Tag: Death

No Reese’s in the Puzzle Pieces

SHARE THIS

No One Puzzle Evolves Solo (NOPES)

NOPES have a tendency to be negative, overtly pained, and extra stuck in a puzzled state of life. Humanity made a quick slip to level NOPE. This is a puzzle for NOPES.

Forget Hope and Change; it’s NOPE, NO CHANGE. Most people in the general population feel (or felt) like NOPES at some point in life.

In 2015 and 2016, I was Extra Stuck

For two solid years, I was pinned down on a regular basis, but nothing permanent.

My former employer failed at getting my signature on a confidentiality agreement. The devil is always in the details. That’s why I started Devilish Smirk.

Most times, I was pinned down due to varying degrees of violations against me, including me holding myself down. That last part was me being nice.

It takes a key wit to make people, who fuck with your life on purpose, a little nervous.

There were a few times I didn’t mind the pinning. Now that I’m single, perhaps there will be opportunity for more, but I digress.

The pieces are there, all around us, every day.

Something Changed in 2017

I spend 68 days in St. John and it changed my life.

While I was on St. John, I had an experience like never before. While walking along the water’s edge of Salt Pond, I stopped for minute to stare at the moon’s reflection in the pond. I laid on the sand and stared into space.

I closed my eyes and made eye contact with my mind’s eye and heard everything I watched within, and my mindful awareness shot to the sky. 

Upon opening my eyes, I could see the darkest, but brightest, star-filled sky above appear close enough to touch. I felt connected to it, as a part of me slid up into the darkness, somewhere in the cosmos.

It felt like a ride.

I started to shake my head and laugh quietly to myself. Physically, I was still on the beach.

No, I wasn’t on any hallucinogenic drugs that night. I didn’t even have a drink that night.

All at once, bits and pieces of mostly mental garbage disappeared from my life.

  • I wasn’t stuck in (or under) anything.
  • Nothing was stuck to (or in) me.
  • I was solo.
  • No longer did I feel like a NOPE.
  • I placed the “N” in NOPE, at the end.
  • NOPE = OPEN
  • I felt OPEN and, for the first time in my life, at peace.

I felt a deep sense of relief from my twisted burden of some kind. Without anything extra on top, I realized I wasn’t stuck.

I was free to open my mind and explore the infinite possibilities all of us are given at birth.

The Puzzle OPENS!

The pieces are there, all around us, every day.

A Puzzle is Born

The puzzle pieces didn’t come out of a box. You did, and so did I.

And this is what I looked like:

A switch flipped and everything brightened a tiny bit. I could see further, in all directions, than the day before.

My eyes opened and I woke up.

For the first time, I saw the world through the eyes of a human puzzle without limits.

I elevated myself.

The pieces are there, all around us, every day.

I am Travis, and I am Puzzled!

First, the Bad News

Life is no ordinary puzzle. It isn’t built in a day and takes more than a week. Life can, however, fall the fuck apart in a day. 

Everything falls apart before you can piece anything back together.

Life is designed to, literally, frustrate the hell out of you. There aren’t solutions to your life’s puzzle in the back of any book.

The pieces are there, all around us, every day.

It’s Time for Good News

Life is a puzzle without borders. No frame will ever contain the full picture.

An effective strategy is building your beast from the inside out. Slow, steady, and future-conscious are three thoughts coming to mind.

Regardless, you have a lifetime to create your life’s masterpiece.

Congratulations! You get to use your imagination.

Imagine that.

The pieces are there, all around us, every day.

Humanity’s Collective Piece

Humanity has great potential to change the world and has never been more equipped to succeed.

Carry this piece proudly and make a difference while you can. If you smile, someone else will smile. Smiles are contagious. It’s great when more people smile.

Life is a Work in Progress

As long as you navigate this planet, remember that life is no ordinary journey. Life operates on simple terms.

The only rule you need to know in life is The Golden Rule. “Do unto others as you’d have them do unto you.” That’s it! It’s called the golden rule for a reason.

The more people you treat kindly, the more people you impact, and the brighter your light shines.

About that Puzzle 

The Final Piece

The final piece is one we all have in common. It’s the same piece we’re all missing until the end. Yes, I’m talking about death.

What happens after is anyone’s guess.

Death will provide the last piece to your puzzle.

I sure hope Death has that missing peace.

“Death puts the Rest In Place.” 

 

Digiprove sealCopyright secured by Digiprove © 2017
SHARE THIS

Ashes to Ashes, Dust to Trust

SHARE THIS

The Business of Being Alive

Whether or not you have a job, you’ll always hold the top spot in your personal business. It’s a secure, life-long position for which you were chosen to sit at the helm.

Now, either show up to work, or go some kind of bankrupt. 

That’s how business works.

Do you Trust Yourself?

Always trust yourself. Ultimately, you’re responsible for your life choices. Never put that stock in anyone else.

You’re the only person you can rely on 100% of the time.

Photo Credit: Travis Garrod

Trust is the kindling for the fire in your soul. It’s the root of self-confidence. Confidence enables you to explore passions enough for them to bloom. Eventually, trust becomes natural, confidence gains momentum, and you begin developing into the passionate being you were born to be. 

It’s a cycle only you can ride. Start peddling.

In Life, We Trust

Decisions come from within, but trust is more than a feeling. Trust is bigger than expecting someone to follow through with a commitment or promise. People can be trustworthy, but that only elevates them as a contributor to a collective goal, of which everyone has a part.

Vices and Virtues, Dust to Trust. Graphic Created by: L. Sebastian

Dust to Trust

Bad things happen to thicken our skin. Life isn’t easy and, at times, feels defeating. If you haven’t experienced heartache in your lifetime, I’m sorry.

The events that break us, make us.

Here are some of the events that affected my family, and others since the turn of the century.

  • My cousin died from an drug overdose in 2006. He injected himself with gel from a morphine patch, normally prescribed to cancer patients. He didn’t have cancer.
  • In 2008, my aunt (mother’s side) died from her addiction to alcohol and OxyContin on Christmas Eve. She was found dead, by her teenage son, on her bathroom floor.
  • Denver, my first dog, was diagnosis with a brain tumor.
  • On August 31, 2011, Denver was put to sleep.
  • On September 13, 2011 (my 37th birthday) my grandma (mother’s side), died of complications associated with diabetes and pneumonia.
  • My grandma (father’s side), died in April 2013. She lost her battle with colon cancer and lymphoma. Dementia set in toward the end.
  • My grandpa (father’s side), died in March 2015. He was diagnosed with advanced lung cancer. He refused treatment and died shortly thereafter.
  • On February 17, 2016, my second dog, Marco, was put to sleep.
  • In February, 2017, a friend died from a heart attack while riding his mountain bike on a national park trail.
  • In February, 2017, another friend (and former employee) died in a hotel room. I cannot tell you if it was either a relapse, or suicide.
  • On April 3, 2017, another aunt (mother’s side) died from complications related to  diabetes and pneumonia. The previous summer, she fell into a coma for nearly a month. She recovered temporarily, but her body was breaking down. She passed peacefully in her sleep.

I did not include events that only affected me, personally.

Trust This

Everything falls apart before you can piece anything back together.

Believe everything that happens to you in life will work out in your favor, despite the chaos you encounter.

There are good and bad decisions, but there are no right or wrong ones. How we deal with the outcomes defines us individually.

Your subconscious mind knows your truth and you’ll never convince it otherwise.

A guilt-free conscience is the best prescription for quality sleep.

Embrace each day as an opportunity to push forward with an open mind and a kind soul.

A life of privilege isn’t a privilege at all.

The longer you live without experiencing pain or heartache is a disadvantage.

Betrayal and loss are experiences everyone needs.

Everything happens for a reason.

There’s no such thing as coincidence.

Nobody enters your life by accident.

In life, we all walk a path, but everyone has free will.

Life is an adventure of your own choosing.

What will you choose next?

Be nice. Be kind. Do the right thing.

Love wins.

Trust That

Digiprove sealCopyright secured by Digiprove © 2017
SHARE THIS