Believe in Hope - Cleveland Street / Chippendale (Wed 29 Jul 2015)

Believe in Hope - Cleveland Street / Chippendale (Wed 29 Jul 2015)

Doug Miller writes on Hope:

Hope is a thread that exists in our lives. It has been there since the day we took our first breaths. It has existed alongside us as we built our lives. It exists now in the shattered reality of brokenness. Though we are broken, hope remains strong. In our weakness Hope rises as an unbroken thread stretching out into our uncertain future, beckoning us to follow and explore the potential that lies dormant and hidden by our pain. Hope waits. Ready for us to reach out and grasp its firm hand. The question is not if hope exists within our brokenness. The real question is if we are willing and able to allow ourselves to stretch out of our brokenness, our preconceived attitudes, and self imposed assumptions and grasp hold of the only hope that exists, the only hope for our brokenness, our humanity and very existence. There is hope and healing and a future no matter what our circumstances. It is true. I have seen it. There are many others that have shared in it as well and testify of its existence and power and potential. Lift your eyes out of the brokenness and glimpse it, it is before you. You are not alone.

You are not without HOPE.

via A Message To The Broken by Doug Miller.

Ground Zero Bible - 9/11 Artifact - Joel Meyerowitz (Wed 11 May 2016)

[Lucky enough to have stumbled across this today ..]

Joel Meyerowitz was given a "found" bible by a fireman while he photographed Ground Zero in the months following the 9/11. He marveled that the Bible was preserved intact to a lump of steel, and even more, that it was turned to a particular passage from Matthew 5 (KJV) which says:

“Ye have heard that it hath been said, An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth: But I say unto you, That ye resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also” (vs. 38-39).

Joel notes ..

"Of all the pages in the Bible that it would be open to, that was remarkable,"

A remarkable communicator, spoken, written and photographed. Thanks Joel, a timely message.

Words - The Story of Telling (Mon 12 Sep 2016)

words - I Won't Make Art - Chippendale (Mon 12 Sep 2016)

The Story of Telling on Words:

Our words communicate much more than the messages we want people to hear. How we use them shapes our thoughts and character—it shows people what we value and conveys the truth about who we are. Our every word has the power to provoke or reassure, draw people in or push them away. We get to choose how well and how wisely we use them.

via The Weight Of Our Words by The Story of Telling.

On Hope, Healing and the Future - Doug Miller (Sun 11 Oct 2009)

Hands - Janice and Joanne / Ashfield (Sun 15 Mar 2015)
Doug Miller (*) writes On Hope (*):

Hope waits. Ready for us to reach out and grasp its firm hand. [..] There is hope and healing and a future no matter what our circumstances.

via A Message To The Broken (*) by Doug Miller (*).

Nothing Really Matters - Eileen Cady / Footprints on the Path

Words of Wisdom from Janice's Fridge Door - Ashfield (Sun 15 Mar 2015)

.. "nothing really matters" .. by Eileen Cady

Dwell not in the past,
Use it to illustrate a point;
then leave it behind.
nothing
really
matters
except what you do now
In this instant of time.

From this moment onward
you can be entirely different person
filled with love and understanding,
ready with an outstretched hand,
uplifted and positive
in every thought and deed.

Eileen Caddy / Footprints on the Path

Recently had an experience that has forced me to reflect on life more than I normally would.

I recently had to abstract my experience down to a txt message, so someone could appreciate and understand what I went through during and after this experience. Here it is:

I saw the generosity, concern and empathy of complete strangers. I saw first hand the diversity, strength and professionalism of our Rescue Services - I'm in awe of them. I saw the importance of life and how fragile our connection is with it.

I'm proud of my decisions and my actions that day, I think it helped save someones life.

Due to circumstance and/or privacy laws, it is not possible to thank all those people who helped that day, so I say it here - THANK YOU.

An experience like that makes you reflect a lot and in some ways it was life changing - a spiritual experience actually.

I have dwelt on this for far too long and it has had a bigger impact (both negative and positive, oddly enough) on me than I could ever imagined.

It is now time to acknowledge that it did happen for the first and last time here. And it is also now time to leave it behind. Let it go!!!

And so that is that.

Coffs Harbour Bound : Heading Home - Kurnell / Kamay Botany Bay National Park (Mon 16 Mar 2015)

On Error Messages - Venkat / Ribbonfarm (Fri 19 Dec 2014)

Flower Detail - Monet's Garden / Giverny (Wed 17 Sep 2014)
Venkat (*) writes on Failure (*):

Even an unhelpful error message is better than nothing.

via Learning from Crashes (*) by Venkat (*).

I have seen this error message a few times recently:

Error: Unknown Error.

Probably the most unhelpful error message I have seen in all my time coding Python to an external third party API. At least you know you have an error, even if it is as far away from the root as it just about can be.

On Coaching - Daniel Coyle (Mon 15 Sep 2014)

Garmin Team Bus - Westminster Bridge / London (Sun 14 Sep 2014)
The Talent Code (*) writes Inspiration (*):

A conventional coach focuses first on skills. A relationship-based coach, on the other hand, focuses first on creating a sense of belonging.

A conventional coach asks: what can I do to help them win? A relationship-based coach asks: what can I do to help us nurture connections and create a culture?

A conventional coach views his team through the lens of performance. A relationship-based coach views his team through the lens of family — which, not coincidentally, tends to make the teaching all the more effective.People work hard for a team. They work even harder for a team that truly feels like family.

via The Best Locker-Room Speech Ever, and Why it Works (*) by Daniel Coyle (*).

A great post and it is definitely worth reading. It has helped me understand how well we did in Ravenna and it is the kind of message that will help motivate me to keep paddling at the same level and intensity I have now for 10 years. Both Paul's and Gavin's talks on the last day of racing are examples of this. I will post some more from the post later.

A Message To The Broken - You are not Without Hope - Doug Miller (Sun 11 Oct 2009)

Broken - George Street / Redfern (Mon 10 Mar 2014)
Doug Miller (*) writes On Hope (*):

Hope (*) is a thread that exists in our lives. It has been there since the day we took our first breaths. It has existed alongside us as we built our lives. It exists now in the shattered reality of brokenness. Though we are broken, hope remains strong. In our weakness Hope rises as an unbroken thread stretching out into our uncertain (*) future (*), beckoning us to follow and explore the potential that lies dormant and hidden by our pain. Hope waits. Ready for us to reach out and grasp its firm hand. The question is not if hope exists within our brokenness. The real question is if we are willing and able to allow ourselves to stretch out of our brokenness, our preconceived attitudes, and self imposed assumptions and grasp hold of the only hope that exists, the only hope for our brokenness, our humanity and very existence. There is hope and healing and a future no matter what our circumstances. It is true. I have seen it. There are many others that have shared in it as well and testify of its existence and power and potential. Lift your eyes out of the brokenness and glimpse it, it is before you. You are not alone.

You are not without HOPE.

via A Message To The Broken (*) by Doug Miller (*).

An amazing piece of writing. All the more so, if you know the motivation (*) behind it.

A Rainbow always brings Hope - Alexandria (Sun 09 Mar 2014)

Keep Moving Forward (Little Wonders Video by Rob Thomas)

Keep Moving Forward (Little Wonders Video by Rob Thomas)
At 2 min 46 sec into the Rob Thomas, Little Wonders Video (see here), the above motto is breifly (maybe for a one second at most) projected onto the screen. Googling gives some context (here):

The main character shows hope, he develops and grows quite a bit through the course of the film, and there is a very uplifting message, from Walt Disney himself, to keep moving forward.

Made me think of this post from a year:

• A warrior of light often loses heart .. (03 Feb 2010)

The main thing is that I believe in the people close to me and also in myself. We have an amazing year ahead and I am very excited about the path ahead to Tampa 2011.

Might as well put this video here also:

Video: It's not my Time by 3 Doors Down
Finally, Keep Moving Forward made me think of the following photos that have featured here (at least the first two anyway):

Jenny and Jo - Main Range Walk - 06 Jan 2002 (from here - 20 Jan 2010)
"Keep on Walking" - Jo - Main Range Walk - Fri 1 Jan 2010 (from here - 20 Jan 2010)
Keep Moving Forward - Fingal Beach / Fingal Bay / Port Stephens (Sun 25 Aug 2002)

The Speaker - Speakers Corner / Hyde Park / London (Sun 16 Aug 2013)

The Speaker - Speakers Corner (*) / Hyde Park / London (Sun 18 Aug 2013)
His message did not speak to the throbbing crowd and there was lots of heckling. A stunningly well dressed lady, even threw a small piece of rolled up paper at him. At least no one threw their shoe at him. I felt like I was in a market place somewhere in the Middle East. It was surreal as the sunset creating an amazing backdrop to this vibrant scene. Love tha hands.

On Photography - The Medium or the Mesaage - Daido Moriyama (Sat 19 May 2012)

Street Scene - Sumida / Tokyo (Sat 22 Sep 2012)
Daido Moriyama (*) states in Daido Moriyama: Journey to Something (*):

It is not so much about the medium, as it is about the message.

The above quote came from a question relating to his preferences to shoot film or digital, where he responded:

Since three years I am using either film or digital. So I am not much concerned about the ways of the digital camera. Depending on the theme of what I would shoot.. if I feel like I want to shoot in film, I shoot in film. If I want to shoot digitally, I will do that.

On Photography - the relationship between objects and people - Daido Moriyama (Summer 2005)

Traffic Barrier - Shinjuku / Tokyo (Sat 22 Sep 2012)
Daido Moriyama (*) gives an insight into his photography when asked What do you want viewers to take away from looking at your photos?:

Most of my photographs are taken on the street, of objects on the street.

I want to capture the relationship between objects and people.

I don’t ever think about what people are going to think looking at my photographs.

There are many things I can’t control.

That viewers see the photographs in a different way is really important, but it doesn’t influence the work.

My message enters the image, but I think it’s good if many messages enter the image, not just mine.

via Daido Moriyama Photographs His Beloved Shinjuku (*).

On Life - Spencer Lum / Ground Glass (Wed 28 Nov 2012)

Water [1] - Sapphire Pines / Brisbane (Sun 02 Sep 2012)
As always, another inspiring post from Spencer Lum (*) where he writes in Everyone gets the 15% (*):

When you look back at the end of it all, there’s really only one person you’ll have to answer to.

Yourself.

And if you never gave up, and you always kept pushing with the power of belief (*) behind the message you spread and the gift you shared, then you can hold your head high when you ask yourself what it was all for.

Because you’ll know you lived life. And life is a hell of a ride if you’re willing to get on.

[1] I was up early on the last day of camp. Went for a walk along where we trained. It was beautiful and calm and another water photo is added to my little collection (*). The early morning light was strong but even and the were ducks feeding amongst the reeds. A couple of fisherman were out with lures. They did not catch anything but I know they were just happy to be up early appreciating nature and the anticipation (*) of a bite. For me, as I walked and admired the view, there was the anticipation (*) of flying out, the next day, to the Busan (*) for the 2012 Asian Dragon Boat championships.

On Chasing too Hard - Kirk Tuck (Tue 19 Jun 2012)

Grace and Thomas - Mutton Bird Island / Coffs Harbour (Thu 26 Dec 2002)
Kirk Tuck (*) writes (*) ..

If you chase it too hard you might never catch it...

Made me think of ..

• Michael Leunig's (*) thoughts on How to Get There (*), and


• Drew Ginn's (*) recent pondering's On Succeeding (*).

Similar message, slightly different delivery reflecting the personalities of the writers.

If you can dream it, you can do it! (Thu 30 Jun 2011)

If you can dream it, you can do it Jenny's Meditation Room / Kirrawee (Thu 30 Jun 2011)
I often receive very nice emails, particularly around the anniversary of Jenny's passing. Lexie has allowed me to share my return email to her. It tells a nice story ..

From: Geoff Eldridge
To: Lexie

7:37am Fri 01 Jul 2011

Hi Lexie. Thanks for your kind message and thoughts. Jo and I really appreciate them and your friendship.

We had a nice day yesterday as we honored Jenny's memory and reflected on her Life.

Sounds like you are having a fantastic time and it was great to have had those moments at Niagara Falls to remember your Dad there and for his parting words to come to you strongly.

Jenny and Jo visited Niagara Falls in 1987 and Jo and I were only talking about this the other day. I can remember Jenny telling me about their visit the first night we went out way back on Fri 30 March 1989. She showed me photos that were rescued from a water logged film camera (it was drenched from their Maidens of the Mist Tour in and around the Falls.

Last week I have moved back to Kirrawee where I lived with Jenny. It has been hard in many ways, but it is something I need to do. The house is exactly the same as it was when I took her to the St George Private Hospital on Tue 16 Jun 2009 (*)).

Yesterday morning as I got up and prepared myself so that I could meet Jo and my Mother at the St George Private Hospital (so we could be at the place and time where she left us (*) - we do this each year), I found flip-book of sayings on the bookshelf. She turned it each day and would put a different saying up. The one she left it on and I take it as her parting message (because we did not have a chance to say our farewells):

"If you can Dream it, you can do it!"

I would like to think that Jo and I have done this since Jenny left us, afterall as we now know, it was her parting wish for us all..

Jenny and Joanne - Maiden of the Mist Tour - Niagara Falls (Jul 1987)
Niagara Falls (Jul 1987)
Jenny and Joanne - Maiden of the Mist Tour - Niagara Falls (Jul 1987)
Jenny - Maiden of the Mist Tour - Niagara Falls (Jul 1987)
Jo - Maiden of the Mist Tour - Niagara Falls (Jul 1987)
Jo - Niagara Falls (Jul 1987)
Jenny - Niagara Falls (Jul 1987)
.. - Jenny's Meditation Room / Kirrawee (Thu 30 Jun 2011)
- Jenny's Meditation Room / Kirrawee (Thu 30 Jun 2011)
.. - Jenny's Meditation Room / Kirrawee (Thu 30 Jun 2011)
.. - Jenny's Meditation Room / Kirrawee (Thu 30 Jun 2011)
.. - Jenny's Meditation Room / Kirrawee (Thu 30 Jun 2011)
.. - Jenny's Meditation Room / Kirrawee (Thu 30 Jun 2011)
.. - Jenny's Meditation Room / Kirrawee (Thu 30 Jun 2011)

To love means never to be afraid of the windstorms of life .. Elizabeth Kuebler-Ross

"To love means never to be afraid of the windstorms of life;
should you shield the canyons from the windstorms
you would never see the beauty of the carvings.

Elizabeth Kuebler-Ross (Swiss-born American psychiatrist/writer)

Thanks Sue, for your thoughts, the beautiful message and the above words of wisdom on the 2nd Anniversary of Jenny's passing. We are kindred spirits and have shared the same path.

Jenny and Geoff - Echidna Chasm / Purnululu National Park - (Mon 14 May 2001)

Jenny - Echidna Chasm / Purnululu National Park - (Mon 14 May 2001)

Rock Wall - Cape Leveque / Western Australia (Tue 08 May 2001)
Jenny and Geoff - Cape Leveque / Western Australia (Tue 08 May 2001)

I am not gonna give in - Ending Ascent - Livestrong (youtube)

"I am not gonna give in" - Livestrong - Ending Ascent (youtube)
From Ad Forum:

"engine" is a Nike film about LIVESTRONG.

The film finds Lance Armstrong climbing a mountain on a training ride.

Around him, fuelling him, are a peloton of voices.

These voices are the words of people all over the world making efforts in the spirit of LIVESTRONG.

As Lance Armstrong rides, the voices tell of people facing challenges, facing cancer, coming to grips with what's next, getting up and improving their lives, inspiring others and making amazing goals come to life all over the world.

In the end, the "engine" in the film is both Lance Armstrong and the meaning of LIVESTRONG in all these people's lives.

It's what can be accomplished together with the idea of living better and supporting each other all summed up with Nike and its message of human potential:

Just do it.

On Failing - Michael Jordon (youtube)

I've failed over and over and over again in my life - Micheal Jordan (youtube)
Michael Jordan on failing ..

I've missed more than 9000 shots in my career.

I've lost almost 300 games.

26 times, I've been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed.

I've failed over and over and over again in my life.

And that is why I succeed.

Matthew Syed (w) in his book Bounce explains:

This may seem odd, but it is central to the belief system of most top performers. Remember the Nike advert where Michael Jordon says [the above]?

Many were bemused by the message, but to Jordan - a living, breathing testament to the growth mindset - it expressed a deep and urgent truth: in order to become the greatest basketball player of all time, you have to embrace failure.

'Mental toughness and heart are a lot stronger than some of the physical advantages you might have,'

he said.

'I've always believed that.'

Change: Give me the .. by The Sandhill Warrior (Jun 2009)

Give me the courage, tenacity & positivity to change that which I can...(with a smile on my face!) (15 Jun 2009)

Give me the serenity, humility & tolerance to accept that which I cannot... (16 Jun 2009)

And give me the wisdom, humbleness & strength to know the difference. (17 Jun 2009)

SandhillWarrior (Rob Rowland-Smith)

Amazing what you can stumble upon. The message and timing of the above twitter quotes (posted over three days by Rob Rowland-Smith) mean something to me. I made a post from that time of our lives with some photos (a few of them below) titled:

• The night before brain surgery .. (Sun 07 Mar 2010)

The above quotes reflect much of what I knew I needed in myself for what would turn out to be Jenny's last two weeks of her life. All my life experiences, my training as I called it, helped me to be the best I could be to support Jenny (and Joanne) during this time of Jenny's life.

I look back at this time as my Life's Purpose. I knew this from the very moment Jenny told me she had breast cancer, way back in March 1996. We were incredibly Lucky to have so long together. An incredible life together.

Jenny - 'A little tidy up of Jenny's hair - it was always my job to do this.' - Kirrawee - 16 Jun 2009 (picasa)
Jenny, Joanne, David and Geoff - "Jenny takes a photo of us all just before she heads out to have a 4cm brain tumor removed. She had no fear and looked forward to quickly recovering to resume the treatment of the tumors in her liver." - St George - 6:30am Wed 17 Jun 2009 (picasa)
Jenny - 'Just before heading out for surgery.' - St George Hospital - 7am Wed 17 Jun 2009 (picasa)

The experiences you create are the moments that define you.

The experiences you create are the moments that define you.

Seth Godin - Soles (06 Jan 2011)

Such a simple sentence - such a strong message.

The Hawkesbury Canoe Classic being just one recent example for me (I am still trying to write something up about the night. The words and motivation will come to me at some stage) ..

Team Vela - Geoff Eldridge, Jo Petterson, Alasdair Grant, Charlotte Pache, Rachel Mosen and Graeme Bacon - Windsor - Sat 23 Oct 2010 (picasa)
HCC 2010 - Photo Collage - Pacific Dragons and Friends - Sat/Sun 23/24 Oct 2010 (picasa)