Soul Food Revolution

I’m having a great time this week at a resort in one of my favorite cities in America, Phoenix, AZ. Many don’t care for the heat and sun of the Valley but I absolutely love it. Liking this place so much is actually a paradox in my character. As much as I love the sun of PHX, I just as much love the overcast sky of Portland, Oregon. We’ll save that discussion for another day. As for this amazing resort location, there are a ton of villa’s with different types of rooms and amenities. Swimming pools, restaurants, tennis courts, gyms, and such fill these hills. Add a 5 star golf course to boot. The first night the group I’m with arrived the kids bailed out of the bus, jumped into their swimming suits and hit the pool that is located in our little villa. They had a blast. Wrestling, diving, laughing………simply loving the idea of not being in the bus any longer. The next day brought out the adventurous spirit in all of us. While my family and I had stayed at this resort before we had not taken the time to really check out this place. 6 swimming areas….yes 6! Water slides, hot tubs, lawn chairs….everything you could think of. With this discovery the kids went crazy. Of course, once again they grabbed their shorts and suits and hit the water. As I was walking back to our room today I noticed that much smaller pool in the middle of our villa. No one in sight. My thoughts drifted back to a few nights ago as our kids unloaded off the bus discovering the joy of that little pool. Aw but they soon discovered the real reason people come to this huge place. They discovered the adventure of sliding through a mountain only to land in an awaiting gathering of cool water. They discovered other kids from all over the world gathering to enjoy the ray’s of the spring sun. They discovered……more……

My life has changed drastically over the past few years. Experience and knowledge has taken my thoughts, feelings and beliefs to a whole new level. Much of what I grew up believing I no longer find true or complete. Many of the thoughts I fought for in debate ten years ago I would find laughable now. A few days ago my dad and I were having a similar conversation. As we were discussing the things we used to believe he paused, and with a tear in his eye asked, ‘What were we thinking?’ I could only smile and respond with a simple….’I don’t know.’ Much like the kids in this group discovered more, I have discovered more. I’ve discovered that there are better, smarter and more complete ways to do things in life. I’ve discovered that everything I once believed to be exact was all along, well, not truly exact. In fact many of the things I once believed I have now found to be some of the furthest belief’s from reality I could have had! I’m not at all suggesting everything I know now is complete………..I never want to believe I have grasped everything to completion. This false arrogance leads us to never discover the greater in life. It leads us to only live in our one little villa with our one little pool when there is a whole new world out there to find, introduce ourselves to and enjoy. There are others all over the world awaiting the introduction of each other yet this can only happen when we seek, each day, to discover the more.

In business it means not settling for your brick and mortar of old. It means getting out into the world via the web and finding what else awaits. In family it means getting rid of the traditional 40 hour work week and taking advantage of smart work. It’s so possible to work half the time America used to and make ten times the money allowing us to not only rediscover the value of family but also giving us many more resources to ignite that creativity in our children and grandchildren. Discovery and open mindedness means that the old scholars of religion must throw away their philosophies and brain washing traditions in exchange for what the teachings of old truly meant: loving God and loving others. Nothing more and nothing less.

Settling for what was is actually one of the most selfish acts we can create. Discovering throws pride aside and says, ‘While failure might arrive I never let it exist. I will seek to discover.’ While we may not arrive at exactly the place we visualized, we might just be clearing the path for someone to come. And that, my friend, is exactly what discovery is all about. Laying the foundation for a greater path.