Selfish...

Why is being selfish looked at as such a bad thing when it is in our very nature our very instinct. If you want to know the best thing to do in any situation just imagine how you would react in an emergency, this is when your touch and feel side goes out the window and your survival natural animalistic God given instinct takes over. This instinct is what we do without thinking because it is what we know deep down in a place we cannot access MUST be done. So why is it so wrong to think that this is how we should be all the time? Have we let our society make us believe that it is wrong? If you are on an airplane with your children and the cabin loses pressure and the o2 masks drop what do you do first? According to the flight attendants you first secure your mask and then help your children and those around you. Do you know why this is the correct order? You can't help anyone if you are dying! This goes for our lives we are always so quick to help others because it's the humane thing to do but often times we are trying to fix others while we are still broken. This logic is flawed. We are doing an injustice to ourselves as well as those that we are trying to help (Most of the time people help for selfish reasons anyway even recognition falls into this category.) This is why I believe most relationships fail. Fix you. Be you. Live as you. Once you are so comfortable in your own skin that you can be independently happy without anyone else in your life then and only then will you realize your true relationships and seek out the greatest life you can possibly live. I am urging all of you to go out and be selfish. Live for you and live for now because that is the only way you can ever give pure joy to another.

=Dave

Visual Stimulation

Today I have been thinking a lot about life and possibly more importantly about death. There are a few quotes that are stuck in my head beating like a rhythm drum over and over and over until I begin to dance to them.

1. "It's not a tragedy to die doing what you love" -Patrck Swayze as Bhodi in Point Break.

2. "The tragedy of life is not that it ends so soon, but that we wait so long to begin it." ~Author unknown

3. "If I am not flying or kiting I often ask myself what I am doing on this planet." The late Mathias Roten

29.5 years old and now it begins. Yes I have had my scars and I have had my lessons. I am like many my age, in debt and confused about the future, perhaps even a little frightened. However I am unlike so many others of any age in that I can take a task and put all of life's meaning into it until the rest becomes null.

When I strap my bindings on and drop in to a vertical decent or actively engage in a dance with the wind while ridge soaring a glider I am there for that moment and that moment could be the rest of my life without waste.

Horizontal landscapes of snow and ice melt into the birds eye view of a summer dusk.
These things I see and cannot share.
I have only words to help you escape into my mind.
My only regret is that I am not strong enough to take you with me.
Wildlife fills the peripheral inspiration, the fox, the moose, and porcupine.
The horizon looks so much different from here.
300' from the earth to a 12,000 ft mountain peak rising above the tree line.
This is my kingdom, my home, my studio. The greatest work from these heights
Higher and deeper further I climb and sink, rise above and then descend.
Cold frozen stars smash into my face, floating on top of the frozen slope
Faster, faster, faster, and off of the edge into the sky....
I have entered my life and now I am living.

=Dave

High

The cycle is here, I have been waiting for this feeling the wind on the back of my neck rolling down my spine to a lull and then back again.

Is this it? Is this my turn to connect. Breath is calm feet firmly planted on the ground ready for control.

Pulling, pulling up as the canopy lunges over head wishing to travel with the wind but the balancing act and subtle inputs tell it "No stay with me, stay here, we are in this together."

We dance on the edge of the mountain feeling the tension, letting it fly. We must know that we are in sync. The trust must be formed with truth and commitment.

Turning and looking out at the horizon we can see the land below but that is not our destination. The Monday morning traffic on the freeway suggests I should be somewhere else, they always tell me I should be somewhere else.

Here I am and there is no better time, torpedo position and running hard, feeling control lines and pushing through, pushing so hard, running, heart beating, loud noises, gravity is showing me it's unwillingness to let go, and then... "LAUNCHING!"

And now it's quiet....

So quiet the only sound I hear is the breeze and everything else disappears. I am alone in the sky with my thoughts.

This feeling, it's not what I expected, and it's nothing I have ever felt before. How can I describe this feeling, am I high? The creators of adjectives must have never known our feet could leave the ground because they have left this one out.

I have flown, I am a pilot and now I know...

Life before this day was different and will never be the same. I know what it feels like to touch my soul and I know I am not alone.

I am going up now, I am going up for good to soar and to only come back down to make sure the ground is still here.

The bonds that I have formed over the last few months are real. A change has occurred and my life is now.... my life.

Flying brings out the best in me and I know that the more I go up the higher I get.

New friends, new bonds, new emotions, new life.

This next chapter going forward will be the greatest yet and I can't wait for you to be a part of it every step of the way.