The “Place”-ebo effect

Posted on January 2, 2013 by Scott

So a certain television-star medical doctor whose name is synonymous with a mythical place has come up with a new secret weapon that helps you lose weight in a hurry. As it turns out, garcinia cambogia may be the latest diet fad, but isn’t the highly touted miracle that some have claimed. I realized long ago–I think it was about the same time that olestra came out–that if it seems too good to be true, read the label carefully.

By way of contrast, there is one thing about Richard Simmons that I always liked. He always told the truth about weight loss. He never tried to sell a miracle cure that would make you lose weight overnight. He discovered years ago what we all know if you stop to think about it: The only way to lose weight is to burn more calories than you take in. His emphasis was always on motivation, and for many, it worked.

But he loses me with the high-volume personality, the over-the-top enthusiasm, and the glitter jumpsuit. Fortunately, I found that getting outdoors fills the bill perfectly for me. It’s a quiet way to get some exercise. So you may want to try my method for burning fat. Do you want to go for a walk? (I’ll bet your dog does!) Exorcise those demonic calories through exercise. And while you’re at it, take in some nature. Lose weight, increase your creativity (as reported on NPR), and soak up the beauty of the natural world, all in one activity. I just talked myself into going for one right now. See you outside!–R

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How Good is Your Resolution?

Posted on December 31, 2012 by Scott

Let’s start the new year with a wish and a purpose.

The wish: Happy New Year!!!

The purpose: What are you going to do with it?

My son tells me that the gym will be crowded with people every day–for about a month. That seems to be the extent of our resolve as a culture. I have several resolutions. Most of them started before this, but it is still good to reflect on them and, if possible, renew them. I am resolved to get my CD finished and out where you can hear it. I am also resolved to get out into nature in as many different ways and places as possible.

What do you want to do this year? Feel free to post them in the comment section. I also hope you like this picture–the Santa Catalina Mountains.

 

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Puzzle Mania

Posted on December 28, 2012 by Scott

Jigsaw puzzles are under-rated. After all, what’s fun about dumping out a box of cardboard bits, then spending hours turning them upright, sorting them by color and texture, and trying one pair after another in search of a match? It sounds like an exercise in futility–but not for me. I like the trance-like state they put me in. I like the way they encourage me to pay attention to detail. I like watching a picture emerge from the jumble of gray and color, that is, as long as it’s something picturesque. In my family, we’d pull out an old box with a few pieces missing, or sometimes start a new box, every year around the Christmas holidays. I find it comforting to gaze at a beautiful landscape on cold, dark winter evenings. I hope you have time to work a good jigsaw puzzle soon.–R

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Rockin’ Out for the Holidays

Posted on December 24, 2012 by Scott

The Inukshuk, stone faced sentinel of the arctic circle. The Inuit and other northern tribes used it to do the job of a man–to mark out trails or determine boundaries. If they ever learn to drive, modern man is in big trouble. As a man myself, I take comfort knowing that they probably won‘t, and even if they did, they wouldn’t stop to ask for directions either (though maybe they already know the way).

May your holiday season be as festive and rock solid as my new friend below. I’ll be in Portland, OR for the rest of the week soaking up the rain–literally. It will be a change from the desert for sure. We’ll see if I can get a little exposure to nature in between droplets. I hope you get some nature time in too.–R

Courtesy of Anne Elliott, as posted on Flickr–Many Thanks!!!

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Urban Renewal

Posted on December 20, 2012 by Scott

Once again, you can see me at Urban Beans on Saturday morning from 8:30 to 10:30. I’ll be away the week after, so if you feel the need for good coffee, good conversation, and music as nature intended it, join me at UB while you can. It’s the next best thing to being outdoors, and it will renew your soul.

 

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Pie is for Piper

Posted on December 18, 2012 by Scott

Young children are attracted to music like steel to a magnet. I have never seen a child that wasn’t, and I have been playing music for many years. When they come into a place that has live music, they can’t take their eyes off the musicians. They want to get closer and see how the magic is made. I still feel the pull of live music too, whenever I see live music and real musicians. Like the children, I still think there is something magical happening, and I want to check it out. The pied piper could have led me anywhere.

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Nature Nurtures What??

Posted on December 17, 2012 by Scott

When I say that Nature Nurtures Naturally, I am reminding you of our roots. We are a product of this world. We’re made of the same stuff, and we are connected to it in ways that have yet to be fully explained but are evident through experience.

I don’t have the answers to this mystery, but I know this, contact with the outdoors is good for my soul. I’m not alone. Our parks are full of people who know this, often without realizing it.  If every one of us went outdoors and interacted with nature on a regular basis, we would be better off mentally and physically.

This blog is not about hippy tree hugging! I don’t believe that for every drop of rain that falls, a flower grows. It’s about a commitment to the idea that we need our natural world, and that by forging that connection, we find inner comfort, peace, creativity, and clear thinking. It’s my hope that my feeble words, my music, and my life will point the way to this one concept. Become an eco-tourist in your back yard. It costs so little and pays so much.

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What is Nature?

Posted on December 15, 2012 by Scott

As a thought experiment, let’s say that Nature is everything that is left when humans are taken out of the equation. If that were the case, there is a lot left to describe, and it’s not all pretty. In fact, for most animals, it’s a fight for resources between and within species. Often, that conflict tears living things apart.

But that is not the whole of it. There are also cooperation, symbiotic relationships, and nurturing. There are the lemur’s care for it’s offspring, the call of the mother duck for it’s three day old ducklings to jump into the water, the smiling faces of the dolphins and beluga whales, and the crows that gather in the trees to share information about their world with each other.

When you put humans back into the mix, you find all of the same struggles and messy confrontations that belong to the rest of the world, similar in kind but often more ornate, accelerated, and amplified. However, there is one key distinction. Humans possess the power of rational thought. We can observe, analyze, reflect, and revise. We can plan our courses of action. We can work towards accomplishing anything we want. We can cherry pick the best parts of Nature, and refine it in profound, positive ways.

So we don’t have to accept the negative model of competition for resources. We can study it, tweak it, experiment with it, and formulate new, less violent ways of relating to the world. I had a teacher once that told me that he chose not to live in a dog-eat-dog world, but a people-helping-people world. I choose that too, with one addition. I also recognize the power that the natural world has to give us strength, comfort, and hope–if that’s how we want it to be. I do.–R

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O the Urbanity!

Posted on December 14, 2012 by Scott

Someday, I hope that my music will be able to reach everyone throughout the world–I am a guitar player after all–and since turning up the volume obviously isn’t going to work, you’ll have to come see me at Urban Beans tomorrow, and most Saturday mornings, from 8:30 to 10:30. See you there.–R

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Sedona After Dark

Posted on December 13, 2012 by Scott

There is nothing quite like an evening walk in Sedona in the winter. When the sun sets, a chill quickly captures the thin air, reminding you to dress in layers and keep moving. Though you are securely nestled among the dark shadows of the valley, the stars twinkle and shine brilliantly, making you feel as if you are on a vast spaceship traveling through the cosmos–come to think if it, you are!–R

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