I have yet to meet someone that doesn't have at least a few good memories with swings. Maybe it was their mom pushing them in the baby swings or that moment that you feel confident enough to stand up and propel yourself towards the sky, wondering if that rumor that Jimmy actually did push hard enough to spin around in a complete circle, was true? Whatever memories flood our mind, there is a similar strand of playfulness that come across all of us.

Unless of course, you were one of the unfortunate few that flew off a swing as you were trying to come down for a safe landing. Then perhaps, your memories aren't quite so peaceful. If that is you, then today might be a good day to forgive the violent swings and go out to the park to reclaim what is rightfully yours. For the rest of us, read on.

I walked by a park the other day and was pleasantly surprised to see that despite all the technological gadgetry of the present day, the swing has managed to stay in our parks and still make little kids giggle and smile. It's a simple concept really when you think about it: two ropes holding a horizontal plank that you sit on while you rock back and forth. As far as inventions go, this one ranks at the top of the simple list yet like all beautiful simplicity, the feelings it produces and memories it leaves with us are anything but simple.

I think my favorite part of the swings is that although you can ultimately push yourself if need be, the true art and enjoyment of the swing is to push each other. Typical playground conversations go as follows:

"Push me."
"No, you push me first."
"I asked you first."
"Okay, but then we switch."
"Fine!"
"Wait, but for how long each turn?"
"Don't push me too high."
"Oh, you're going high, real high", you would secretly think in your head but respond with an evil and unassuring "okay."

Whether it's the swings, the see-saw or monkey bars, the playground is full of simple devices that are no more complicated than they need to be and yet provide a range and depth of experience that little in our adult life can compare to. Living simply isn't as easy as it sounds and living simply with such enthusiasm as a day in the park isn't even less simple but that doesn't mean we can't learn.

We've been told that sometimes we need to take two steps back to move one step forward. Well, I'm thinking we need to take a few more steps back and start swinging, then we might start getting somewhere.

You don't even need to ask, I'll push you first.

much see-saw love
~Adrian

I'm not sure why, but some days, right from the start seem to have no wrong or right side of the bed, just a complicated side. Perhaps if there was a 'complicated day ahead' sign to warn us what was coming, we could plan accordingly and stay of harms way.

But signs as such rarely occur and even if we think we are headed in a specific direction, days like these usually have a mind of their own. Such was a day like today where nothing seemed to go quite the way I thought. I can't even say anything bad happened but like knots in a tangled rope, it was a messy day that didn't seem to be straightening out. I learned something however, two things in fact about days like today.

First, no matter how much we may try to align the planets of our lives, there will be all sorts of days that arrive and a complicated day is not necessarily a sign that we didn't prepare properly. There is no sure way to avoid complexity in our lives the same way there is no way to avoid a rainy day without a magic crystal ball(meteorologists don't really help much with this either) to see into the future.

The second thing I learned is that it is okay to fuss and complain about such days. I used to think differently. I used to think that it was all about turning a bad situation into a good one by sheer will power. Will the bad day away and it will flee like a gazelle running for it's life. That's not quite how it works. I find that seeing the day for what it is, staring at it square in the face and learning all if any lessons that might be available is better use out of these types of days.

That approach has brought me to a certain peace with these types of days. Peace in knowing that I don't have exclusive rights to them and serenity knowing that like a bad rainstorm, they don't stick around forever. They come, stir things up a bit and move on.

As we don't stay permanently wet from a passing rain, so it is equally as silly to think that we stay permanently marred and bothered from a bad day.

Here's to the next tricky day...I'll grab my raincoat.

much undecipherable love
~Adrian

We hear it all the time about beauty being in the eye of the beholder and true beauty lays on the inside but often times, it's not so easy to get on the inside of things, least of all, ourselves.

It's an age of pictures, moving images, video, internet and editing in the milliseconds to make sure they don't lose our interest for one moment. With all of this going on in front of our physical eyes, it's not uncommon to forget to look beneath all the flashing lights.

One of the downfalls of modern entertainment is that it presents life in an unrealistic format. For instance, in the span of two hours, a typical movie can traverse the span of a lifetime, various eras in history or even voyage into the unknown future. Life, however, happens, well, at the speed of life. Twenty four hours a day, nothing more, nothing less. We can't have a sense that the clock may be ticking faster or slower, but the reality is that not second is altered because of our impatience or anxiety.

So, within this constant battle between a virtual world that doesn't need to respect any laws of time and space, when we return to our natural state, things can seem quite dull, pale and lackluster.

The truth is, that real life and real time has all the brilliance we need but we sometimes have to look a little deeper to see it and thus we arrive at looking at things, not from their outside garments, but the ingredients, mixtures and cocktails that truly give the things we see life.

An ocean wave starts miles out at sea, the sun rising is a continuous motion by our planet serving light every single day and the rain that may frequently ruin our plans is part of an immense set of reactions that provide life to our little world. Nothing is simple and yet we so often rest our eyes and minds on the finished result.

Let your imagination go to the spaces in between, to the places where it all comes together, one simple and amazing step at a time. Even as you read this, these words are a combination of zeros and ones on my computer, electricity running through your house and a million and one inventions by some pretty cool people.

What's behind the next thing you gaze your eyes on?

much inside color love
~Adrian

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