Braking and Entering

As far as corners are concerned, one is never like any other, and every time I take a corner (even if it's the same corner), the feeling is different. The challenges in life, as I see them, are much the same way. However, there is a method to the madness. And to have fun, to truly enjoy doing it, and to survive it, I really believe someone needs think it through before they set out to achieve something.

In motorcycle riding and racing, this means hitting the brake well before you enter a corner, and to spot the nearest entry while braking. It means that once you lean her over and commit to it, it is all gas from there on. This requires experience in cornering, judgment in the environment of the road, and the determination to carry it through, no matter how much you have to lean.

I guess that is why I tend to think more before acting. I see people rushing to act, rushing to judgment, and rushing to get things done without knowing all the impacts. Seeing their failures, I begin to question my own method; and in this madness, I see the light of reasoning. It does not take much, but you realize something important, a breakthrough begins in your mind. I formulate a set of steps and rules to follow, to ensure that whatever happens, I will react the right way. Much of this process is based on other's recommendations and experiences, but it's the fact that I carry them out in my own way that makes it special.

This enables me to go faster and faster each time through a corner. This makes environment a factor in everything I do. This makes the whole thing seem right and effortless. For a moment in this process, mind and soul meets. This is where the thinking and feeling merge; where confidence and action go hand in hand. This mental state is always what I am trying to obtain at the very peak of solving a problem, and it requires thinking as well as doing.

Another lesson to learn from this is to get rid of any excess speed (baggage in personal life) before you start a new challenge. This requires the right mindset and also the knowledge to hit the brake hard when required.

I am now trying to hit the brake as hard as I can. I really don't know what the next corner will bring, so I am spotting my entry and make sure that my speed is right for it. I had love to take high speed blind corners, but one is different: I have been down before. Now, surviving is taking precedence over the excitement of the unknown. And will learn to have fun by beating my demons, not by giving in to them.

Trust me, it's paradise

When I wake up in the morning and finish preparing for my day, I get out to hop on my vehicle to get to work. Hitting that starter switch on the bike always feels different than turning the key in the ignition of the car. It's not just that the rumbling motor is right underneath my butt as opposed to being in front of me. It's that the presence and all its realities suddenly come together in a rush. I stop thinking about the distant future. I stop thinking about this time next year. I stop thinking about tomorrow. I stop thinking about what I will do at work.

I think about this moment. I think about now. The concentration of solving the challenge right in front of me is exciting and rejuvenating. Certainly, in my life, I have dreamed of great moments that would be sweeter than anything I have ever felt before. The temptation is, however, to get lost in those dreams and never get out. Being on the bike cures that syndrome.

When I look back at the pictures of people or myself, I really wonder if they (including me) really savored each and every moment that they were smiling with their friends. If they ever took risks and enjoyed the rewards that it brought. I wonder if people really felt those moments.

Why does this really all matter? Well, because all those moments are paradise. The moment doesn't have to be anything that no one has done before. It doesn't have to be well-publicized or well-known to the masses. Every single obscure moment that you can spend with your friends or quietly by yourself could be a paradise on its own.

That reminds me of a quote - "scars remind us that the past is real". I think we need to go out there and create more scars. It is to know that we truly have lived, and that our dreams led us to do good things. Things that when we look back, we may consider them part of paradise.