Song: Rio
Group: Duran Duran
Today was another beautiful day.
It stayed at 60 F (15.5 C) for most of the day.
Since my elder sister and her husband are going to arrive in the middle of next week...
I decided to go to the Asian market to pick up more kimchi...
and a ton of snacks
(I am going to make them kimchi stew).
I left a little after noon...
and as I was driving...
the above song (Rio) had come on over my car speakers from my playlist.
It had perfectly reflected the mood I was in...
as I was feeling very upbeat...
in not only enjoying the scenery along the way...
but I was looking forward to eating at a highly rated Indian restaurant on the way back.
I love clouds...
probably because as most of my childhood memories started when we lived in Japan...
and as I used to spend hours just looking at the beautiful cumulous clouds set against
an almost impossibly blue sky (early to mid 60s) in Northern Japan...
it must bring back those happy times.
I was in Woodland Park on the way to Colorado Springs to shop at the Asian market.
I picked out the largest kimchi container they had.
I then went to their snack isles to pick out a variety of snacks.
On the way home...
I stopped in at a highly rated Indian restaurant in old town Manitou Springs.
I was impressed with the decor and the service...
and I was looking forward to a great meal.
I had ordered two orders of vegetable samosas.
I had found them to be a bit too salty.
I had also ordered Tandoori Chicken...
and plain nan.
Although the chicken was very juicy...
again...
it was over spiced.
The rice was also a little dry.
But...
the real killer of this meal was the nan.
I have always loved nan at all of the other Indian restaurants at which I had eaten.
However...
this nan was too thin...
which resulted in it being almost cracker like...
and not the thicker, moist and chewy goodness of other nans I have had.
The search for an excellent Indian restaurant continues...
for I will never be going back to this one.
I hate being disappointed by restaurants.
It just so happened that after the song Rio...
of which I had been playing continuously during my whole drive...
Chicago's song...I've Been Searching...began playing.
The more melancholy mood of the song just seemed right in the moment...
as I was momentarily in a disappointed mood.
But...
after hearing it play a couple of times...
I laughed at myself...
as if a small disappointment could throw me off my previously exuberant mood...
because if such a small matter is what I consider a problem...
then I really have no problems at all.
I am comfortably retired in a paradise...
with no real problems in life...
especially as compared to most other people in the world...
and so...
I put back on 'Rio'...
and I felt back within my metaphorical heaven once again.
I ended up air drumming to the driving percussions of this song...
as my knees bobbed up and down to the syncopated synthesizer...
and as my head rocked left and right to the intermittent rhythm striking of the guitar...
and yes...
with the spastic and positively dorky pausing between the guitar strikes.
But...
then again...
I don't care what others may think...
even though...
I am grateful that they couldn't hear my slightly out of tune singing...
as I drove on down the highway...
because that would have been embarrassing :)
Just leaving Woodland Park...
and yes...
I know I so often take the same location shot as I am leaving Woodland Park...
but...but...
the snow patterns and the clouds are different each time :)
Going home.
I am still 15 to 20 or so minutes from home here.
These are the snacks I had bought for my elder sister and her husband's arrival next week.
------------
I had written about my food disappointment to illustrate a state of mind...
of which is ultimately...
under our control.
Although I am naturally a light hearted and very happy person...
of whom really has no right to ever be unhappy...
even I, sometimes, get momentarily frustrated by the smallest of things.
Although I never really harbor negative feelings...
I do, sometimes, shut down for a few seconds to prevent myself
from melting down like a toddler throwing a tantrum...
or doing something far worse.
However...
and this is important...
I take positive action...
or I, at least, alter my future course to ensure my path is clear
of a similar circumstance from re-emerging.
--------
We...
and no one else...
are the masters of our destiny.
We must master ourselves if we are to master happiness in life.
It is all about a state of mind...
which then becomes a state of being (habit).
And...
it is our state of being that dictates how we perceive the world around us...
and so...
how we choose to interact with it.
---------
To have reached my present state of living such a blissful and happy life...
where I really have no worries...
and have every thing in the world in which to look forwards...
was not the difficult part.
Ensuring I had enough self mastery to prevent my dreams from being derailed...
by my own impulsiveness...
was.
Although I love the old adage:
Say the things which should be said.
Do the things which should be done.
What this also implies...
is that one should...
never:
Say things which shouldn't be said.
Do things which shouldn't be done.
There are certain lines which must not ever be crossed...
for they can never be uncrossed.
I have seen far too many men throw their lives away
(figuratively...as well as...literally)...
because of an impulsive action...
or set of actions...
whereupon they had embarked on an ultimately destructive path they had refused to forsake...
because of their own short sightedness.
It is the Yin / Yang of life.
And, if one is to prosper...
the inner Tiger must always defeat the inner Dragon.
(In the general scheme...Deferred Gratification must always conquer Immediate Gratification).
While I am fairly impulsive by nature...
and it is the source of much of my creativity and feeling of freedom and happiness...
it is also the source of my greatest weakness...
and of my greatest fear (myself).
It takes but a split second to destroy a carefully laid out life...
with but a mere moment spent in the throes of a destructive impulse.
I have been...
more than once...
on the brink of a life altering precipice...
where had I given in to a natural and morally justified impulse...
my dreams would have vanished forever.
However...
what has always kept me from taking that destructive path...
was that my dream for a beautiful future was always stronger.
People without a guiding dream...
are directionless...
and soon become destructive to society...
and to themselves.
Dream the dream...
and forever walk the path laid out before you.
By giving you the positive actions to take...
and by automatically keeping you off the destructive path...
it then becomes the one and only path to take.
And...
by walking this path...
you will have immediately gained serenity...
for you will have no doubt as to your correct path in life...
and in doing so...
you will have gained immediate happiness by being able to enjoy the moment...
in all of the great simple pleasures in life.
It is a win-win scenario.
Life only has the meaning you give it...
and continually walk.
And that is what life is all about.
