidated sometimes, but I know they are. That doesn't mean I can control when those feelings will arise.

To be told that there is no reason for my emotions, or to have them turned into an untruth it attempts for others to explain them, is incredibly hurtful. If you have someone in your life who is emotional, you will drive yourself to anger if you try to reason every inexplicable emotion that person is having. As a society, we fail at letting things go. Recently there are angry videos surrounding the "fraudulent" faint during one of Obama's speeches, where he turned to steady the girl. People just cannot brush it off, whether it is fake or not. But we must be able to let things go when it comes to the people we love in our lives. We don't have to understand everything about them, but we can accept and love them for them. Once we embrace this capacity, then we can love more than we thought imaginable.

Our past is just as much a part of us as the present. We can live in the moment but if we have not come to terms with what has happened to us, then we become infected with the negativity and pain. And, "if we have pain, all we have to offer is pain."

These past few weeks have been quite inspiring, though often at times very tough. But growth is happening and exciting secret plans are being made! I cannot wait for my next move forward.

Forgiveness

Forgiveness is a mighty tool. But in the past I have falsely believed that maybe there are some things that cannot be forgiven and must be let go of by other means. In years time it may take a major event in order to recognize the negative impact unforgiving has played in one's life. If we never truly let go, then a burden sears anger, lack of patience, and frustration into our daily lives.

In my own, I feel I have been inhibited. That in the past couple of years, especially since graduating from college, I have not nurtured my hobbies and dedication to the natural world. Maybe I have not nurtured these because I never forgave. But the words, "I forgive you" even sound arrogant to me. Shouldn't we more say to another, "I have let go of the grudge,"? Maybe you don't need to be forgiven. And maybe I don't need to be forgiven. But the negative association has been lifted. No one is at fault because we were both at fault. When memories lay heavy on our hearts, they become fetters. We cannot excel in other facets of life because of this limiting factor.

Lately I have been attempting to meditate on the places where I have felt my greatest peace. Tennet Mountain on several occasions, Big Rock Trail in DuPont, the top of Moore Cove waterfall, slowly swimming laps in an empty pool. These images bring back reflections of peace of mind and heart. When I do this I feel a type of emptiness that is followed by rejuvenation. Why have I not done this before? Why have I not given myself the jumpstart that I so longingly desired?

In a while, I have lacked hope of a new beginning. And here is one set in front of me. I am not completely lifted of my fetter, the "unforgivable" act, but I feel the chains loosening. As they do, doors are beginning to open. If I keep those pieces of WNC in my mind, then I am able to tip-toe into the first steps of moving forward.

Great Advice

This is the time in my life when all that advice my wise mentors handed out to me over my childhood should come into good use. I remember hearing several things over the years and thinking to myself, "I really should remember this for the future." I even tried to write all the good ones down, but that seemed to be very short lived.

So where did all that good advice go? Advice doesn't only matter if it is only the pieces that have sunk in to my memory, does it? If that is the case, then the advice someone once gave me about how shaving makes your hair grow back quicker and thicker falls under the "great advice" category. My dad is great with using quotes as excellent pieces of wisdom. He began every soccer season by giving the team a list of encouraging and inspirational stories and snippets. Following his lead, I strove to always have a quote on hand for any occasion. But as it turns out I have the memory of a goldfish and memorization does not bow down willingly. And as it turns out, only using quotes to sound well-read and wise in the ways of the world only makes you look pretentious. Under the surface, I am still aching for a lesson.

I truly hope that I took every piece of advice to heart and that it has seeped into my core. I hope that those words were not wasted. I hope that I have been shaped and molded in a way that I can develop my own experiences in order to obtain my own idioms for the future.

Hol-la-la-lolidays

What an emotionally wild week! I feel that with the distance from my family, I have become more empathetic with them as well. My mom left for a couple of weeks to visit her family in Florida, leaving dad alone at the house. He wasn't there very long before receiving news about the failing health of our Aunt Louise. As the noble man he is, he stayed by her bedside throughout the days and eventually assisted in the very tough decision to cease her life support. All on an Easter weekend. My poor grandmother. Louise is one of her main companions apart from the caretakers constantly in her home.

On my mom's end of the story, she and Aunt Pam drove to the wrong airport on Saturday. The correct adjacent airport wasn't far away but they got stuck in traffic and the airport had closed by the time they reached it. On Easter Sunday mom ran 30 gates to reach her flight to Charlotte in time. I've been in a state of reflection, remorse, anxiousness, wanting, and homesick. Work is definitely a place where I can keep busy and leave issues at the gates. I learn new plants, pet cute doggies, laugh at silly Ferrell cats, and talk with some wonderfully nice people for the most of each day.

Holidays are very weird to me, especially when you think about their origins or how we try to make two things connect into the same day. Santa and baby Jesus. Easter bunny and the resurrection of Christ. Giving thanks to remember a brief moment in long stretch of time when the pilgrims and native Americans communed with one another. But if we didn't have these occasional holidays as reminders to bring families together and inspire goodwill then where would we be? It is nice to have them.

Next up: Cinco de Mayo!

Neat Plants

I have been posting some things in the Neat Nature tab, due to my extension of plant community on my back porch. Most are freebies. But if you wanna check out some neat succulents. Click on that tab!

Fears and Triumphs in Uncertainty

I saw my first Greater Roadrunner (Geococcyx californianus). It was pretty stellar as they are huge, ground-dwelling cuckoos that are like the honey badger of the Southwest states: they just don't give a sh**. They eat everything! True omnivores. Scorpions, lizards, other birds and eggs, and even sometimes two roadrunners combine forces to overcome rattlesnakes for food. When explaining what the roadrunner looked like to Dan, who did not get the luxury of seeing it, I claimed he had the stance of a velociraptor and it seems they are as voracious as one too. Besides the plagues of grackles (yes, they are technically referred to as a plague) that squawk and squeal over my head on my walk to the bus after work, there have not been many cool nature sitings.

But in other aspects of living in Austin, apart from the obvious differences of lush western N.C., we have settled in pretty nicely here. This city is growing rapidly. Many people are moving out, but the numbers of newcomers has shot up over the past few years. There are job opportunities, green spaces and efforts of remaining local and sustainable, and lots of construction. There is a large construction project just on the other side of the fence of our apartment, which we've nicknamed the "Man-Girl Cave", that beeps and vrooms from 6-5 almost everyday.

Our new local crag on the Greenbelt. Cacti hover over the edge between anchors.

When we moved, I quickly noticed the different reactions on both sides. People we were leaving behind practically were saying, "Are you sure you want to go through with this? There are a lot of uncertain factors at stake." After arriving in Texas, new people we talked to simply stated, "That's bold, but heck you're young enough to do it." We didn't have any jobs lined up, didn't know anybody, didn't know where to look for good apartment communities. As much research as we did on Austin, it remained a shot in the dark to pick up and move most of our things to a brand new part of the country. As we reached Nashville Dan said, "This is the furthest west I have ever been in a car."

There were a lot of fears for each of us. And still are. We are settling but still forever trying to figure out if there is any kind of rhythm to living life. I am proud of us. We heeded the warnings of our family and friends, yet still made a decision we thought was best for us. Currently, with the pulses and waves that resonate through all of us, we are hitching a ride on one that will hopefully lead us to our dreams/future careers. 

There is no certainty, at least not complete certainty. That is what I have learned so far. And that life is a little more exciting and open to you when you embrace the uncertainties. Getting married, planting a new tree in your backyard, applying to graduate schools, moving across the country. These all have unknown factors that cannot be predicted. But with the right attitude, immeasurable good can come from all of them. A lifelong bestfriend, shade/fruit/more biodiversity, a masters degree, or an exponential learning curve of a new area, people, cultures, etc.

My Qualifications as a Child Caretaker

To whom it may concern,

I am writing to you with full confidence in the position to watch over your child(ren). I believe that I exceed the necessary qualifications. Allow me to list a few of the relevant tasks that I am skilled in:

*I am very good at counting things up to 10-15 (stairs, blocks, freckles, you name it!)
*I am bilingual in the basic colors
*My passion for Disney movies and children's shows extends as far back to my birth (as long as it's not the Wiggles, Sliggles, Doodly Bop-de-bops, or any of those shows where adult men dress up in creepy androgenous costumes and try to dance/rap)
*I can explain the fundamental differences between a rock and a tree
*Some have claimed my impressions of animals are just as good as being at the zoo
*Repetition is my favorite activity
*Anything can be turned into a song (diaper changing, putting pj's on, attacking tickle monsters, you get the idea)
*The child spots the forbidden candy haphazardly left out on the counter? Oh! Did you see Elmo just came to life and jumped out of his basket (cue crazy and exaggerated arm waves/facial expressions).
*Dancing? Not a problem.

These are just a few of many talents that I have discovered. I doubt you will find someone who is as enabled as myself when it comes to children.

Yours truly,
Courtney

P.S. I have gone so far in life.

Life Beneath the Layers

I slipped on my Carhartts and headed toward the nursery, a cloudy and frigid 32 degrees outside. This is what winter is suppose to feel like, all the time. But in just a couple more days the temperatures will jump back up to feel more like early Spring.

Yesterday I had closed the greenhouses due to the icy warnings and predictions that never came to be. Now I was headed to re-open them so as the greenhouses wouldn't heat up too much to trick the plants into believing Spring had finally come.

The propagation house is filled with cuttings that were planted months ago, not by me. One day they may be full grown plants, if they can successfully root into the soil. I looked at a couple of the crops of hydrangeas and viburnums. Their leaves had browned, detached, and were in the first phases of decay. I thought to myself how dead they looked and commemorated them for putting up the good fight.

Yes, I do talk to plants sometimes. It's a habit I have gained during my years down at the nursery. I use to talk to Snickers, but once she passed away I directed my thoughts to the plants. I'm sure they listen.

I began to pick up all of the dead leaves, leaving the stems in their tiny pot homes. As I did so, I noticed that some of the stems actually had buds on them. The plants weren't dead at all!

Inspiration comes in the strangest of forms sometimes.

"Sometimes you just need to pick off the dead leaves to find the life surviving beneath."

The Challenge in "Resting"

Over the past several weeks I have learned how to make beeswax lotion and candles, coconut-based shampoo/body wash, sketched garden ideas, job hunted, taught myself some new Yoga moves, indulged some Natural Science love, rekindled poetry, obsessed over my niece and cat, reflected the meaning of life and much more.

I have also watched a lot of Angel, MI-5, Once Upon A Time, movies, stalked Facebook, began Tweeting, created a Pinterest account and other guilty vice pleasures.

I feel I have grown much closer to my family in the past few months.

The greatest challenge is that there has been very little challenge involved. And I directly relate challenges to growth.

Physically not much has happened (no climbing, no backpacking, minimal hangboard workouts and hiking) and I find myself quite angsty. Emotionally there has been a lot of running to and fro, leaving me exhausted and bewildered. At most times people do not realize the internal hysteria and panic that rushes through my veins during times like these.

As a person that strongly believes every period in our lives significantly guides us in a future direction, I am often left at the end of my thoughts wondering, "Where the heck is this period of rest leading me?" Many people can take times like this and create something big out of it. Me, well I find that when I remain constantly busy I am much more motivated to jump into other productive facets. Galileo's Law of Inertia comes to mind. I require a constant external force to keep the momentum going.

Two years after creating this blog I am still learning how to shape motivation internally. My life is about to go through a very pivotal change.

A Place Where Dreams Come True

(I began this post before leaving for Thailand...obviously. I never got a chance to post it. So here it is months after my return!)

Wes and I finally had the chance to sit down and begin my first Thai lesson. He began palms together over his heart, "Sawat dee krap." Easy, I thought. I know this one. I responded with the female greeting, "Sawat dee ka." And we began.

Typically, I can pick up on the basics of languages fairly quickly. In high school I received the Spanish Award by our Senor. In college I took two semesters of Hellenistic Greek with about eight other students. My teacher also awarded me with the "Excellence in Hellenistic Greek" award gifted with a book of Greek Proverbs. In Germany last summer I studiously flipped through the pages of the German guidebook in the airport and fervently asked vocabulary and sentence structure questions to Annett. By the end of the two weeks I could pick up some pieces of conversations and ask/answer more than just basic questions (in rough German). Languages to me are a peek into cultures. Many words and phrases are inappropriately translated because the cultural interactions behind them are missing.

"Kun bpai nai?" "Pom ja bpai Thailand."

We went over all the phrases to help Daniel and I find places, ask for prices, tell people where we are going, etc. Wes iterated that it did not matter how well we could say the inflections, because about 90% of the tourists in Thailand do not even worry about learning the language.

He then transitioned to the "magic" of Thailand. "It is a place where dreams come true," came very matter-of-factly out of his mouth. My first thought traveled to Disney World set in Thailand. But he continued, "If you open your heart to Thailand, it will answer your questions and dreams." Wes followed that statement with personal stories of his and friends that had similar experiences.

Wouldn't it be nice. For my dreams to come true. All I desire is an answer to my single question, "What actually is my dream?"