Chillin

“Chillin” is a word that has crept into the Urban Dictionary. A word for “Relaxing, doing nothing in particular.”

Chillin, in my book would require having happy thoughts, or better yet no thoughts. Living in the moment.

Children do that so well, they are not thinking ten minutes into the past or future. Animals too, like the cat on the right.

Their brain is not developed enough to have a whole a lot of memories of the past, or thoughts of the future. Human kind’s intelligence and memory capacity is both a gift and a curse.

I left the bike business in 1993. Over 20 years, or a lifetime for some young person. Since that time I have practiced doing nothing.

If you think that sounds easy, the next time you go to a doctor’s office or take your car in for an oil change, try to sit in the waiting room with your hands in your lap, and do nothing. Do not pick up a magazine or fiddle with your cell phone. More important keep your mind blank, free of any thought.

In the 1990s to achieve this state of mind I would have to make a point to set time aside each day to meditate. I did not get into meditation out of any desire to engage in some mystic eastern religion, but after reading about the practice it seemed like a good idea.

At the time my mind was constantly filled with negative thoughts, and as a result my life was filled with negativity. Throughout my waking hours my mind was filled with either thoughts of the past or future. I was either reliving the bad events of my past, or worrying about the possible misfortunes of the future.

My daily life was a constant torment and I realized it was of my own making. In time I realized, no matter how hard I tried my past would never get any better. What was the point of constantly reliving it, over and over?

The same with the future, it was only imagined. I was mourning some future bad event before it even happened. Worse still, my negative thoughts most probably brought about the very thing I was worrying about.

At least by consciously sitting quietly and pushing all thought from my mind, I was not thinking negatively. At first it was extremely difficult, I could not go but a minute or so before a thought about something or other would pop into my head.

I became an observer of my own mind. I could see that one idle random thought would lead to another and pretty soon there would be a whole train of thought on a track leading to who knows where.

At first my meditation sessions went something like this: Sit with my mind blank… a thought pops in… push it out… repeat… sit with my mind blank. In time, the periods I could consciously keep my mind blank increased, and if thoughts did pop in, they were pushed out with ease.

Even more beneficial, in time throughout the day while driving to work, or during my time at work I observed idle thoughts entering my mind, idle chatter that served no useful purpose. I began to consciously push these thoughts from my mind and keep it blank.

It probably took me about five years of effort to banish idle chatter from my mind. Today I rarely set aside actual time to meditate, instead I practice keeping my mind blank at all times.

While I sit and drink my coffee in the morning. If I drive my car, or ride my bike, or as I already pointed out while sitting in a waiting room somewhere.

Having a blank mind while driving or riding my bike is actually better and safer than being deep in thought. To be deep in thought, especially about something troubling is to be distracted, even to be in a state of trance.

Driving or riding a bike does not require conscious thought to anyone with experience, it is automatic. By that I mean even defensive riding or driving is automatic. Keeping the mind clear of extraneous thought, one is actually more alert should an emergency occur.

Keeping my mind blank is like sitting in front of a blank computer screen, or having a blank page of a notebook in front of me. It is an opportunity for creative thoughts to appear.

Just as it is impossible to convey my thoughts to someone else if that person will not stop talking and listen, if my mind is filled with constant chatter, creative thoughts have nowhere to enter.

I can highly recommend doing nothing when nothing is required, my life is mostly stress free. It is not necessary to be thinking if all you have to achieve is waiting for the oil to be changed in your car.  It is not difficult either, but it does take time, it is not going to happen overnight.

It has taken me over twenty years to get to the peaceful happy place I am now. But looking back it took me a great many more years to get to the mental Hell where I lived before.

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Hand Magic

In the mid 1990s I met a Native American from the Coquille Indian Tribe in Oregon. He told me about “Hand Magic.”

Native Americans view themselves as a part of Nature, not separate from it. Their belief is that there is but one creative source in this Universe, and man is just the vehicle through which art appears. In much the same way as a bird builds a nest, or ants build an ant hill.

When it comes to humans the Native American calls this “Hand Magic,” The Great Spirit guiding the artist’s hand through the mind and creating a piece of pottery, a blanket or some other object.

In the Middle Ages in England as in the rest of Europe men built houses with the minimum of planning or measuring. Just as there is very little planning or mesuring in a piece of Indian pottery or weaving.

Today these old crooked thatched roofed cottages still stand and the blend perfectly into the surrounding landscape. They actually add to the beauty of the English countryside.

I have come to realize only man is capable of creating ugliness. A man builds a barn in a field and paints it red; it is ugly, a blight on the environment. But as Nature takes over and the barn becomes derelict it becomes a thing of beauty; people come to photograph it, and artists paint it on canvas. (Above.)

Everything in Nature is beautiful, and if the artist is connected to this Spirit within as he/she creates, the art cannot help but be beautiful.

I have not always subscribed to this thinking, but over the years as I built bicycle frames it became an automatic process; second nature, so to speak.

Metal expands and contracts when it is heated then cools again. In time I knew which way the frame would distort and would actually start brazing with the frame out of alignment so it would be in alignment after it cooled.

The amount the frame was out of line at the start of the process was not a measured amount; it was an amount determined by eye, a feeling if you will.

After a frame was brazed and had cooled it was checked on a surface table and measured with a dial indicator. The frames were always within ten thousandth of an inch or so and therefore required a minimum of cold setting to achieve the final alignment.

When I met a customer I was building a frame for, I knew immediately what I would build for him. I would take measurements to confirm; I would not want the customer thinking I was building his frame by “Guess Work.”

In my early years as a frame builder I had also made ornamental iron work, and had painted pictures in oils. When I left the bike business, I was aware that whatever it was within my makeup that allowed me to successfully build bicycle frames, would allow me to embark on other creative endeavors.

Meeting that old Coquille Indian in Oregon confirmed what I had begun to figure out for myself. Now as a writer and songwriter, I believe as many other songwriters do that songs are already written and songwriters just pick them out of the air as they float by.

Some reading this will dismiss it as “New Age” bullshit, and that is okay because thirty or forty years ago I would have done the same.

                        

Point of View

If there is one thing I learned building bicycle frames; it is that no two people are alike.

If you could assemble a hundred people, all the exact same height, and then further separate into groups those with similar leg length.

You would find within those groups, the thigh, lower leg and foot measurements would all vary.

Even within the same race, people have different facial features, complexions, hair color, etc. When you consider all peoples, the variations are infinite. An individual’s finger prints are unique, and now we know that DNA is too.

Most people accept these differences and seldom question why. Therefore, it really should be no surprise that people’s opinions will vary even more infinitely than our physical differences.

What are opinions but a collection of thoughts, based on our individual beliefs and experiences? Sometimes called a “Point of View,” meaning literally, the world as one individual sees it from where they stand.

No two individuals can have the same view if they stand in different places.

In spite of this we sometimes argue and fight defending our point of view, or try to impose our opinions on others.

We accept every other difference in the human species, why do we expect the thought pattern of others to be in line with ours? We are each a free thinking spirit, and I can’t think of anything more random that a person's thoughts.

Could it be because our opinions are the yardstick by which we view and evaluate the world? It is how we judge situations and other people. Our opinions have been formed largely by our life experiences, our parents, teachers and other pivotal people in our lives.

Our opinions can change over time with changing circumstances; if we find a better one we change it. However, at any given time our opinion is the best it can be. We just can’t understand why anyone would have a different opinion, after all, ours is the best.

It is not the difference of opinion that is wrong; it is the failure to see that the other’s view point is from an entirely different place.

It is the single most cause of conflict between individuals, co-workers, friends, and families. On a larger scale, it is the basic reason nations assemble armies and go to war with each other.

I have found that defending one’s point of view is just a huge waste of time and energy. It achieves little; rarely does either side move any closer to the other’s way of thinking. Often it drives the two sides further apart

Instead I find it more constructive and fruitful to listen to the other’s opinion. Another’s estimation is often difficult to understand and may even arouse aversion.

But by the simple act of listening I am able to better understand the other's point of view without the obligation that it has to become my point of view. I may not necessarily see the other’s view, but I may see the position he is standing that gives him that view.

Just my opinion.

                        

Accentuate the Positive

In the 1940s Johnny Mercer wrote the following lyrics to a jazz standard:

You've got to accentuate the positive
Eliminate the negative
And latch on to the affirmative
Don't mess with Mister In-Between

400 years ago William Shakespeare wrote a line in the play Hamlet, “Nothing is either good or bad, but thinking makes it so.” Throughout history great minds have realized that thoughts are powerful.

Doctors and other learned people in the medical profession now believe that prayer can help a person heal. A person who is seriously ill and has a support group of friends and family praying for them, will heal quicker than someone who doesn’t.

You can take or leave the religious aspect; but if you think about it, a prayer is nothing more than a positive thought. In the act of praying a person makes an affirmation that there will be a desired outcome; if this person believes in the outcome, it is a positive thought.

If there is doubt in the mind of the person praying, it is no longer a positive thought, but a negative one and there will be no desired outcome. Looked at in this light a positive thought is nothing more than an unspoken prayer. A prayer and a positive thought are the exact same thing.

It doesn’t really matter if you believe that some divine power hears a prayer and acts upon it; or you simply believe in the power of positive thinking as Shakespeare did, and believe that “Thinking makes it so.”  

If we can believe these learned doctors who say that prayer or a positive thought can heal someone; then it seems to me it is entirely possible that a negative thought caused the illness or accident in the first place.

There was a saying that popped up sometime in the 1980s; it was “Shit Happens.”  I believe that shit doesn’t just happen, but negative thinking causes shit to happen. Either my own negative thinking or that of someone close to me.

Misfortune can come in many forms; not just illness or accidents. Items of value can get broken, lost or stolen. Relationships end or we can suffer financial losses or hardships.

If someone I know is experiencing a string of bad luck; for example, their car breaks down, they get sick, and their home gets vandalized or broken into, all around the same time.

If I enquire further, I can practically guarantee that there is some other shit going on in their lives, like a divorce, a family dispute or problems with a coworker.  In other words, negative thoughts and negative shit are flying around.

Some people believe that bad luck comes in threes; so if they suffer two misfortunes they are expecting a third. And sure enough there will be a third misfortune, why? Because thinking makes it so. There is rarely a fourth misfortune; because this person firmly believes bad luck only comes in threes.

When I set out on a bike ride it is sometimes difficult not to have the thought, “Will I have an accident, will someone hit me today?” However, I don't worry too much about the occasional negative thought; it is only natural. 

I dismiss the thought immediately and I take comfort that it is not just that “Thinking makes it so,” but it is thinking and believing that gives the thought its power.

Just as praying for someone but not really believing in the outcome turns the positive thought into a negative; thinking a negative thought but at the same time not believing it, the negative will not occur.

I take Johnny Mercer’s advice and “Accentuate the positive, eliminate the negative.” I accentuate the positive by considering my odds of staying safe are enormous when compared to the odds I will have a mishap.

By riding defensively and staying alert, I increase my odds of not being hit. If I accentuate the positive, I automatically eliminate the negative.

Do you have any little tricks to stay positive, that you would like to share?

                         

Everything I need to know about life I can learn from my bicycle

• Life is a journey. A bike ride if you like and the joy is in the ride, not the destination.

Each morning I awake is like starting out on a fresh ride, I have a rough idea of what is in store for me on today’s ride.

However, when I actually get out on the road, I know there will be variables. Weather, traffic, mechanical problems, maybe a flat tire.

I do not set out expecting the worst, but I should not be surprised when little setbacks occur. Life is a stream of surprises. The things we like we call "Natural," what we dislike we call "Accidental." In reality it is all natural, all part of life's journey.

I may be riding in rush hour traffic, some are driving in an orderly manner, and others are in a hurry, driving erratically, cutting in front of people. Add to this, hoards of pedestrians on the sidewalk and crossing the street.

It all seems like chaos, when in fact everyone has a destination; they all have individual plans and know where they are going. Life too appears chaotic, but beneath the surface it is not.

The road I travel is the one I choose, although I may need to steer a course around a few obstacles. I have to remind myself, every moment is as it should be.

• Attitude is like a bicycle. A good one will make the ride easier and more pleasurable.

When riding my bike it is best that I simply to pay attention observe what is happening and react to situations as they happen. In life bad things happen, there is crime, the economy, various mishaps and misfortunes.

There is no point in dwelling on the negative, because it will only spoil the enjoyment of my ride. It is best that I just ride my bike, observe what is happening, and deal with the problems as they occur.

Like a flat tire, it is not very pleasant at the moment I am dealing with it, however, once fixed I am back enjoying the ride again. Expect the best, but deal with the less than perfect situation as it happens.

• Running a business is like a bike race. Or for that matter dealing with a day to day household budget.

My level of fitness is the experience and knowledge I have accumulated over the years. Mistakes I made in the past are like those hard training miles I put in.

The amount of money I have in the bank, or as income, is like the amount of energy I have. Unless I use it wisely I will not last the distance. If I have no plan and I chase every breakaway that goes up the road my energy (Money.) will soon run out.

Riding along in the pack is like being financially comfortable, I am conserving my energy and I am not being wasteful. However, if I want to get ahead I will have expend some of my energy.

Waiting for the right break and seeing that there are other good riders there, is like waiting for the right business opportunity at the right moment.

I make a big effort; spend some of my energy. I may have team members who will help me. These are like valued employees or good friends. If I am successful I will come out ahead and will get my reward.

If I fail I may get caught by the pack and I am at least no worse off than I was before. On the other hand, I may have expended so much energy that I get dropped by the pack and I am now playing catch up.

I am now in debt and the only way to catch up is to put in a super human effort. If I don’t, out here riding alone I am spending more energy than when I was in the pack, just to stay level and possibly falling further behind in spite of it.

The speed, at which I catch up, depends on the effort I put in and whether I have people who drop back to help me catch up.

However, unlike a bike race life is ongoing and the effort I put in while I was “Off the back,” was good training for the future.

I’m sure there are plenty more analogies of life and my bike; they will have to wait for another day as I think of them. In the mean time, perhaps you can expand on mine, or think of new ones.