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Writer's pictureAdam Funderburg

The wind and sail

All around the world there are people that harness the wind to do things for them. It could be to skim across a lake, grind food, pump water, make electricity etc. And yet there is no place that does not have variance in the wind.

There are some places that are more consistent for sure; I live just up river from a town called Hood River, Oregon. Wind surfing and kite surfing happen here all year around except perhaps when a gnarly snow and ice storm come through. It is fantastically windy and the water never gets too crazy; I suspect it's proximity to the dam helps with that.

In our industrialized world we have achieved what many would say is the goal of mankind. We have as much consistency as we could have ever wanted. If we want it to be light in our house, around our house, at our job at night, on the street where we drive, on the street where we don't drive, in the city where we need something in the middle of the night we have it. Same with heat, food, water and internet connection.

I was reading in a book about food a while ago that some of the oils that are used in our food are derived from several sources that can be processed to form these basic oils. There was a line in the book that I had to stop and go over again and again.

"What makes you think it's food?" Is it because it does not kill you today? Is it because you cannot connect your physical problems directly to it?

These oils came about because sometimes crops are wiped out and those kids need their fruit flavored cereals so we trade healthy foods that may go up and down in price because of a harsh winter for consistency that kills us. It's not super fast and it's actually difficult to connect to our health problems directly because we don't get sick minutes after we eat it.

Our desire for having what we want when we want has created a childish impatience yes. If I was to step farther off the path of this blog for a second I would also say that our connection to marketing (who's sole purpose is to stir discontent) is a leading cause.

The world is a place of seasons.

The healthiest people I know eat what is in season. They are delighted when blueberries and strawberries are back along with the watermelon. Tell me has the availability of music that we have today helped you enjoy music or has it caused something closer to boredom at it? Sometimes the wind stops while we are on our way to some exciting destination. We are planning and expecting certain things to happen when we get there and then the wind stops and we are stuck in the middle of the ocean unable to move.

Embrace the season when you cannot actually do anything. Ask: what makes this awesome!?! It is a challenge and just because I posed the question does not mean that I find this sort of thing easy. Easy is to blame, easy is a tantrum but as it has been said. Nothing is easy; but who wants nothing?

If you have read many biographies at all of people who live lives that are noteworthy they are subjected to the "flat on your back", "I could not do anymore" moments where they come to the end of themselves. This season demands growth.

The next move is yours. Will you stop striving and look up or will you exhaust yourself until you cannot move and have nothing left in the tank.

As I write this I just heard what sounded like the first goose heading back north. It's the fact that they come through twice a year that makes it so special. If they flew by every day I would find their honking to be annoying.

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