Katherine Keith's Blog
November 16, 2019
Life is in the Detours: "Nature versus the Ramp"
For the purpose of sanity, humanity requires wilderness. If I don’t find solitude in nature on a regular basis, I become a fish out of water. It is a matter of survival.
It is absurd when my type A personality imposes goals on top of the spiritual experience found in nature. As if I am competing to conquer the Universe.
With only a six-hour window to climb a mountain called the “Ramp” in the Glen Alps area I have no time to spare. After getting to the base of the Ramp, after 5.5 miles, I must turn around. Upset for at least an hour, I come to my senses.
It is a glorious day with a brilliant cerulean sky above and at least ten gigantic bull moose loitering alongside the trail. The only worthwhile goal is to be in nature. Hitting the reset button. Breathing again. Stepping outside of myself and the difficulties of everyday life.
“I swear the earth shall surely be complete to him or her who shall be complete,
The earth remains jagged and broken only to him or her who remains jagged and broken.”
― Walt Whitman
Instead of 5,000 feet, I climbed 4,500. Instead of going 12 miles, I hiked 11. Short of the summit, my type A brain considers this a failure. The more self-aware part of me, the part that knows how the soul heals, the part that knows where home is, knows better.
November 10, 2019
Life is in the Detours: November 8th, 2019
In 2017, scientists made a discovery that validates a 2012 theory about time crystals being an exotic new state of matter.
The atomic structure of three dimensional crystals is orderly, constant and in repeating patterns across space. Time crystals are four dimensional. They repeat patterns of atomic structure in cycles across space AND time.
Keep in mind that time crystals have no implications for time travel... Dr. Who fans out there your time will come (no pun intended).
Time crystals are grown in a lab and their repeating patterns can be initiated by lasers. When the laser is discontinued, the time crystals continue their pattern. Applications for time crystals include quantum computing.
Daily habits often determine our health, happiness, and success. Like a three-dimensional static crystal, you need to get the structure in place. Gather the components you need to meet your goal. Get a membership to a health club, purchase kale, or a new organizer.
Creating forward motion through time takes action-just getting started. A time crystal, at first, needs outside stimulus of a laser to maintain its momentum. For us to form a new habit, it helps to have outside support and a motivation to encourage daily execution.
It takes far more than 21 days to make or break a habit. The European Journal of Social Psychology found that it takes an average of 66 days!
Live your life like a time crystal. Set a goal, establish structure, find external support to help get past the 66 days that it takes to solidify change, then watch as the habit continues on its own transforming your life.
Life is in the Detours: November 2nd 2019
https://www.lifeisinthedetours.com/vlog/life-is-in-the-detours-november-2nd-2019
The definition of trust is the firm belief in the reliability, truth, ability, or strength of someone or something. Taking it a step further, to have faith is to have complete trust or confidence.
It’s easy to have inherent faith in the natural world around us. The sun RELIABLY sets daily without fail. The earth rotates on its axis giving us the TRUE North Pole. After five mass extinction events life always has the ABILITY to rise again. The STRENGTH of tropical storms astounds; In October 2019, Super Typhoon Hagibis gathered in only 18 hours with wind gusts up to 195 mph. Our natural world is impartial and immutable.
People are different. Its hard to trust friends to keep secrets in confidence, colleagues to stay professional, or strangers not to take advantage given the opportunity. Betrayal pains the soul.
Dig deep and be honest. Are you a trusting person? Chances are you’ve been let down in the past. Resentments may be holding you back. In fact, only 35% of Americans believe that most people can be trusted. Yet, having trust in ourselves, in each other, and in the world around us is crucial for a satisfying and fulfilling life.
When trust is low, find someone or something else you can focus on. Find a marvel in nature, search out an ever-loving dog, or look into the eyes of a child. The key to restoring faith lies in wonder, finding a new path, and a willingness to start again.
November 2, 2019
LIFE IS IN THE DETOURS: November 2nd, 2019
This is a video-if it doesn't load watch it on YouTube. Click Here
The definition of trust is the firm belief in the reliability, truth, ability, or strength of someone or something. Taking it a step further, to have faith is to have complete trust or confidence.
It’s easy to have inherent faith in the natural world around us. The sun RELIABLY sets daily without fail. The earth rotates on its axis giving us the TRUE North Pole. After five mass extinction events life always has the ABILITY to rise again. The STRENGTH of tropical storms astounds; In October 2019, Super Typhoon Hagibis gathered in only 18 hours with wind gusts up to 195 mph. Our natural world is impartial and immutable.
People are different. Its hard to trust friends to keep secrets in confidence, colleagues to stay professional, or strangers not to take advantage given the opportunity. Betrayal pains the soul.
Dig deep and be honest. Are you a trusting person? Chances are you’ve been let down in the past. Resentments may be holding you back. In fact, only 35% of Americans believe that most people can be trusted. Yet, having trust in ourselves, in each other, and in the world around us is crucial for a satisfying and fulfilling life.
When trust is low, find someone or something else you can focus on. Find a marvel in nature, search out an ever-loving dog, or look into the eyes of a child. The key to restoring faith lies in wonder, finding a new path, and a willingness to start again.
-Katherine Keith
November 2, 2019
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October 30, 2019
LIFE IS IN THE DETOURS: October 30th, 2019
This is a Video: Watch it Here if it doesn't load
"If we learn to open our hearts, anyone, including the people who drive us crazy, can be our teacher." - Pema Chodron YeAH- we have all been there and thought, "What do we possibly need to learn from this?" Probably start by taking a deep breath... then meditate on it. :-) -Katherinewww.KatherineKeith.com
October 28, 2019
Life is in the Detours: October 28th, 2019
The nucleus of an atom has protons and neutrons made of quarks and gluons. Gluons carry the force that bind quarks. Around the nucleus circulates electrons in a structured and orderly fashion. At the surface, the configuration this occurs in determines the label assigned to the atom. However, at the core, the quark is a fundamental universal component of matter.
During meditation or a walk outside, we may experience the core of who we are and feel an abiding sense of peace. In this space, untethered, we know who we are and who we are meant to be. In that stillness, a place where time is irrelevant and attachments loosen their grip, we touch the vastness of the universe. As if we are the quark itself, we expand beyond ourselves and our knowing grows.
There are only 118 distinct types of atoms while, as of this second, there are 7,740,114,560 people on the planet, each with a unique configuration of choices that define each one. In a global society, often defined by differences, we could do well to recall that, at our core are gluons which carry the force of the most fundamental component of matter-quarks.
-Katherine Keith
October 26, 2019
Life is in the Detours: October 26th, 2019
This is a one minute video. watch it here!
Needing to clear my head, I stop for a drink of water in a long flat meadow, filled with sand and gravel but with no grass. Fox tail pines grow up out of the boulders strewn at random.
Surrounding this desolate meadow are snow-capped gray towers of jagged rock daring all who see them to stand on top. The mountain ridge lines stretch to the sky for miles then fall down far into deep crevasses and gullies.
Among mountainous cirques are glacial lakes calling out to be swam in. Blanketing it all is a deep blue sky colored with white wispy clouds to provide a sense of texture and contrast to its eternal reaches.
Foreign splendor of untouched magnificence, raw beauty, and uniqueness call out to me in my wild dreams. Taking in the surroundings, it is clear nature accepts all that I am. Regardless of past wrongs and future plans here my heart is home. Here I can heal.
-Katherine Keith
Life is in the Details: October 26th, 2019
Needing to clear my head, I stop for a drink of water in a long flat meadow, filled with sand and gravel but with no grass. Fox tail pines grow up out of the boulders strewn at random.
Surrounding this desolate meadow are snow-capped gray towers of jagged rock daring all who see them to stand on top. The mountain ridge lines stretch to the sky for miles then fall down far into deep crevasses and gullies.
Among mountainous cirques are glacial lakes calling out to be swam in. Blanketing it all is a deep blue sky colored with white wispy clouds to provide a sense of texture and contrast to its eternal reaches.
Foreign splendor of untouched magnificence, raw beauty, and uniqueness call out to me in my wild dreams. Taking in the surroundings, it is clear nature accepts all that I am. Regardless of past wrongs and future plans here my heart is home. Here I can heal.
October 25, 2019
Life is in the Detours: October 25th, 2019
In today’s world, we often told to not be alone. Hike in pairs, don’t hitchhike, safety in numbers, buddy up. There is absolute sense in these idioms at certain times. As a result, people are afraid of being alone. This can be as simple as eating dinner at a restaurant by yourself, taking a solo weekend vacation, or planning regular time every week to enjoy your own company and get to know who you are. It can also be more extreme such as hiking the Appalachian Trail, biking across country, or running a 1,000-dogsled race -the Iditarod.
If you do it right, you might not like yourself. We have demons in our closet. Regret, shame, fear, anger, guilt, and maybe we hate ourselves. Once you get alone with yourself it's harder to use distraction to avoid dealing with these feelings.
Sit at a coffee shop with a journal. Find a local hiking trail and bring bear spray but go alone and see the beauty that is both inside you and surrounding you.
October 17, 2019
Life is in the Detours: October 17th, 2019
The yellow moon rises over the deep orange-red setting sun to creep slowly over the world followed by a dark blanket sinking comfortably over the world below. The cycles of the sun and moon never fail in their punctual appearances.
We rely on the natural rhythms of the universe and the laws of nature. These patterns form the backdrop of our existence and the inherent symmetry is magnificent.
For example, spirals of life are found everywhere around the world. The Fibonacci sequence starts with 0 and 1 and increases based on the sum of the previous two numbers: 0, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21 and so on.
Many natural formations are based on this sequence including the leaves on a stem, the rows in a pine cone, the array of seeds in the center of a sunflower, pineapple, cauliflower, the flowering of an artichoke, and so on. The beauty is incomprehensible.
At a micro and macro level, our universe is interconnected. Nature can teach us many things if we pay attention. Ask a question, look to nature, and let it teach you.
