Well, Earth Day and Earth Week have come and gone… and now what?  Do you go back to your old habits of driving to the corner store instead of walking; tossing everything in the garbage because your apartment complex or office still doesn’t have a recycling program; running the water while you brush your teeth?!  Folks, celebrating Earth Day isn’t supposed to be a party that you go all out for and then toss it’s memory into your rusty pile of annual “do-good” days.  You should be celebrating what EARTH PROVIDES FOR US and, in turn, making lifelong changes to ensure that this planet CAN keep taking care of us.  I hope that sometime very soon, all of us, as a connected human race, will have the ultimate paradigm shift and SEE with truly open eyes what evil we are doing to our planet and what good is IN US to change our mentality to one of appreciation, concern, and action…. every day!   ~  KD

Here is a SOAPBOX® mini-motivation from 2008 that still echoes truth today:

“To cherish what remains of the Earth and to foster its renewal is our only legitimate hope of survival.”     ~ Wendell Berry, philosopher, novelist and social activist

It’s about time we stopped snickering at Al Gore, the forewarning NPR folks and tree-hugging, hybrid hippies…because they might be onto something!  It’s about time we stopped being so selfish and purposefully merged as Humankind for the simple Darwinian hopes of perpetuating our existence by strengthening our collective homebase – we call Earth!  For, not seeing is believing.  When a species of animal disappears, we must rescue braver.  When a strain of plant disappears, we must think greener.  When snowcaps are melting, swallowing up islands and life, we must conserve stricter. Amidst the chatter of economics, religion and war, don’t miss the underconversation of environment, culture and interdependent community.  My fellow EARTH-lings, we must research cleaner, protect fiercer, commit firmer, explore broader, spend wiser, educate brighter.  May we all look back after long, fulfilling lives to proclaim that we are survivors and all did our part.  It’s our time to think globally…and act globally.

Copyright 2008, 2012 by Kimberlie Dykeman.

“The most interesting thing in the world is another human being-  who wonders, suffers and raises the questions that have bothered him to the last day of his life, knowing he will never get the answers.”     ~ Will Durant, writer, historian and philosopher

Enough with the cars, computers, collectibles… and crap, folks.  You can’t take any of it with you when you go.  And when you’re grey and gabbing about unforgettable memories… I’ll bet the farm and Buffet’s bank account that the human beings you knew will bring the most awe-inspiring images to your stories, not the stuff.

Get to know a few more human beings… really know them.  Talk like there’s no such things as things more worthy than another breath.  ~KD

Copyright 2012 by Kimberlie Dykeman.

“Each day it seems we have a gloriously befuddling choice:  battle the wind with our oars, or let it guide us with grace and fill our sails.” 

~  Kimberlie Dykeman, human being

Indeed to have the breeze at our backs we must first understand the quandary.   Then, of course, we must be willing to surrender…

Copyright 2012 by Kimberlie Dykeman.

May this coming Leap Day prompt you to jump ship of your old ideas and habits… and land in the arms of a welcoming new world filled with so very much more glory, greatness and gratification! And who better that Mr. Miller to plant the seed!    ~KD

“All growth is a leap in the dark, a spontaneous unpremeditated act without the benefit of experience.”      ~ Henry Miller, writer & painter

Can I get an Amen?! Man, is that good! Amazing how such an uncomplicated, yet purposeful pairing of words can reignite the profound sensation of discovery, fear, and perpetual enlightenment we all experienced as little kids. I call this your curiosity quotient: That indescribable yearning for knowledge, newness, and surprise; that willingness to test drive without experience, to journey forward without direction, to jump into the proverbial spotlight without inhibitions.

As children we eat, sleep, and breathe it, then we mutate into adults! So many of us awaken to find ourselves in situations because of our personal, professional, or familial obligations, where we purposefully and painfully go out of our way to avoid rocking the boat. We work ourselves to death just to keep our sights narrowed on our own backyards, filled with that which we are familiar, can juggle, and, perhaps, can control. God forbid a curve ball gets thrown into the works, let alone, we allow our minds to wander and wonder “what if” or “why not.”

Believe it or not, just peering over the barbed wire comfort zone of your current reality raises your curiosity quotient. In turn, you might then ponder the tethered state of affairs within the mossed-over walls. Do you dare stir up the daily minutia fogging the pillars of your temporal life? The 9-5 grind, beer and golf on Saturdays, scheduled fun with the kids on Sundays, the same treadmill routine, same breakfast, same date night, same family vacation, same circle of friends, same closet of clothes, same goals for the past 20 years. Are you asleep yet?

Maybe it’s time you challenge yourself with all your senses to examine this recycled lifestyle with the same wonderment of what might need a little shaking up. Then take that next step and put thoughts into action. Become a kinetic Being. Turn your curiosity quotient up a notch. And don’t stop to see if there’s an owner’s manual. Don’t ask for directions. Don’t worry about an audience. Savor the sizzle of spontaneity. Bask in the carefree sensation of renewed youth that ensues. And leap!