Thoughts on Life

Life is Like Us #86 - Conversations

Scott Patrick Erwin

September 13, 2022

Do you wish you could have conversations that may never be had? Do you have people that you may never talk to again, either by their choice or yours? Do you have situations that you just do not know how to begin to redeem or to let go? I sure do. It is tragically sad to have a relationship in life that may never be resolved after a difficult division.

It is the nature of life for relationships to end - acquaintances, friendships, best friends, marriages, family, etc. Humans are inherently imperfect, things happen, decisions are made, life is experienced, and we each have the stories and interpretations of those experiences in our heads of what those situations mean to us. We think we know the whole story. But invariably we do not. We only have our own perspective, the perspectives of the voices around us at the time, and the interpretations we have made about those perspectives.

Life is a challenge and then you die. Memento Mori. Some days are good. Some days are bad. If you ride out the bad days and let them pass, you can allow the good days to come again. If you remember the good days while journeying through the bad days, it is easier to keep going toward more good days. Humans are resilient that way. Unfortunately, we do not always understand the meaning and relevance of each moment as we experience them. However, we can get caught in the narrative in our head that the bad moments were a life sentence. I can assure you they are not. Let the feelings go.

Life is the sum of the stories we tell ourselves, in our heads, over and over, again and again, everyday. And our head, our ego, our own personal perspective is almost always deficient of the entire story. Your perspective is valid, however, your perspective is inherently deficient, because often, your perspective is filtered through the pain and hurts of your ego. Allow for forgiveness. Allow for grace. Allow for healing. Allow for yourself to reinterpret your perspectives. Your spirit will be better for it. And maybe, the opportunity for that conversation will come again.

Because…Life is Like Us.

Life is Like Us #85 - Synchronicity

Scott Patrick Erwin

September 5, 2022

Do you believe in Synchronicity? Have you ever experienced something in life so extraordinary that it just had to have been an act coordinated by the divine source. I have, and from it, I believe in divine influence upon our lives.

In 1991, I was laid off from my first job out of college. The day it happened, I was working at a client in the hills of Simi Valley, California, as a financial statement auditor. The client had offices near a place now called Big Sky Ranch. The company owned land in the area for industrial mining of aggregate and sand material. Apparently the land is adjacent to the ranch, used for back lot movie production. Some famous movies and television shows have been filmed there; including Transformers, Men in Black, Little House on the Prairie and Gunsmoke. On a Monday, in March 1991, I was called back to my office in Woodland Hills, a suburb of Los Angeles, for a meeting. I left the Ranch, went to the office, got laid off, then spent the next few decades working mostly as an accountant annoyed with my choice of professions, always tainted by that moment in time.

In the summer of 2021, thirty years later, after swearing off the profession of accounting, I landed my first paid job as an actor. It was background work on a large movie production, by a well known director, with well known actors. It was likely the first big production, post covid. Some 700+ extras were on set that day. The movie is called Babylon. It comes out in December 2022.

When I drove onto set for this first job, as an actor, my new direction in life, it happened to be deep in the heart of none other than Big Sky Ranch. The company I was auditing thirty years before, still had a sign at the turnoff. I stopped and contemplated this odd situation. That is synchronicity. And I could do nothing but shake my head at the humor of the divine coincidences.

The Universe, the source of our spark of life and energy, is always trying to communicate and encourage us. It wants us to trust it. To turn towards it. To reach out in faith. It knows you. It knows me. It knows us. It knows our purpose for this lifetime. It knows the lessons and experiences we need. It knows how to wake us up. It knows how to encourage us. And if we listen and lean into its leading, it will amaze us with confirmation that we are going in the right direction. That is Synchronicity.

Because… Life is Like Us.

Life is Like Us #84 - Consciousness

Scott Patrick Erwin

June 18, 2022

Have you ever thought deeply about your consciousness? You know, that spark of intellect that seems to be you, deep above, below, or within. We spend most of our life in the ego. That is the part of you that lives in feelings, emotions and the monkey brain of bouncing thoughts. However there are two other consciousnesses - the subconsciousness and the source consciousness.

The subconscious is the body. It exists in the moment by moment existence of life. It speaks in feelings and intuition. It speaks in reactions - fear, joy, anxiousness, and danger. It keeps a record of moments by the emotions that can grab us out of nowhere. It is practically always in-charge. You've probably seen it in action, either in yourself or in others. It is the joy that comes at a pleasant surprise. It is the fight or flight that overcomes us in dangerous situations. It is the phobic reaction to an unreasonable experience. It is the reaction in the moment. It is your underlying bodily functions like breathing, heart beating, and digestion. It reacts how it wants depending upon the circumstance to keep us alive.

The conscious mind is the thinker, the logic, the voice of the ego that draws conclusions. It generally works in the stories we tell ourselves. It has lived through life and drawn conclusions from those experiences. The conscious mind is the part that we think we understand the most. It is a storyteller. It uses words to make sense of our experience. Sometimes correctly, sometimes incorrectly. When understood, it can be powerful. If not understood, it can cause us to stumble and accept stories that just are not true; about ourselves mostly, but also about others. As in, you are not worthy, flawed, or the other side of it, that you are more worthy then another or practically perfect in every way, and that other person must be an idiot for not thinking or doing it like yourself.

Then there is the source consciousness. It is quiet. Almost imperceptible unless you understand how to access it and listen to it. It is the part of you that can observe your thoughts during meditation. It is that still small voice in your head that often is defined as God's Voice. It is the spirit of ourselves. And it is fully connected to the intent of the source for you. I'm not saying you are God, I'm saying that you are connected and through it you are connected with source. Your spark of life that is the essence of your spirit is one with God, with Source.

The basis of religion, any religion, is that you are separated from God, and it is our purpose to do, be, and strive to be enough, or to accept that you are not and throw yourself upon God’s mercy to reunite you. And maybe if we live only in the body and mind, we are separated from God/Source/The Universe, whatever you want to call this higher power, it is only a label of language. However the spirit is always connected with the concept of Source. Everything is part of the other. We are creations of Source.

Our spirit is the spark of life and knowledge of Source. It is our life’s purpose to seek to open our conscious mind to the “heaven” of our spirit in the present moment. Eternity is in the present moment connected to source, not a destination to strive for after this life is spent.

Because…Life is Like Us.

Life is Like Us #83 - I gotta believe

Scott Patrick Erwin

August 26, 2022

Do you ever look around and wonder about the direction of life in the world? I certainly do. When I assess the challenges people face, when I consider the environmental changes, when I consider the choices being made by political leadership, I question where life is going. I often wonder, is anyone gonna step up to lead this circus of absurdity toward a place of sanity, a place of reconciliation, a place of inspiration, a place of love? Is it you? Is it me? Is it this generation? Is it the next generation? What is it gonna take for humanity to band together?

In one hundred and fifty years humanity has gone from horse and wagon to space travel with considerations of outposts on nearby planets. We have gone from hand held and land based telescopes of our nearby planets and stars to space based devices looking at light from billions of years ago. We have solved huge technical and medical challenges, and yet we have not solved one basic challenge, peace among each other without hate, strife and war. We have not solved the challenges of the most basic human needs - poverty, food, safety, education, oppression, exploitation, and many many more.

LIfe is a fragile thing. We’ve all seen it. We all know this. Don’t we? Have you ever raised and cared for a goldfish in a bowl? To that goldfish that one bowl is its world. The simplest of things could end its short life. If it were the last goldfish in the world, it would be gone forever. We only have one earth, our goldfish bowl, so to speak. One errant rock hurtling through space could end it in a day. One unintended, or purposeful, release of a deadly virus and we could be through. One out of control madman, who starts a war and draws the world into conflict with weapons of mass destruction, and we might be over.

I gotta believe there are people in this world who want to create solutions. I gotta believe there are people in this world who want to talk through challenges, join together, and develop positive humankind changing outcomes. I gotta believe we can create and keep peace between us. I gotta believe we can educate humanity away from rigid dogmatic and judgmental nonsense. I gotta believe that love for our fellow man, woman, and children, or whatever label you want to call yourself is possible. I gotta believe that we can exist peacefully with each other before any of that self destruction can happen. I just gotta believe we can. I gotta believe in you. I gotta believe in myself. I just gotta believe in us.

Because…Life is Like Us.

Life is Like Us #82 - Words

Scott Patrick Erwin

June 16, 2022

Do you value your voice? Do you believe in your narrative? Do you feel like you have something to share? Our words matter. Our stories matter. Our unique experiences matter. I was raised in a household based on the subtle paradigm that children are to be seen, not heard. So I learned to just keep my words to myself. I developed into an adult whose career had little need for interaction, so my words became something that, over time, I just learned or decided to keep my thoughts to myself. However, as I have begun writing more, and connecting with my muse, that still small narrator in my head, I have decided something new. I have words to share.

So often in life, we learn to listen to the critic in our mind. You know that nay-sayer, that negative analyzer, that voice that wants to tell you why something is wrong, is not good, and will not work. The critic might be your Mother or Father’s voice, it might be that critical teacher or coach, it might be the choir of childhood voices who were only parroting their own critics during the formative years of your life. Whatever that voice is, The Critic, it is wrong. It is almost always wrong. We all have unique and valuable words to share with others and with the world. We have our own perspectives on life that when added in the right moments, can move a friend or loved one to keep going in a difficult time. It can redirect a work group to see something they otherwise would not have seen. It can inspire the next generation of life to take their lives up a notch, to strive for better, to push for new heights of human fulfillment.

Think about the words that inspire you in life. Maybe it is a spiritual text. Maybe it is a story, a novel, or a movie. Maybe it is a poem, a quote, or a quaint platitude. Whatever they are, they can help us to keep going when so much seems to not be working out the way we want them to.

Language and the words that make up language is the unique central concept of consciousness. They are what have helped push humanity forward. Our ability to communicate, share ideas, grow, learn, change are all based upon the use of words. When we choose to use words of encouragement with ourselves and with others, they can change the world. When we choose to remain silent, as I have for much of my life, they fester and turn sour. So let your words out. Share your perspectives. Add to the conversation of life. Because your voice is needed to help push for change, for reconciliation, for inspiration, for solutions to the challenges we all face in this world, time, and dimension.

Because…Life is Like Us.

Life is Like Us #81 - Facing it

Scott Patrick Erwin

May 17, 2022

Do you have things in life you don't want to face - fear, anxiety, emotions, pain, trauma, etc.? We all experience them. Life is impossible to live without having them. Of course sometimes healing requires that you not dwell on them for a time. However, when you try and push them away for too long, they gain in power. They begin to become stronger. They begin to consume your thoughts to a point where they are impossible to not think about. And as difficult as it is at that point, thinking about them and honestly processing them is the only way to get relief from them.

Collectively, as a species of people we have just gone through a life altering trauma, called a Pandemic. Many have been impacted by death. Many are reminded of the costs of it by those who have survived it. Many have been unusually isolated and now find it hard to be social because of it. Many have been scared by it and the possibilities it could have upon them and their loved ones. Many wonder what happens next, or what happens if the next time it's worse?

Life happens, and one inevitably of life is death. There is a Stoic mantra, "Memento Mori." A Latin phrase translated, "Remember that you must die." For one who doesn't want to think about death, it can seem kind of fatalistic. However, the point of it is to remember that we must choose to live fully everyday, instead of living each day with the doom of death, loss, and pain. Facing fear, anxiety, emotions, pain, and trauma is choosing to fight back overwhelming emotions that are not useful in the battle to find the joy of living.

Wherever you have pain and deep emotions associated with it are the places you have to heal. And the only way out of it is to face the issue, to face the cause of it, to process and release the root of it. That is not easy. Usually it has to be done in small, incremental ways. Getting up, when you want to stay down, this one time. Going out the door, when you want to stay in, this one time. Reaching out for that social interaction, a handshake or hug, this one time with that one friend or family member. Meeting people in public, in a social setting, in a large event, in a closed area, when it's easier to just decline the invite. It is the little gains that push back the fear and anxiety. Being brave with the little thing helps you to build that muscle of healing, one brave act at a time. So the next time that old friend, fear, anxiety or trauma, rears its head, turn towards it and step past it one brave act at a time. You'll find the next instance, it is just a bit easier to continue moving past it. Eventually you might even recognize that its power has begun to wane, and that is where the victory over it has begun.

Because… Life is Like Us.

Life is Like Us #77 - Tomorrow

Scott Patrick Erwin

February 1, 2022

Today is the Tomorrow that we were not promised Yesterday. You see, someone died yesterday. Of course, many people died yesterday. It could have been me, or you, but it was not. However, someone did actually die yesterday. Not just anyone, but someone died as I was watching my own life slide down a road. It was in a place known for tragedy, near where James Dean lost his life in a fast sports car. Ironically, it's named Cholome, meaning peace in Hebrew. Now, a man no less important to the world to someone, to some family, somewhere, has died there too. I did not know him. I will never have the opportunity to know him. However, I will never forget his name or how he died in an instant by no fault of his own. His name was David.

It's true; that moment when time slows down in the time warp of an accident. It really happens. I experienced it as a vehicle crossed the double yellow lines on a two lane road in heavy traffic. I was sitting in the passenger seat and watched that split second happen, happen in slow motion. It was as if my hyper-conscious mind said to itself, "Holy Shit! That car is going to hit us. This is not going to end well." (I added the Holy Shit) And then it did. It did hit us. And when it was all done, it did not end well. Four cars were strewn about, and one person was no longer going to see Tomorrow, that Today we are not promised Yesterday. The tomorrow that is today.

Life is fragile. So, very, very fragile. No one, generally, walks into their day with the expectation of death. Yet, however small that probability is, it exists for all of us. Yesterday I woke up not expecting to experience that situation. It was a road trip. A day like any other day. Drive from here to there and then return home from there to here. We do it everyday. In so many different ways - driving down the road, walking across the street, a train ride to work, a flight to another city, or just going out our door. Death can and does happen to many in the blink of an eye.

If you knew Tomorrow would not happen, how would you live today? Life is about living today. Life is about living and creating a life today. Because we are not promised tomorrow. If you think you have something to do in this life, some purpose, some mission, some great quest, do it today. Put your life in motion. Certainly leaving this earth is a tragedy, however the greatest tragedy is leaving it without completing what you were placed here to do. Do not wait. Do not think you have time to complete it all. Because tomorrow may never come. All you have is today, the tomorrow you were not promised yesterday.

Because…Life is LIke Us.

Life is Like Us #79 - Diggin’ Out

Scott Patrick Erwin

February 18, 2022

Have you ever been stuck? Really, really, really stuck? I mean the kind of stuck, in a vehicle, where you are two feet deep in snow, sand, or dirt? The kind of stuck where you are alone, miles and miles from civilization, without tools, without the proper clothes, without food, and without cell service to call for help. It is just you, your vehicle and your situation. And you are stuck! Really, f#(%ing stuck. The only thing you can do is to face the problem and the solution to it - Diggin' Out!

This week, it happened to me. I knew better than to put myself in the situation, but instead, I kept driving towards it. I was out for an afternoon drive, a drive in the desert, a drive in a brand new four wheel drive vehicle, a vehicle that was not my own. And then the mountains, the Eastern Sierra Nevada Mountains, called me. I drove up a road I don’t think I have ever driven. A lonely winding mountain road to a small summer cabin, camping & hiking community. I got there, had a moment looking around, breathing in the fresh afternoon mountain air. That should have been enough, but it wasn’t. I got the adventurous idea to drive a bit further up the mountain, on a road closed for winter. The kind of road closed for winter, because they don’t clear the snow over the 10,000 foot pass. The kind of road you know is closed, but you head towards it anyway. The kind of road that when you get stuck you absolutely know that no one is going to randomly come driving by to help you. That is the kinda stuck I was this week. It was the kinda stuck where I knew the only way to get out was to start diggin’ and keep diggin’.

Getting stuck in life is challenging. It is frustrating. It is discouraging. It is down right annoying. One of the most disheartening parts of getting stuck, is we know, we know deep down, with every fiber of our being, that we contributed either in part or completely in creating the situation. We know that there were decisions upon decisions, that if changed, could have prevented this situation. And yet we find ourselves stuck, and the only answer to solve the problem is to start thinking, start acting, start working, and start digging out. And not just start, but to keep thinking, keep acting, keep working, and keep digging. The solution to our problem does not reside in our annoyance with the problem, it lies in the acceptance and focus on the challenge of overcoming it.

The process of digging out is mentally and emotionally demanding. While we are wrestling with the challenge, our minds often want to critique the decisions that got us there, our own multitude of decisions. We judge ourselves, we second guess ourselves, we relive the moments where this problem or life situation could have and should have been prevented, if only we’d made a different choice. If only we looked at life better and interpreted it differently. If only we believed in ourselves a little bit more. If only we had the courage to make a decision that might have seemed more difficult, should have seemed more obvious, and would have taken us to a different place. Yet, we did not and we have to put aside those conversations in our mind and focus on the actions needed to solve our problem.

When we are stuck in life, we have to leave behind the blame, the self defeating critique, the overwhelming emotions of asking “why me” or self blame of “how did I do this,” and turn and face the way out of our situation. Blaming ourselves, blaming others, blaming the world, is not going to help us overcome our challenges. It is in the heart of our challenges, in life, that we can find the most important lessons. It is in the lonely frustrating moments, when all we have is our own grit and fortitude, that we learn how strong we really are.

Because…Life is Like Us.

Life is Like Us #78 - Doubts

Scott Patrick Erwin

February 6, 2022

Do you have doubts? Do you doubt yourself? Do you doubt others? Do you doubt the world? Do you doubt God, the Universe, the Force, or whatever you call your higher power? I have lived a life full of doubts. I have doubted myself. I've doubted my choices. I've doubted my worth. I've doubted others. I've doubted humanity. Doubt is a disease.

When we doubt, we are expecting the worst. We are focusing on what can go wrong, in our life, in our relationships, and in our accomplishments. If doubt is your pattern, it can become a self fulfilling thought pattern. What we focus on is what we experience. Our minds actualize what it focuses on. Our minds fulfill our thoughts.

Doubt is the killer of dreams; your doubts and others' doubts of you that you let into your mind. Do you believe you can become something else? Focus on that and how to become that and with each small action by small action, you will get there.

Dreams are not practical. Dreams are not reasonable. Dreams are the hopes of the soul. When doubt creeps in, fight against it. Each time you let doubt run your mind or let someone else's doubt in, your dreams, your hope, your soul dies just a little bit more. When your soul dies enough, so do your dreams. Replace doubts with hope. However, to be clear, hope is not a plan, it's a conversation with yourself that is essential to keep working with a solid plan of action toward your dreams.

Life is one long hard fought battle against doubt. Stare at it with contempt like your worst enemy. Because doubt is a serial killer. Fight against it in your mind. Do not listen to the doubts created in your mind, by your mind, and from those around you who are incapable of believing in you or your capabilities, in spite of the dark lonely road you may be traveling. Keep driving into your future with hope, purpose, and passion through the storms of doubt that will try and push you and your dreams off your road.

Because...Life is Like Us.

Life is Like Us #77 - Tomorrow

Scott Patrick Erwin

February 1, 2022

Today is the Tomorrow that we were not promised Yesterday. You see, someone died yesterday. Of course, many people died yesterday. It could have been me, or you, but it was not. However, someone did actually die yesterday. Not just anyone, but someone died as I was watching my own life slide down a road. It was in a place known for tragedy, near where James Dean lost his life in a fast sports car, Cholame, California. Now, a man no less important to the world to someone, to some family, somewhere, has died there too. I did not know him. I will never have the opportunity to know him. However, I will never forget his name or how he died in an instant by no fault of his own. His name was David.

Ironically, its name Cholame is often thought to be a misspelling of Cholome, meaning “peace” in Hebrew. However, it is actually a Yokut Native American word for “The Beautiful One.”

It's true; that moment when time slows down in the time warp of an accident. It really happens. I experienced it as a vehicle crossed the double yellow lines on a two lane road in heavy traffic. I was sitting in the passenger seat and watched that split second happen, happen in slow motion. It was as if my hyper-conscious mind said to itself, "Holy Shit! That car is going to hit us. This is not going to end well." (I added the Holy Shit) And then it did. It did hit us. And when it was all done, it did not end well. Four cars were strewn about, and one person was no longer going to see Tomorrow, that Today we are not promised Yesterday. The tomorrow that is today.

Life is fragile. So, very, very fragile. No one, generally, walks into their day with the expectation of death. Yet, however small that probability is, it exists for all of us. Yesterday I woke up not expecting to experience that situation. It was a road trip. A day like any other day. Drive from here to there and then return home from there to here. We do it everyday. In so many different ways - driving down the road, walking across the street, a train ride to work, a flight to another city, or just going out our door. Death can and does happen to many in the blink of an eye.

If you knew Tomorrow would not happen, how would you live today? Life is about living today. Life is about living and creating a life today. Because we are not promised tomorrow. If you think you have something to do in this life, some purpose, some mission, some great quest, do it today. Put your life in motion. Certainly leaving this earth is a tragedy, however the greatest tragedy is leaving it without completing what you were placed here to do. Do not wait. Do not think you have time to complete it all. Because tomorrow may never come. All you have is today, the tomorrow you were not promised yesterday.

Because…Life is LIke Us.

Life is Like Us #76 - Perspective

Scott Patrick Erwin

January 20, 2022

Have you ever drawn a picture from a certain perspective? Perspective is looking at something from one point of view. That point is one degree on a scale of 359 other degrees surrounding the object, both horizontally and vertically. This is where the phrase, look at it from another perspective comes from. Life has many different perspectives. The challenge in life is knowing this, understanding it and living with the grace that we don't have the full perspective of any situation.

People live and react to life based upon their internal beliefs, interpretations and perspectives. Everyone's perspective is valid and is real to them. It is what they see. It is what they experience. It is what they believe based upon what they see and experience. It is what they interpret based upon their point of view. It is also what they believe and interpret based upon the influences of those around them at the time. All perspectives are valid, however one perspective is not the whole picture of a situation.

Life is a many layered experience. There are many forces and dynamics at work. We can only see one view of any moment of existence. The challenge of understanding life around us is to change our point of view and allow the possibility of another view than our experience. The motivations and intent of another view may look completely different than the outcomes we experience. And most often, those outcomes can only be understood with the perspective of time, in retrospect.

Life is lived based upon what we experience, however with the benefit of time, retrospective insight, and an openness to another perspective, our understanding of life changes. Have the grace to allow for this. You might be surprised to learn that things make a little more sense.

Because…Life is Like Us.

Life is Like Us #75 - Canyons

Scott Patrick Erwin

January 18, 2022

Have you ever driven on a steep canyon road? The kind where it's two lanes and only one way in and one way out? The kind where you have three ways to look, up at the hills on both sides, down the crevasse at the bottom of the canyon, and the narrow road ahead. Ok, maybe four, the road behind as well. I live on one end of a canyon. It's a somewhat famous one. It has a Merle Haggard song written about the river at the bottom. It has hosted National and Olympic white water competitions. It has a sign at the entrance keeping track of all the lives lost to its treacherous waters. And most importantly it has a two lane road for most of it that is fraught with twists, turns, and dangers for drivers.

Unlike most roads on the open flatlands, once you enter a canyon, you really only have two choices; keep going forward, or turn around and exit from where you came. If you stop on one of these roads, you will block traffic. You will disrupt the flow of life that uses the road. Some people know this road well and seem to just fly down it. Others have never experienced anything like it and seem to brake at every turn. People regularly die on the road. Somebody takes the road for granted and slides off the side. Someone tries to pass when they shouldn’t and becomes a new hood ornament. And others misjudge a turn and bounce around inside the guard rails and canyon rock walls. And occasionally you get stopped by a boulder dropped off the hillside that blocks the way. Just like life, there are dangers all along the way, its navigation requires focused diligent attention, and sometimes you get caught behind obstacles.

Life can seem like running a gauntlet at times. Entering a canyon in life, it is like the quote by Winston Churchill, “If you are going through hell, keep going.” We go to sleep with uncompleted challenges and with unsolved problems, and wake with new ones added to it. We navigate our day's twists and turns, taking hits, facing the monsters under the bridges, and wonder where it all leads and when it will stop. No matter what you are facing in life, once you enter a canyon of trials, the only way to get to the other end is to keep going.

Life and its challenges is like driving a canyon, in order to get to the other side we have to keep going. We have to navigate it carefully. We have to stay attentive to each moment and navigate with the twists and turns we are facing. We have to avoid obstacles. And we have to do our best to stay on the road to get to the other end. If you are in a canyon of life trials, keep going. At some point, with careful, diligent and persistent navigation, you will find the other side.

Because…Life is Like Us

Life is Like Us #74 - Complexity

Scott Patrick Erwin

January 13, 2022

Have you ever thought about the complexity of our existence? Have you ever thought about the coordination of our existence? Life is a vast symphony of synchronicity. Life can seem so beautifully simple at moments and so infinitely orchestrated at other moments.

I am an actor and a writer. It is a second career. As an actor and writer, I have become a student of movies. Movies are layers and layers and layers of vast coordination. In order for you, and me, to enjoy a two hour masterpiece of storytelling, there are hundreds of thousands of hours, some likely millions, that went into creating them. I am fascinated by the complexity of a blockbuster movie production.

We sit down in a theater, or in front of a screen and become engulfed in the fictional journey of characters. That journey started in the mind of a writer. Then was sculpted by others into a production to create it. It was then manifested onto film and video by a director and production team of people who do everything from cameras, sound, costumes, makeup, props, and transportation. Then after all that, it is polished by more teams that perfect the cut, the color, the sound, the music and effects of the piece. It is then handed off to others who coordinate marketing, distribution, and press so you know it exists. They are vast undertakings.

Life is a complex story, like a movie, a story of our own unique life. Whether it's a blockbuster or an unknown production is determined by how much effort you put into it. It is a product of how much coordination you seek out and can draw into your story. Are you living a life that draws others to want to join you in it's production, or are you living it to post short "look at me" videos for momentary consumption? Because the Life story you leave behind is a result of how much complexity you embrace and encourage.

Because...Life is Like Us.

Life is Like Us #73 - Awakening

Scott Patrick Erwin

January 13 2022

Have you heard the idea of a global Awakening? What are we awakening to? What are we Awakening from? If we are, why were we asleep? And if so, why now?

Humanity is in a precarious situation. We are very near a tipping point. I'm not sure how long humans have been a species on this planet or a conscious self aware manifesting species. Science thinks we have existed generally in our current species for approximately 300,000 years. However, as self aware beings with increasingly complex intelligence , estimates put it at around 50,000 years.

Yet, the planet earth has been here approximately 4.5 Billion. That is 90,000 times longer than the time of the modern existence of man. That is extraordinary. The time it took to form the terra firma we occupy is vastly more ancient than our time enjoying it. And somehow in just a few hundred years of industrialization we are very close to destroying this beautiful mother earth that we need so much for our continued existence. If that doesn't justify the need for an awakening, I don't know what does.

Life as we know it and its continued prosperity by future generations requires a new way of looking at it. Life, your life, my life and the life of future generations for millennia to come is crying out to our higher consciousness to wake up to this challenge. Will you? Will we? Can we? That is a story that has yet to be written.

Because...Life is Life Us.

Life is Like Us #72 - Fear

Scott Patrick Erwin

January 6, 2022

What do you fear? Do you fear spiders? Do you fear heights? Do you fear math? Do you fear intimacy? Do you fear being hurt? Do you fear hope? Do you fear failure? Do you fear success? Do you fear God? Do you fear death? Do you fear having fears? So many people, including and especially myself, have fears. It is a natural biological mechanism. Having fears is a normal part of life, holding on to fear is a choice. Facing your fears is a brave and necessary action to become your best self in life.

Fear is an emotional response to a recognized danger in order to preserve our life. Fear is a biological function developed over time and millennia by our ancestors. Those that had good and productive fear responses survived and proliferated humanity. Those who did not got eaten by the lions, tigers and bears on the savannah and wildernesses. Fear is a natural response to danger. However, when was the last time you had to react to a wild lion stalking you? A few of the closest things in this day and age include a soldier in battle, a mugger on a lonely city street, gang violence in challenging neighborhoods, a human predator of the weak and vulnerable, or getting stuck in a zoo in a horror movie. There are many many more examples, however, most people do not live constantly in these situations. Our minds are conditioned to respond with fear to danger. In the absence of real dangers, the mind invents dangers and then feeds those dangers through our fear response until we train it not to.

Facing fears in life takes a tremendous amount of courage. My daughter once taught me about facing fears. At about the age of seven or eight, she had a fear of spiders. We lived in a wooded neighborhood around a man made lake. It was full of wildlife. One prolific critter around our home were spiders with many high ceilings with corners where spiders could flourish. My daughter for a time feared spiders and would have a significant emotional response to them. Then at some point, she bravely decided she was going to face and overcome this fear; and she did. She did it through courageous and methodical scientific vigor. She learned about them. She studied them up close. She observed her reaction instead of letting it overcome her. She began decorating her room with pictures of them. And just like that, the fear that had once paralized her, now became her badge of courage. It was something that made me very proud of her, that bravery, that tenacity and that resilience.

Life is full of emotional responses that are based in fear. When we do not understand something we often fear it. We often invent stories, myths, habits, methods of avoidance and dogma about things we fear, in orders to teach, train, organize, dominate or control ourselves and others. Your mind uses fear to motivate you or to paralyze you. If you want to drive toward your dreams with passion and purpose, you will have to become very comfortable facing fears, all of them - the real ones, the invented ones, the illogical ones, and especially, the ones deeply hidden behind the veil of our unconscious mind. Those are the real challenging ones; to peel back the layers and find the fears we hardly understand but so desperately need to face.

Because Life is Like Us.

Life is Like Us #71 - Life Club

Scott Patrick Erwin

December 30, 2021

The first rule of Life Club is that your life is your life, you only get one life, it is your sole purpose to make the most of it that you can. We are creations of the Universe and as we are made in the image of the Universe we create our own universe around us. We attract what we are, what we focus upon, what we put out into life.

The second rule of Life Club is that we are all in life together. I impact you. You impact me. They impact us. We impact them. We are all moving through life like a wave through an ocean. Each a drop that makes up the whole. The whole in one drop. Our impact individually and collectively is what determines the direction and the future we create together.

The third rule of Life Club is that others will try to control your life - positively, negatively, directly, indirectly, intentionally, unintentionally, with pleasure, with pain, by carrot, by stick, with leading, with law, for profit, or for tax. It is your daily challenge to balance all of these influences to navigate life. No one can do it for you and you can’t do it without others. Balancing all these influences is a continuous daily challenge.

The fourth rule of Life Club is that confusion about life is a natural state before you understand life for yourself. And understanding is only momentary. Something will always come along to throw that understanding out of balance. Because we cannot know it all. Knowing is a certainty that has yet to be overturned.

The fifth rule of Life Club is that we are all seeking internal peace through the honest sincere love of ourselves and others. Love is what we are seeking - Love of ourselves, Love by others, Love for others, Love with others, Love for what we do, Love for what we contribute. Without love, Life will always be and feel empty and futile.

The sixth rule of Life Club is that we are all challenged by our own imperfections. Our individuality is our perfection. However we struggle because we are trying to fit in, be accepted and be approved by others. It is a tribal survival mechanism. The challenge individually is to accept ourselves as perfectly imperfect, as individuals within the diversity of the whole. The more we try to be the same as others the harder it is to accept ourselves and be at peace as an individual. The more we try to be an individual, the more we feel alone within the whole.

The seventh rule of Life Club is that rules are based on someone being certain and therefore only an opinion. Accept them or don't but seek to understand your life as you can.

Because Life is Like Us.

Life is Like Us #70 - Beliefs

Scott Patrick Erwin

December 21, 2021

What do you believe in? What keeps you moving forward when doubt and darkness set in? We all have them; beliefs and doubts. Some people's beliefs are doubts and some people doubt beliefs.

What are beliefs? It is generally defined as the acceptance that something is true or that something exists; or trust, faith, or confidence in someone or something. There are a lot of somes in that. Some being an unspecified amount. So as I understand it, a belief is faith in an unspecified thing. Sounds pretty nebulous to me. So when you say "I believe...X,Y, or Z." It is generally an undefinable thing, it is an opinion. And if someone else believes in your belief, then they are having faith in someone's generally unprovable notion.

So many and so much is propelled forward in this world because someone of authority says, "I believe...whatever." And others get behind that belief because they want to believe in something. They want to believe that someone has it figured out. Because they certainly don't and they are hoping that someone smarter does have it figured out. The world runs on this principle - Religion, politics, parenthood, education, and leadership. And maybe some do, have some things figured out. However, my belief is that most don't. Most people, regardless of what they are saying, don't have life figured out and they are hoping that those that are talking, here, there, anywhere, do have it figured out. And they are all too willing to place their belief in them or use that placement of belief to their advantage. At least that’s what I believe.

When was the last time you examined your beliefs? I encourage you to deeply question your beliefs. Do you believe it, whatever it is, because you have found it to be true internally or because someone has shared their belief, their dogma, their certain uncertainty and has convinced you that it is true. Examine it. Examine it deeply. Decide for yourself. Because the more you give away your beliefs to others, the less you are in control of your mind and your life.

Because...life is like us.

Life is Like Us #69 - Energy

Scott Patrick Erwin

December 6, 2021

Have you ever thought about what energy is? Have you ever thought about how energy impacts us? Einstein came up with a formula to explain it, E=MC^². Energy equals mass times the speed of light squared. Is that true? Smarter minds than me have given that some thought and validation. Somehow it works out mathematically. Understanding how mathematicians prove a formula, I'm gonna take their word for it, for now. One premise that I do accept out of my limited understanding of the study of physics is this. Energy is. It just is. It is neither created nor destroyed, it can only transform from one manifestation of existence to another.

Here is another thing to consider. What are we? What is this physical world that we exist in? What is the spark of energy that we call our awareness, our soul that observes and interacts with the world we exist in? Physics says everything is energy. So our spark, our awareness, our soul must be energy too. If that is true, then that spark, that is awareness, must have existed before this moment we call life. And if our spark of awareness is energy and it existed before, it must exist after the momentary manifestation that is our self, our being, our existence as human life. Or more simple, our energy, as a spark of awareness, exists after the manifestation of life, ie. Our spark of energy exists after death. How? I don't know? What does it exist as? I don't know. What does it transform into? I don't know. It’s a mystery.

Ok, I know I'm getting deep here, and maybe even existential, but stay with me, let's see where this goes. So energy is. We are energy. Energy exists as the strings that bind everything in the universe together. And whatever spark of awareness we are is just one small, minute, infinitesimal manifestation of the whole, the totality of energy in the Universe. So if we are a spark, a unit, a part, of the Universe, then that spark is the Universe. So we are all just different manifestations of the Universe expressing energy as consciousness, as awareness.

So life, as I understand it, is energy. Life is the spark of awareness of one part of the whole. So you, I, and everyone and everything existed before in some form, before life, and will exist after this life in some form. So the questions we have about death and the amount of focus, distraction, fear, and downright obsession about it is irrational and wastes the time we have here in this time, in this manifestation of awareness, this life. Memento Mori as the stoics say. “Remember you must die.”

Because…Life is Like Us.

Life is Like Us #68 - Mountain Climbing

Scott Patrick Erwin

December 5, 2021

Why do people climb mountains? Are they a bit crazy? Do they have some death wish? If so many people die doing it, are they nuts to want to do it themselves? These and others are questions I have heard in regards to the sport, the art, the passion of mountain climbing. Last night I watched a documentary movie about a mountain climber. Mountain climbing can be very inspiring to me. Here are people who seem to risk everything to hang by their finger tips off the edge of rock walls, ice sheets, and mountain faces for the simple accomplishment of saying they did it. Mountain climbers must be crazy right?

Anything and anyone doing things seemingly dangerous and out of the ordinary is usually labeled as crazy. However when you break it down a bit, are they really? I've heard a quote, "In an insane society, the sane man appears insane." People who accomplish great and extraordinary results are usually categorized as crazy, insane, and off the mark of "normal." And they remain under that label by many until they accomplish something new, ground breaking and "earth shattering." Then they are labeled extraordinary, brilliant, and / or revolutionary.

As a child, the mountain climber had been labeled with ADHD. He called his condition "squirrel brain," or jumpy attention. However when he was climbing, none of this took place. Imagine the focus and attention it takes to climb a mountain choosing one hand hold, one foot placement and one rope attachment at a time for hours and days on end. He did not have an attention disorder. He had a lack of important things of interest to pay attention to before he began climbing. When he began applying himself to an internally driven purpose and passion the jumpiness of his mind's attention went away and his extraordinary ability to climb mountains, cut new paths and take the sport to a new level, came out. He became a brilliant climber and record breaker. And yet, to the non climber he can still be labeled as crazy.

Life is like mountain climbing. It takes training, fitness, mental focus, and a calm yet determined disposition. It takes confidence in yourself. It takes an internally driven passion to reach the top of the mountain for the sole purpose that your internal drive has determined that is the destination. Why others do what they do is up to them. If climbing and reaching the top of something gets you labeled as crazy, then so be it. It appears to be the precursor to accomplishing extraordinary things.

Because…Life is Like Us

Life is Like Us #67 - Inspiration

Scott Patrick Erwin

December 4, 2021

Do you like adventures? What is the wildest thing you have done? Have you ever pushed yourself beyond your expectations? I mean really pushed yourself? Have you ever done something that few have ever done before or since? I’d venture to say that most people would say they have not.

Tonight I watched the movie “The Alpinist.” It is a documentary on the life of Marc-André Leclerc, a Canadian rock climber and alpinist (Definition: “A climber of high mountains, especially in the Alps.” Oxford). He completed the first winter solo ascents of a mountain in Patagonia called Torre Egger, considered by many the hardest peak in the Americas. He also completed the first winter climb of the Emperor Face on Mount Robson, the highest mountain in the Canadian Rockies, as well as many other notable and record breaking ascents in the mountain climbing community. And he did all that during a very short window of time, five years. (Spoiler alert) Tragically, he died in 2018 at the age of 25, while descending a new route of the North face of Mendenhall Towers, near Juneau, Alaska. It should be noted, he died coming down, not doing the challenging part of going up. At the end of this wonderful documentary of the short life of this record breaking climber, it left me with the question. What was his life, his accomplishments, and this tragic ending to a very fascinating young man all for? What will be the lasting impact of a guy who most will never know of and those that do, like myself, would never know except for this documentary movie?

I love good travel and adventure documentaries. The kind where people go places usually not heard of, do things most will never do, and experience things most will never experience. Add to that the exploration of the mindsets and accomplishments of people so unique, that you cannot help but be intrigued. The Alpinist is that type of movie.

Some people just do things differently. They have a different internal energy and purpose than the “average” person. I ascribe to the opinion that we all have the potential for greatness within us, every single one of us. However, our ability to manifest that greatness depends upon if that burning light, that spark of greatness, that passion that burns brightly makes it into your life purpose as an adult. For Marc-André Leclerc it clearly did.

However, the ending of the story is that he died. Can I let you in on a unique truth? That is not unusual. We all die. Every single one of us. The Stoics even coined a phrase, “Memento Mori.” Translated it means, “Remember you must die.” We are all living a tragedy in a way. The truth for these philosophers, and for me in the analysis of his life is this; it is not that we die, but what we do with our life. It reminds me of the quote of Galdalf in Lord of the Rings, “All we have to decide is what to do with the time that we are given.”

The question I pondered as I finished the movie is what did he leave behind? And for me, although his ending was tragic, Marc-André Leclerc left behind inspiration. Yes, inspiration. He inspired me. Here was a young man that found his passion early. Lived his passion and story with a simple and modest bliss. He did not do it for fame. He did not seek notoriety. He was not a social media superstar. He actually shunned attention. A funny part of this documentary was his documentary team trying to find him in the world as he was climbing many of his accomplishments in the backcountry. He just left and didn’t tell them where he was going or what he was doing. They were tracking him around the world by others’ social media posts of him. He just loved to solo climb. All alone, him and the mountain, in the moment, doing it. He loved to experience the joy of living his passion. Through his passion, through his accomplishments, through the movie, and in the final analysis, for one brief moment (and hopefully many other moments in remembrance) he inspired me. He inspired me to live my purpose and passion. These words were written because I was inspired by him.

Some people just know their purpose. Their focus and passion seems to just radiate from them. Their energy is magnetic. And there is truth to that. Energy is a vibration and it is and can be very magnetic and therefore attractive to others. There are just some people we love to be around because they have “a good energy.” They understand themselves. They are completely in tune with their purpose. They are just unable to NOT be that “thing.” Whatever that thing is.

I have come to my purpose a bit late in life. My purpose is one of creativity as a writer and an actor, and one day creator and producer. Realistically, I’ve found a new purpose. I am thankful for the life I have lived up to this point, however, I am sincerely grateful for the life I get to live knowing, understanding, and embodying my purpose with the days I have left. And what is that?

Maybe the purpose of everyone is to inspire others with what we do. The Alpinist, and Marc-André Leclerc inspired me tonight. As a result, I sat down and wrote these words. And maybe they will inspire others, or something else I write, act or speak will inspire someone else, to find, develop, grow, and live their purpose and their passion. And maybe, just maybe that will inspire someone else to do the same. Maybe life is as simple as that, to allow the lives of others to inspire us, to then do something with our own purpose to then inspire another to do something with theirs. Again and again. Over and over. Around and around.

Because…Life is Like Us.

Life Is Like Us #66 - Snowboarding

Scott Patrick Erwin

December 3, 2021

I learned to ski at 12 years old. I was always just an Ok skier. However in my early 30's I learned to snowboard while working in Finance for a California ski resort. I took one lesson from an Australian named Adie, and I never looked back. It seemed natural to me, because I grew up in the early days of skateboarding. Within a few days I felt comfortable enough to go anywhere on the mountain, even the toughest black diamonds. And I did. For the two seasons I worked there I snowboarded 50 plus days each year. Snowboarding revealed a few life lessons that I often forget in the valleys on dry land.

In order to snowboard, you have to let go. You have to let go of being still and standing firm in one place. You have to push yourself intentionally into a slide down the mountain. You have to generally point yourself downhill and balance yourself with the slide. You have to dabble with the razor thin margin of being out of control. You have to rock back and forth on each edge of the board depending on whether you are looking at the mountain or have your back to it. You have to make smooth transitions. You have to watch for, react, and take decisive action with all the obstacles of people, terrain, and trees. You have to observe and make decisions constantly.

Life is like snowboarding. To do life well to its potential, you have to push yourself off and lean into the unknown slide down the slope of life. As you go you pickup speed until you find your perfect rhythm on the ideal line down the mountain. At its simplest, life is a long distance controlled fall down the mountain we call a lifetime. You are going to feel in the rhythm sometimes. You are going to feel out of control sometimes. You are going to need to deal with good weather and bad. You will need to learn to recover when you feel like you're potentially falling. And when you actually do fall, you will need to dust yourself off, pick up the "yard sale" of a crash and push off again. So pickup your favorite board, get out there and lean into the cannonball run down the mountain of life.

Because Life is Like Us.

Life is like us #65 - Healing

Scott Patrick Erwin

March 23, 2021

Healing is ugly. Trauma is vicious. Continuous traumas are numbing. And when you finally begin to heal, it usually doesn't look or feel, anything like healing. Because healing requires rehabilitation and that process is not easy.

The last few years, I've been on a long dark lonely and isolated road of recovery. The ugly kind that starts with open bleeding septic wounds, gets seemingly worse with surgical intervention, and then aches from constant aggressive rehabilitation. The trauma I speak of was mental. Inflicted from decades of hopelessness, as I lived my own desperate search for meaning. Added to that, I was watching the world, the big wide world, do the same. My journey of recovery required facing myself. It required facing my over thinking, over active, crazy making mind and making a deep search for some cohesive explanation of life.

And the only thing I can be sure of at this moment, is that we all need hope. We are all desperately searching for something, anything to believe in. We need something, outside of ourselves to connect and go towards in life. Religion, spirituality, science, the treasure at the end of the game, the brief and elusive high from a hit of your own personal self medication, be it chemical, herbal, liquid, culinary, physical, or a distraction. We are hoping that temporarily, eventually, or permanently there is a better state then the one we are in, right now. And the puzzle piece that are hard to fit in, is that now is all we really have.

My hope for life, and the recovery I've been going through, is that ultimately in the final accounting, that life, this existence is more than the physical existence we are accepting out of life. Life did not evolve from single cell organisms into the diversity of existence today to just be cogs in the economic machines of the world's most powerful people, corporations, and governments. If what I'm saying is true, then how do we as people heal from the trauma we all are going through. I'm still healing, so I'll keep ya posted on my progress.

Because Life is Like Us.

Life is Like Us # 64 - Failure

Scott Patrick Erwin

July 15, 2021

Have you failed? What was your most recent failure? What was the experience and what did you learn from it? For me it was the failure of family relationships, a marriage, and a business; 2019 was a tough year. As a culture we do not embrace and accept failure enough. We celebrate winning. As Vince Lombardi said, “Winning isn’t everything, it’s the only thing.” We as a culture embrace the mantra from Apollo 11, "Failure is not an option." We ignore or outright scorn the losers of the game. We sacrifice the players who may have missed the goal or touched the wall .001 behind. I have failed a lot. And as failure upon failure added up in life, most of it internally perceived failure, I became less and less confident in trying at all.

I began to understand in myself and observe in others that when people are not "Winning " in life they succumb to quitting. They accept the ABC Wide World of Sports mantra, "The agony of defeat." Failure is not an enemy. Failure is a valuable and wise teacher, if we embrace it. It should be a welcomed and sought after friend. The real enemy and tragedy is quitting. Failure is inevitable and part of the process of transformation. Quitting should not be the option. In Apollo 11, they failed to find solutions over and over again. However, they did not quit. They kept going until they had solutions. And ultimately achieved the success of bringing the astronauts home.

In life, we learn the most from failure. As a culture, we need to change our perception of failure. We need to teach a different paradigm of the success mindset. Success doesn't come from magically acquired skills. It is a product of hard determined effort and a resilient mindset. Don't wallow in adversity and defeat. Feel it. Accept it. Learn from it, and get up and try again.

We all want success. The road to success is a long winding street named “Failure” with a right turn at “Resilience.” Everyday, in little, and big ways, we have to fail to succeed. We have to fail at all the little things to reach each next level over and over and over again before we reach the level of success we are pursuing.

Because...Life is Like Us.

Life Is Like Us #63 - Driving into Life

Scott Patrick Erwin

June 29, 2021

In a vehicle, how do you get from where you are to where you want to be? Think about it. I'll wait. OK. Here is my simple answer - You drive yourself! It really is that simple. If you want to get somewhere else from where you are currently, you get in the car and drive yourself there.

Driving a vehicle to somewhere you want to be is a pretty simple idea. You make a decision where you want to go. You get ready to go. You find the keys. You walk out the door. You get into the vehicle. You start it up. You put it in gear and then, and then and then… you drive, making continuous decisions along the way until you get there.

Life is like driving a vehicle to a destination. You make a decision and then you do whatever it takes to get there. For example, imagine you have decided to drive home for Christmas, or the holidays (Hanukkah, Swanza, Winter Solstice, Festivus, or New Years Eve, depending upon your bent of holiday). You plan, you pack, you prepare, and then you leave where you are and head toward where you want to be. Along the way you change roads, you fuel up, and you consider the route. And most likely, small or big, along the way you encounter challenges. Maybe it's as simple as spilling coffee. Or maybe the car breaks down. Whatever it is, does it stop you? Probably not. Cuz you’ve been thinking about that home cooked meal of Mom’s, or the cold beverage with your Dad, or a night out with all your friends from back home. Because of all of that, you are going to get there. You face every challenge presented until you cross the doorway of your home and get that hug from Mom and Dad, your siblings, and other family, actual or chosen.

Life is like a drive home for the holidays, you drive with intention and purpose, until you make it to where you want to be. It's like John Candy in the movie Planes, Trains, and Automobiles. No challenge, no problem, no detour, no roadblock and no excuse should keep you from getting to where you want to be in life. If you are feeling like you are not getting anywhere in life, think of life like a drive home for the holidays, make a decision to reach a destination in life and then do whatever it takes to drive yourself across the threshold of that decision.

Because...Life is Like Us.

Have you ever decided to build something? A fort as a kid, a science project as a student, a home improvement project as an adult, a car as a hobbyist, or art project as a crafty-ist (Is that a word? No, but you get what I mean). Last summer during the height of the Covid pandemic, my father, 88 years young, decided to build a solo camping trailer. Some would call them teardrop trailers, this one was more of a box, a solo box camping trailer. He is a self taught craftsman and can build, fix, or figure out just about anything. So he had some spare parts as inspiration, ok it was just a tongue off my brother's old boat trailer. (There is another story there.) So he decides to build a trailer.

When we build things it starts with inspiration. We get an idea, a concept, a vision, etc. Maybe it's a need or a brilliant scheme to fix your situation. After the inspiration, you probably gave it some thinking. Maybe it was only a moment, or maybe you mulled it over for some extended period of time (I'm more the overthinking kind, so I tend to think through ideas for a while before implementing). Once you have a clear concept, you pull together what you need - supplies, parts, tools etc. And then you start building. Invariably, you have problems and challenges along the way. Not everything will work the way you envision it or plan it. There are big challenges like design flaws. On Dad's trailer, the door was way too small. Or there are smaller challenges. Such as, during the final phase of construction, the turn signals lights weren't working. The wires had a short in them. They needed to be pulled and replaced. Whatever the project, you will face challenges. You keep going, you think through it, you come up with solutions, and you figure it out.

Life is like a personal project. It requires inspiration, planning, learning, gathering resources, building and connecting, grinding off the extra bits, correcting problems, overcoming challenges, bolting on the finishing touches, testing the systems, fixing the things that aren’t working, etc. Eventually you get to the end and the project comes together. Probably not exactly how you first envisioned it, but in the end it works.

Life is a project worth building. We are products of creation. We are life in all it's beautiful mysteries. We don't get what we want in life, we get what we create with our efforts. We get inspired, we learn what we need, we create a plan, we seek resources, we start, we build, we face problems, we overcome, we build some more, we face more problems, we overcome those, and eventually we achieve the completion of our inspiration.

Because...Life is Like Us

Life is Like Us #61 - Mindfulness

Scott Patrick Erwin

March 15, 2021

Are you mindful? Do you act in the practice of Mindfulness? Mindfulness is the new vogue concept of the day. It is actually quite ancient, but is being rediscovered by more and more people as a way to understand life better. There have always been people in human history that seem to have a wider understanding of human existence than others, such as the great groundbreaking scholars, the mystics, the shamans, the spiritual prophets, and the wise men and women of history. I have been living in the state of mindfulness over the past year or more and diligently working on understanding the concept. Mindfulness is generally defined as a focus on awareness and acceptance of the present moment, without judgement. It is a learning to accept our feelings, thoughts, and bodily sensations without applying our imperfect biased judgment to what we are experiencing. It is about learning to master the “watcher” of the mind as opposed to being the mind, and using the watcher to adapt to how we are being in life.

The mind is a bodily function. We are a biological entity in a three dimensional state that we call being human. If we are to accept some of the basic concepts of physics, this three dimensional state is only one dimension of existence and we do not experience all of existence. For example, we see what we call colors, such as red, green, yellow, and blue, because our eyes have developed biologically over time to recognize them. Colors are just reflections of light. Light is energy. There are many other spectrums of light and energy, outside of the limited spectrums that we see. The point being, we do not actually see or experience everything that exists, only what we recognize, with our limited perception. Using technology, humans have developed the ability to see more of these spectrums of light and energy. This therefore leads to the basic and fundamental idea that there is more to existence than what we see.

If there is more to existence than what our body normally sees, mindfulness is the process of being aware of what we see and being open to what we normally do not see, or feel, or experience. This process of mindfulness trains our sensing mechanisms toward greater awareness. Awareness is a strength of the mind that can be exercised and built like we can develop the muscles of our body. There is a long shared fallacy that we only use 10% of our mind. Experts now believe that we use all of our mind, yet we are unaware of most of its processing. A better, more powerful view is that we are only aware of 10% of the mind’s function. Mindfulness is the process of increasing the awareness of our mind’s functions.

Mindfulness is a way of being in relation to life. It is the process of observing life, learning from those observations, healing the parts of us that have been damaged in and by life, and transforming into more powerful states of awareness about life. Mindfulness is about living in a state of curiosity and awe of life within us and around us. In my growing understanding, mindfulness is about being the spirit watching our mind not the thinker manifested by the mind. So, if you are working on becoming more mindful in life, begin by watching your existence and experiences of life instead of using your thinking mind to just exist in your experiences. You will become aware and mindful of much more in life.

Because…Life is Like Us.

Life is Like Us #60 - Decisions

By Scott Patrick Erwin

February 15, 2020

What are the hard decisions you face today? What are the decisions you are putting off making? What are the decisions you have been running away from making in life? I recently made a decision that I should have made years ago. It was a simple decision. It was a logical decision. It was the obvious decision. It was in my best interest and was for my greater good, but it had been put off. This decision had been put off for far too long. Today, with that decision behind me, the burden of indecision has been lifted. And I cannot describe the release of energy in my mind.

Decisions in life are places where we face dilemmas. Should I do this or that? Do I accept this situation or do I choose another? Do I accept the possible outcomes or am choosing to eliminate the outcomes those decisions can bring? Until we honestly face the tough decisions of life, we are stuck in a cycle of constantly remaking that decision. And the energy required to make that decision again and again takes away from the potential of life.

In life we make all kinds of decisions. There is a statistic based on studies that says we make approximately 50-70,000 decisions everyday. Some are simple, like what am I going to have for lunch, am I going to work on the simple task or the harder task at work right now, or should I take the surface streets or the freeway. However, some decisions are more difficult. These usually relate to changing ourselves. Am I going to accept this behavior in myself? Am I going to decide to change or accept the results of not changing? Not deciding is a decision. Deciding not to change and accepting possibilities of that decision, over and over again, takes a tremendous amount of energy. And we as humans do it everyday; relationships, career choices, and lifestyle choices.

Life is a constant cycle of relentless decisions. Those decisions we make or do not make and therefore make by default, create the results of our life. There is no escape from it. If you do not like the life you are living the only way to have something different is through making different decisions. And the decisions toward change are always the toughest and hardest ones. Decisions can only be made when you get tired of the results of the prior ones. When you are ready to make them you will. Be the hero of your story and turn toward the decisions that bother you the most and feel the energy, stress and anxiety of those indecisions be released into your life.

Because...Life is Like Us.

Life is Like Us #59 - Reminders

By Scott Patrick Erwin

February 16, 2021

Do you leave yourself reminders and instructions? Have you ever noticed yourself leaving behind clues? A lot of the work that I have performed in life has been complex work done routinely over periodic intervals. For most of my life I was an accountant or financial analyst. The work I did was done over and over again with different numbers on a daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly and annual basis. In order to do the work efficiently the next time without relearning the whole process, I would leave myself instructions and procedures for the next time. Each time the work was different but the instructions and clues helped get the work done.

We write ourselves “to do” lists and create reminders, well, these are instructions we are setting for ourselves to help our future self. We know what we need to do, and we have to remind ourselves, when other priorities distract us. Often we ignore the “to do” list and reminders. This is like when we learn lessons and then don't apply them. However, when we read the lessons from someone else's voice, we remember how wise that is. It's called the “law of familiarity.”

I write this blog, I've written books, and recorded podcasts. I'm not sure if it is the "right" name for them, but I call them “Observational Philosophy.” They are bits of wisdom I observe from things around me. When the nugget of wisdom strikes, I have learned to stop and write them down. Do I feel like I've overcome or mastered the bit of wisdom observed? Nope. In fact, let's be clear, "Hell No!" I'm not a robot, I live an imperfect life. I forget. I get caught up in my own crap and mental nonsense. We all do. I write things I know for myself to be true that I am really trying to master.

Life has given you many lessons. Often, you have to relearn those lessons for the current moment and time. We need to be open to relearning them again and again. And importantly, forgive yourself for forgetting. We are all imperfect. We have to filter information. Is it true? Is it valid for me right now in this situation? Is it useful and powerful to improve my situation, mental, emotional, spiritual, materialistic impact, etc. And that requires intuition; deep trust in your own voice, some might call that voice “God” or the Universe. Whatever you call it, trust in yourself to sort out the often lying ego mind from the intuitive prompting superconscious mind. Trust in your connection to your intuition and its direction.

Because...Life is Like Us.

Life is Like Us #58 - Driver or the Car

By Scott Patrick Erwin

January 11, 2021

Are you the Driver or the Car in Life? Is that a strange question? Hold on it will get clearer. Think about today, your day, wherever it took you, whatever you experienced, and whatever situations you faced. Take a moment. Do you have a picture of your day in your mind? Now consider your day with this filter; did you drive through the day holding the wheel, steering a course, or did the day drive you, throwing you about like a passenger in a demolition derby? Did you courageously face problems, did you relentlessly handle the challenges, did you overcome the puzzles of life that you faced, did you creatively manifest something new? OR were you holding on for dear life, as life put situation after situation on the road of destiny in front of you? And if you were not being thrown about, were you instead sitting and stressing, stewing, worrying, or feeling sorry for yourself based on the day you experienced or how you interpreted the present, future or the past? If you let your perceived problems determine your day, then the day drove you. If you worked through challenges in spite of obstacles & unknowns, then you were the driver. Today, I was the car, not the driver.

Life either drives us or we drive life. For the last few days, life has been driving me, instead of me holding the wheel and driving life. You see, I recently had an unexpected disappointment. It was a "situation" that I asked for in life and for all practical purposes I really needed it for a season, it was a source of motivation. I had some high expectations about the potential outcome, and then the situation ran its natural course and came to a conclusion. When it did end, my internal meaning maker immediately presented an interpretation to my mind that it was a significant disappointment. That disappointment drove me around for a while. It beat me up and went around in a circle on my mind’s race track. Frustration, blame, anger, hurt were all doing donuts and burning rubber. And then I realized I was letting the car drive me around instead of driving the car myself. Once I observed this, I was able to stop the car, get out of the passenger seat, shake my head, and get back in the driver’s seat of my mind.

Marcus Aurelius, the Stoic Philosopher and Roman Emperor said “You have power over your mind - not outside events. Realize this, and you will find strength.” Everyday can be a good day or a bad day. Every situation can be a benefit or a tragedy. That interpretation is up to you (and me), every single moment of every single day. It is our choice how we perceive it. Some situations can at first seem bad but then when we let that initial interpretation go for a moment and look for alternatives, we can find something good out of it. For me it was when I stepped back and asked myself, what part did I have in this? Did I cause this situation? Did this seemingly external negative situation begin with me and from me internally? Is all the blame on this thing valid? And once I looked in the mirror objectively, I realized I had asked the Universe for something and it gave me exactly what I needed and asked for.

Life gives us what we ask of it. How we interpret what life gives is up to us. When we change the story of life, in our minds, we change our life itself. Tragedies can be blessings. Betrayals can be needed lessons. Situations usually just are situations and it is our view of them that gives it meaning. So I ask again, are you the driver of your life or are you the car getting driven around?

Because…Life is Like Us.

Life is Like Us #57 - 2020

By Scott Patrick Erwin

December 29, 2020

What did you do with yourself in 2020? How did you survive it? In 2021 and beyond, I think this will be a question that people ask and answer regularly. Like where were you during 9/11? Where or how did you two meet? We will remember the year 2020 like the major events of our life, only it will be almost an entire year we spent like a dream or nightmare that can hardly be remembered in the morning. What was that all about? Did that really happen? Was Covid real or was it just some strange conspiracy thing? It just seems like 2020 is an unanswered question, that we will never know the full answer to.

How much of life do we really understand? Are we living each day in this dimension with certainty or curiosity? If there is one thing I am certain about in this life, it is that I cannot be certain of much of anything in life. The truth and facts that seemed so absolutely true yesterday, in my youth, in history, or in mankind’s steadfast beliefs have almost all, to the last one, been revised. The world was created in a day! Really? Hmm? Maybe not. The world is the center of the Universe! Nope, a strike and a miss on that fact. Disease is a curse from the gods! Well, that is an interesting theory, but more likely a biological dis-ease of our biological functioning and is greatly impacted by the energetic balance and functioning of the body’s immune system. Hmm? Could be. And then there is - Is life a physical existence seeking a spiritual dimension? Hmm? Or is life a spiritual experience in a physical dimension? I prefer the latter, it seems more likely.

When we look at life, a moment, a day, a month, a year, or a lifetime, can we really be sure what it is and what impact it has upon us, others, the world, or the Universe? If we look at the evolution of the Universe, we can be fairly certain, as much as anyone can be at least, that our little solar system and delicate planet will be long gone at some point. So in the grand scheme of things does 2020 really matter? In the blink of an eye, timewise, whatever it was, this year, and whatever it meant, really will not matter. So let’s just try and shake our heads at it and move on with our lives.

Life is a daily search for meaning and significance. When life is interrupted, like it was in 2020, it can be a challenge to find new meaning and significance. However, that is our challenge. To find meaning and significance, make note of what it meant in the moment, and then move on. It was a time. It was a season. It was something bigger and more complex than the narrative that was pushed in the news and social media. Was it random? Probably not. Was it just an accident? Unlikely. Was it something bigger and more complex than we can imagine and put our finger on? Most likely. Can I change that by ruminating on it? No. Definitely not. So I’m moving on, dealing with it, accepting the change, and taking on 2021 and beyond with a passion. We may never fully understand the changes that took place in 2020, but changes certainly did take place - world pandemic, social isolation, economic destruction of life and livelihoods, and many other negative impacts. We also had a world wide awakening. Many saw it, participated in it, changed as a result of it. And we will see the impact of that for decades to come. Something changed in 2020 and I’m thankful for that change, in myself and the world around us.

Because...Life is Like Us.

Life is Like Us #56 - Rose Bushes

Scott Patrick Erwin

December 22, 2020

Have you ever trimmed a rose bush? The gardener prunes a rose bush often during the growing season to cut away the blooms that are finished and make room for the newer blooms to come. It is a natural process to shape and nurture the plant during the growing season. In winter, rose bushes require significant pruning. It is an annual practice as the weather turns cold to trim all the growth from the year back to just a nub and a few limbs. Looking at it when the gardener is done, the unfamiliar might think the gardener has killed it, by trimming off all the growth.

The act of trimming rose bushes can be mildly treacherous and potentially painful. Rose bushes are thorny and have some dense growth. To perform the act properly, it requires patiently clipping off one branch at a time. One must gently and patiently clip, snip, and cut back all the growth, to reveal the ball of the rose bush, called a crown, and leave a few branches, called canes, for the future growth. Anyone who has trimmed a rose bush has walked away with a few jabs from the thorns. It is almost impossible to complete the task without a few scrapes, cuts, and injuries. It's just the nature of the task.

Like a rose bush, life regularly prunes away things in us to help us to continue to grow. The process keeps us healthy. And sometimes, when a season of life is over, life cuts it all off. Life trims us back to almost nothing. Sometimes you are the plant. Sometimes you are the gardener. And often you are both the rose bush and the gardener, it is traumatic to be cut back and the process of trimming creates some injury. One can feel traumatized by the process. All the parts that took so much energy to create are suddenly cut away. The parts that have been shaded are now exposed. We, as the plant, feel vulnerable. And also, as the gardener, the process is equally dangerous. Here you are clipping away hard fought growth and the branches will stab and cut you. At times, in life, you are both the plant and gardener and the process is painful on both sides.

When the gardener of life starts trimming on you, understand it is to make way for your future. When life requires you to be the gardener of your rose bush, expect the process to cause some injury. Don't curse the gardener, life, for doing what is needed. And don't shy away from cutting away old growth when the season comes, just because it will cause injury. Both the plant and the gardener must experience this process and do what is needed to make way for the coming season of growth.

Because life is like us.

Life is Like Us #55 - Life is Like a Fast Car

By Scott Patrick Erwin

December 1, 2020

If we really think about the process of driving, the subconscious mind does most of the work in the act of driving. Think about it. I mean really think about it. The seamless shifting of gears, the slight press of the accelerator, the anticipation of a curve in the road up ahead... all of this and more is analyzed by the subconscious mind. We are propelling ourselves down the road in a small metal box at terminal speeds while we are consciously thinking about everything else but the act of driving.

I am no expert on the matter, but I have heard it said that about 95% of the time while we are driving, we are consciously thinking about something else. This ‘something else’ could be anything... the talk you had with your partner in the morning before heading out the door, the music on the radio, the workday ahead, the grocery list, the next red light, or the car ahead of you moving at the speed of a snail in the fast lane.

In a way, if you really think about it, driving happens while you are doing something else. So, why do we trust cars and our driving so much? The car is being driven by the unconscious mind...a mind thinking about everything else BUT the consciousness of the stretch of road ahead. Why? The answer is simple...because the unconscious mind already does most of the work in life, so it is the same when we are driving!

The vast majority of our actions in life are, in a manner of speaking, unconscious. Obviously, this makes a lot of sense if you think about it...do you have to make a conscious decision to get your heart beating? Or your kidneys to filter your body, or your stomach to digest food? No! Most of the time, we do not even consciously breathe, although now you will probably spend the next few seconds very consciously remembering to breathe. Got you?

L.J.K. Setright, an English motoring journalist and author once wrote that he would occasionally drive with his feet crossed on the pedals, operating the accelerator with his left foot and the brake with his right. This was done, "to ensure that his driving was an act of conscious behavior." Judging from this, we come to the truth of the matter, which is that we depend on certain actions to be unconscious when we drive. If you spent conscious time thinking about every single motion performed with your feet and hands behind the wheel, you would be effectively indistinguishable from a student taking a driver’s education class.

So how can we be in the moment instead of thinking of everything else BUT the joy of driving? Think back to the first time you drove an automobile; every motion performed was fully conscious, arrived at after some thought and consideration. Think of the feeling and of how dangerous your first drive felt! The act of driving is the same as living life, every day.

The best racing drivers perform at the absolute limit almost unconsciously, so that their conscious mental horsepower can be devoted to planning and overtaking the other racers while at the same time devising a race strategy. It was common for Michael Schumacher, seven-time Formula One Champion, to chat about the position and current lap time of various drivers racing around the circuit even as he himself was running at a qualifying speed!

How was this possible? Well for Schumacher, the process of driving at the limit had become so automatic, effectively an unconscious action, that he was able to treat it in the same way you treat your daily commute to work. This left plenty of time to work on the bigger picture, which is why he won so many races. However, driving consciously is not as easy as it seems. I have read that Race team managers will say that their biggest challenge with new drivers is getting them to take a conscious look at what they are doing unconsciously so that their behaviors can be fixed and sent ‘back’ to the unconscious mind.

As an example, most people press their brakes very lightly to start and then increase braking pressure as they get closer to the turn-in point. That is how we drive on the street, so most of us have been ‘practicing’ that for a long time. However, the opposite braking action is used when driving on a racetrack. The racers apply maximum braking pressure, right at the start. The brake is held there for a few moments and then trailed off as they bend into a turn. This technique is absolutely unnatural and takes people years to learn to do it right. But once you have it, you have it. It is said that 99% of the mistakes made on a racetrack by racers come from improper application of unconscious thinking.

The fact of the matter is, in life, conscious thought is limited. It is a rare and relatively expensive mental resource. How is it expensive? In the sense of requiring time and effort that cannot be used for something else. And because it is a limited resource, we do not often take control of it and apply it effectively to our lives. So, how does thinking consciously when driving a fast car apply to life? Because Life is Like a Fast Car.

I have learned a few lessons about life while driving a fast car. Life requires our attention, our conscious focused attention. When life is not going well, it is almost always because we are operating unconsciously. We are letting our unconscious minds drive the vehicle that is life. And when life is going well, it is usually because we have chosen to grab a hold of the wheel and drive life like we stole it.

In order to navigate a fast car at a high speed successfully, you must tune in with your conscious mind and use that focused mind to train your unconscious mind to perform at a higher level. Only when we are focused on the present moment and the actions required in it are we driving our life at its full potential. You must focus, assess, make decisions, take actions, and assess the results for any changes needed and then F#@KING PUNCH IT!

Life is Like a Fast Car, written by Scott Patrick Erwin, elaborates teachings and philosophical life lessons. If you are looking to understand your life from the perspective of a fast car, then the book is a must read. Available here.

Life is Like Us #54 - Life is a Ballet

By Scott Patrick Erwin

December 1, 2020

Have you ever seen the ballet, “The Nutcracker Suite,” performed live on stage? In the United States, it is a holiday favorite. Almost every ballet company large and small performs a version of it. For over a decade from 2005 through 2018, my children danced in the local production of The Nutcracker in Bakersfield, California. From 2008 through 2017, I was The Nutcracker. Yes, ballet fans, I performed in the ballet as the valiant wooden hero. Had I ever studied ballet before, No! But I did perform in it with them and had a great time doing it.

In 2013, my son was graduating from high school and as a gift on the occasion, I wrote a book called Life is a Ballet. The basic premise was that there are many life lessons that can be observed and applied to life from the many hours of classes and performances of ballet. This book brought out the armchair philosopher in me. I wrote it from ideas that came to me while driving my kids to classes and rehearsals, while watching them in the studio and on stage, and while performing myself. Over that one year, I was in four productions and performed five different parts. Sleeping Beauty, The Nutcracker, Romeo & Juliet, Les Miserables, and Coppelia. That was my peak, so far at least, as a dancer. However, one new thing I discovered that year was writing.

Life is a Ballet is one perspective on life. It is one way to look at life and to “dance” with it. A key to life is to appreciate that we all have a story. We are living our story every day. When your life is done, the accumulation of all your individual days will be the story that is told, or not told. Live your life bravely and dance it with passion. The passion of dance helped me to observe a few lessons. It helped me to understand this; find the things you love to do and DO THEM, find others that enjoy doing those things and build community with them, do not let fear or perceived judgment keep you from doing those seemingly out of the ordinary things. Follow the steps provided by the Master Choreographer, keep learning new dance steps in life, seek to get better at whatever dance you are performing, live in the moment on the stage of life, flow with the dance, and try your best to live in balance through it. These were a few of the Life is a Ballet observations.

Life is happening now. The music of life is playing. The ballet of life is underway. Whether you are dancing, standing still, or watching indicates if you are a performer, someone off stage or an audience member. My hope is that the humble observations I made in the book applied to the metaphor of dance helps you make powerful interpretations of how to make life a beautiful performance.

Because...Life is Like Us

Life is Like Us #53 - Thanksgiving

By Scott Patrick Erwin

November 26, 2020

I love Thanksgiving, it is such a wonderful holiday. What a great invention. Humanity has been giving thanks for the harvest since the earliest of days of life on this planet. Think about it. When the crop comes in for the weary farmer, the wild deer was shot by the tired hunting party or the unlucky squirrel crossed the path of the hungry traveler, man has been giving thanks. In the United States, Thanksgiving was started by a group of fearless and courageous pilgrims who took a chance and found a new home to begin something new and special - Freedom. What a concept, freedom.

Freedom was the goal of the pilgrims. Based on the freedom of religion, but really it was about the freedom to think for themselves. What is true? What is God to me? How can I honor the life God has given me? How do I, we, us, honor the life he has given us in this long strange trip of life? And when God, or the Universe, provides something beautiful like a harvest for the tribe, a meal for the clan, a provision for the lonely wanderer, how can we show our gratitude?

Life is about giving thanks, everyday! Everyday the Universe is giving us a meal to digest. Sometimes that meal is a lesson. Sometimes it is a moment. Sometimes it's a morsel of truth. It's easy to be thankful when our plate is full. However, growth comes when we can be thankful for hunger. Whatever meal the Universe dishes up for us, we need to be thankful, because whatever it provides, it is exactly what we need. I know that's a hard concept to accept. I admit it is really hard to accept when life isn't working out. For a long long long time life hasn’t seemed to be working out for me. I know now that maybe it was, but I couldn't see it. I couldn't see the lessons. I couldn't see the meal life was providing me. It was a healthy dose of reality and life lessons. And today, this day, this moment, I'm thankful for all of it.

Life is a curious thing. When we look back it's the challenges and the lessons from it where we find thankfulness. The farmer toils everyday to bring in a crop. Can he really be thankful for the crop if he doesn't toil in the planting, the tending, and the harvest. Can the hunters fully appreciate the kill without the challenge of hunger and the adventure of the chase? Can the wanderer truly feel blessed for the provision without the trials of the journey? Life's joy comes from it's challenges and trials. As you face life's trials, look for the lessons, look for the freedom that they may bring, and appreciate the joy that will come in them and on the other side. Everyday is worth being thankful for.

Because… Life is Like Us.

Life is Like Us #52 - van Gogh

By Scott Patrick Erwin

November 24, 2020

Have you ever seen a Vincent van Gogh painting? I had the privilege of doing so in person in 1994. It was a day at the J. Paul Getty Museum in Malibu. I had the pleasure of viewing “Irises” up close. I even have a picture taken in front of it. For decades, I had a print of the painting hanging in my bathroom at home. Every morning I enjoyed seeing the beauty of an artist’s masterpiece as I began my day and washed the prior day off.

Vincent van Gogh is considered one of history's greatest artistic minds. However, in his lifetime, he was considered a failure. He suffered from episodes of psychosis, delusions, and depression. And yet, he created some 2,100 works of art and 860 oil paintings. Many of his works document his struggle with mental health. Even though his brother was an art dealer, his works did not become recognized until decades after his death, in 1890. He died two days after a self-inflicted gunshot wound. His attempt was to his chest. It deflected off a rib and did not damage his organs. After the incident, he walked back to town and ultimately died of the infection. Even in death he suffered from failure.

Vincent’s story is one of greatness in his work but psychosis and challenges in his life. He never knew the impact his art had on the world. I recall a very powerful scene from the popular television show, Doctor Who. The Doctor brought Vincent from the past to visit a modern day museum where his art was being displayed. With Vincent present, the Doctor asks the curator the impact of van Gogh’s work and Vincent was brought to tears. I cannot help but cry at the thought of that scene. The message to me is one of wonder. What are the impacts of our life? What can we leave behind? What impact do we have on the future?

Life is a mystery. Some do great work and make tremendous impacts during their time, in society, art, technology, education, business and service to other human beings. However, some live a life of struggle, challenge, and despair never seeing the impact of their life. Consider if the science teachers that inspired Einstein, Edison, or Tesla, if given the chance, could understand the impact they made upon the world. What if Anne Frank could see how her journal, an instrument of survival in a world of isolation and fear, could see how it has inspired generations of children to pick up a pen and write. What if the inventor of some long forgotten patent could see the threads of innovations that it created in the fabric of society. Life is like a Vincent van Gogh painting - Brilliantly beautiful, crazy in its creation, and ultimately only understood in retrospect.

Because...Life is Like Us

Life is Like Us #51- Sci-Fi Movies

By Scott Patrick Erwin

November 8, 2020

Do you enjoy Science Fiction movies and shows? I'm a big fan of the genre. It started with reruns of Star Trek, Lost is Space, and Battlestar Galactica. Then of course there was the first Star Wars movie that was released when I was ten years old and the many follow up movies in the saga. As a young adult it was the new Star Trek series like The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, and Enterprise. Other fun ones are Firefly, Thor (from the Marvel's Avengers series), the reboot of Star Trek, and the new Star Wars movies. They all get me thinking about what else is out there. Because if we really think about it, our existence is like a grain of sand to the ocean sized Universe we look at in the stars.

These movies and television series are all creations of the authors' and movie makers' minds. I tend to think about it this way. Physics has a concept that nothing is created or destroyed, it just transforms. So are ideas just transformed into our understanding? Writers often state that ideas and stories are not created, they are gifted to them by their muse. They appear in their consciousness and the writer simply puts them down on paper. Of course there is research, thought, crafting, and editing, but the basics are inspiration. Where did the inspiration come from?

Jules Verne was a writer of some great science fiction and at the time considered a futurist. Much of what he wrote has become true in only a few lifetimes. So did he see it or receive it? Is it inconceivable that Science Fiction ideas are possible and probable somewhere in this vast Universe? Is it possible that we know very little about the nature of the Universe? I sure hope so, because what we know doesn't seem like enough.

Solomon, from the Old Testament. is considered one of the greatest Kings in history, by religious accounts. What was his secret? He asked for Wisdom. Much of what he did and wrote were new concepts to humanity. Did wisdom stop with Solomon? I would point to the history of science, philosophy, math, language, and many more as the basis that it did not. Solomon's wisdom is useful and practical, but is it complete? Can new wisdom be conceived and shared through new methods of communication from God or the Universe? I believe in a Universe where it can. And maybe Science Fiction movies are one place where the Wisdom of the Universe is shared in life in a way that we begin to understand the vast complexity of this existence.

Because… Life is Like Us.

Life is Like Us #50 - Lonely Roads

By Scott Patrick Erwin

November 7, 2020

Do you ever walk on quiet lonely trails? I've had the joy of spending many mornings, days, and evenings over the last year walking with my family dog quietly enjoying nature, fresh air and the many thoughts that can pass through my mind while walking a quiet mountain road. It has been a life saver in this year of 2020. Today I had the rare privilege of sitting under an old oak tree while the first gentle rain of the winter was falling around me. The birds were calling out songs from somewhere nearby and my headphones were playing a gentle quiet melody. It was a magical moment contemplating all the blessings of my life.

Today was a peaceful moment when, although physically alone, I felt intimately connected to so much and so many spiritually. Not everyday is like this one. Some days the same trail is hot, lonely and grueling. Others I'm working out anxiety, concerns, and the stresses of things I’d rather forget. But today, today I was "in tune." I was fully present in the magic that life is and the joy that can be found by just looking for it and experiencing life around me.

Life has many lonely roads. Some we choose to take. Others we just find ourselves upon. Our view and perspective is usually what makes the difference. Having and being in the right mindset is my daily challenge. It seems like such an elusive companion at times. I write about having a good mindset, only because I have struggled so much of my life with a bad one. Many days I still do. Life has so many blessings to be appreciated - companionship and love shared, the beauty of God's creation, and the deep cleansing breath of rain on a quiet morning.

When you find yourself on a lonely quiet road of life, slow down and look around. Is it really so bad? Or is it a place of inspiration disguised as a curse, a chore, a task, or a difficult place. I've seen both. And the key word is seen. It's my perspective that is the difference. I fully admit it can be a hard thing to do, change your focus, but that is the secret. My view and perspective is the difference. Today the lonely road and the season's first rain cleansed my soul.

Because life is like us.

Life is Like Us #49 - Crankshafts

By Scott Patrick Erwin

November 5, 2020

Do you have a daily routine? I certainly try to, but usually it is a struggle. I tend to get bored with routines. Following a routine is a constant challenge for me. I have to work at it and convince myself of the need for it. I am working on creating better and more productive routines in my life. With all practicality, routines are the crankshafts that turn the engines of our life. If you want to get anything significant done over time, it has to be set into a routine.

A crankshaft is a hardened piece of metal at the base of the engine block that turns the pistons of a combustion engine. It's sole purpose is to turn over and over and over again for the life of the engine. It has a boring function, and is absolutely necessary. Because without this part, there is no routine for the pistons. And without the pistons, there is no combustion. Without combustion, there is no power created to transfer to the other parts of the powertrain system that eventually move the car forward.

Routines are the crankshaft of our life. Routines are processes of doing things over and over and over again to push, turn, and operate the parts that create power. Without routines, nothing works in the critical power creating systems of life. Whatever your power is, your strength, skill, or talent, it only becomes powerful with the constant application of routine.

Life is like a crankshaft, it is only through daily routines that the potential of your life gets created into explosive power to be transferred to movement systems in our lives. Movement is action. Action moves us forward. We can wish for action all we want. We can create explosive power easily, just throw a match on a drop, cup or gallon of gasoline, and you can see power explosiveness displayed. However that power is gone as fast as it was ignited. It evaporates into the air. Explosiveness has to be captured, focused, and converted into movement. Until that fuel is applied to a system of capturing that power creation and is controlled by a hardened boring odd shaped piece of our life’s engine called a routine, the vehicle of our life won't be moving, and movement toward our goals and dreams is generally what we all want.

Because Life is Like Us.

Life is Like Us #48 - Crossroads

By Scott Patrick Erwin

November 3, 2020

Have you ever driven up to a crossroads and had to discern the way forward? I grew up in the Central Valley of California. It has many small lonely farm roads that can be traveled if you want to get off the freeways and highways. Occasionally, you can come to an intersection without any road signs and have to pick a way. Those moments can lead to some internal conflict and conversations that are uncomfortable. I recently had one of those. I came up to a crossroads and looked down the road forward and realized that I was not going toward the destination I was meant to be traveling towards?

What are the crossroads in your life? Most crossroads are significant life choices. Do I go to this school or that school? Do I take this job or that job? Do I pursue a relationship with this person or forge ahead by myself? Do I stay where I am at or do I chart my path in a different direction? These all can be huge decisions. And usually when you have these decisions to make, there are huge opportunities and many opportunity costs. Opportunity costs are the loss of potential gains from alternative choices. For example, I chose to be an accountant for much of my life. That choice came with the lost opportunity of being a pilot, which I had wanted to be as a child and teen. Years of life have now passed and the opportunity to be a pilot has now passed with it. Realistically, I do not know if that choice would have been better or not. I will never know. I only know that at the time I made the choice, it seemed like the right one. And I had many crossroads along the way to get off that path for my life. But until recently in my life, I chose not to.

What crossroads have you gone through lately? Standing in the middle of a crossroads, trying to discern the right way for your journey is extremely uncomfortable. It can be overwhelming to look four ways, forward, left, right, and the way you came, and choose only one. Each direction has benefits and costs. Each way has different challenges and obstacles. Each road has different people that will travel it with you. Each comes with many wonderful possibilities and exciting adventures. However, these are the choices we have to make often in our lives. Maybe not everyday, but when those moments come you know them.

Whatever your crossroads in life, before proceeding, know you will be uncomfortable, because they are important moments where important decisions are made. You may labor over the decisions and missed opportunities you will not be able to follow. Some roads can be parallel, however most are not. Two roads can not be traveled at once. Each has different outcomes. Crossroads are critical to the sum of all your days and where your journey leads. Life is like a crossroad, we have to evaluate all the directions and choose only one. Our life can only go one direction at a time. And the many directions it does not lead are costs you have to make peace with.

Because…Life is Like Us.

Life is Like Us #47 - Sleepless Nights

By Scott Patrick Erwin

October 29, 2020

Do you ever wake up in the middle of the night, unable to go back to sleep, and wonder what to do with the time? Sometimes you might contemplate the dream you just had. Sometimes you read a book on your bed stand. Other times you contemplate the day that has just passed or the day ahead. Maybe you consider all the things you can be doing or all the things you should have done. Perhaps the refrigerator is calling you or the show you are binging is waiting for you to return to it to watch. I just had one of those nights.

Wakeless nights are a lot like life, they seem like freely given time that is just calling out to you to fill. Mostly we are hoping to fill it with sleep, but maybe that is not the answer. Every moment of everyday, we are faced with choices. Productive choices. Unproductive choices. Choices of satisfying cravings. Choices of using time to do something. Contemplation of choices or zoning out to not contemplate at all. What we do with ourselves during these moments are the indicator of what our priorities are in life.

Life requires sleep. How much is a matter of your biology. When your body tells you four hours was enough, what do we do with the newly found time? Do you fight it? Do you curse it? Do you use it? Do you waste it? Why is time in the middle of the night any different than free time during the day? During the day we constantly have moments of “between.” The moments when we are done with work, responsibility, and the “gotta do” and we usually do not have any problem making choices of what to fill the time with. We workout, we clean, we sit down and rest, we work on a project, or we do something fun. We do not generally have any problem finding activities to fill the voids during the day. It is free time. Free time is a gift and we accept the gift and use it as we please.

Life is like a sleepless night. Time is given as a gift. We can use the time or fill the time. What we choose to do with it reflects what inspires us or what holds us back. During a sleepless night, or free moments during the middle of the day, we can contemplate life’s responsibilities or take action on those responsibilities. We can waste it by filling it with time draining inaction or use it by spending it on actions that move us forward. Time, whenever it is given, night or day, only comes once. If we treat it as a gift and use it as an investment, its use will come back to us like an annuity made over our lifetime. Eventually you will see the return and you will be thankful for the diligence you had with your resource of time.

Because life is like us.

Life is Like Us #46 - Book and Stories

By Scott Patrick Erwin

October 9, 2020

What kind of books do you like to read? Do you like fiction or nonfiction? Do you prefer adventures or fantasies? Do you enjoy a good biography or business insights? Stop for a moment and consider the last book that truly captured your attention? Do you have one? Ok, what was it about that book that you enjoyed? What kind of book was it? Did you identify with the character, did you admire that person, or did you want to be in that life? Ask yourself, why were you choosing to tell yourself that story?

Books are the stories we tell ourselves. Whether they are stories of adventure, romance, hope, endurance, change, terror, or thriller. The stories we tell ourselves make up the life we live and the stories we do not live. For many years, decades even, I was an accountant and business professional by trade. This may not come as a surprise, but forty to sixty hours of work per week staring at numbers does not have a lot of adventures. So my favorite books, the ones I couldn’t put down, were adventure novels. I read through biographies, real life adventure and survival novels, the Lord of the Rings, the Narnia series, legal thrillers, and gripping international spy dramas. There are a lot more, but you get the idea. Why did I read those? Because my life was anything but an adventure. Or at least that was the story I was telling myself.

Life is the story we are telling ourselves everyday. If I ask you, “Tell me about your life.” You would tell me a story. Now stop and listen to your story. Is it a story of a victim or victor. Not your results or situation, but your take on it. 2020 is a story. Are you telling yourself that it is a terrible overbearing drama, or a great chance to simplify and learn new things? Is it a depressing burden stuck at home or a chance to create something new? Whatever it is, It is a story. Good or bad, it is a story of toil or triumph. And you are either letting that story be told to you by the news, social media, yourself, or all of the above, Or you are choosing to tell yourself a story that today can be different in some way than it was yesterday. And the direction that story is pointing is where tomorrow will take you. Our lives are the accumulation of all the individual days and the stories we tell ourselves in our heads, in the news we consume, in the social media we allow to consume our time, or in the books we read.

Life is like a book. Books are the stories that we read or internally speak to ourselves. We can thrill ourselves, teach ourselves, inspire ourselves, depress ourselves, love ourselves, hate ourselves, scare ourselves, and, and, and, well you get the point. Life is the story we continually tell ourselves about our past and what it means for us today and the possibilities for tomorrow. Life and the life we live is the sum total of our beliefs and stories that we have about ourselves today. Life is now. What are you telling yourself about yourself, your capabilities or incapabilities, your limitations or limitlessness, your dread or hope, your pain or joy, your resources or your resourcefulness. Whatever story you are telling yourself is true. So change the story. Change your story today and your life will have a different ending than the one you expected for yourself yesterday.

Because Life is Like Us.

Life is Like Us #45 - Favorite records

By Scott Patrick Erwin

October 9, 2020

What is your favorite song? You know that one that reminds you of a time when you first heard it? Back when I was a kid, it was the last era of record stores. If you heard a song on the radio, you'd go to the record store and buy it. Singles played at 45 RPMs, revolutions per minute. Albums were played at 33. One of the very first records I can remember buying was in 3rd Grade, Mrs. Draft's class. Why is her name important? Well, she was a really sweet lady. I knew her son, and her husband was my high school English teacher. It seems like a time when I became conscious of myself as an individual. The record? Saturday Night by The Bay City Rollers. What an anthem! I can remember singing and yelling it out loud in my room at home.

Records, and music in general, is a medium of art that reaches deep into our souls. In third grade, I knew nothing about the fun of Saturday nights but I could imagine the excitement they had for it. Third grade was probably the year when reading became a skill, I could spell, and I appreciated the joy and anticipation that they were gonna have when they got to the weekend. I cannot listen to that song and not remember the joy and innocence of that time. It anchors a time in my life. And it is reinforced every time I let myself reminisce about that time while listening to it.

Life has many moments with anchors of memories, both good and bad. Anchors are memories stored by sounds, sites, smells, and experiences. That record has some really good moments attached to it. That anchor is reinforced every time I hear it. The more I think about the good memories when listening to it, the more the anchor is reinforced. That same phenomena can exist with painful memories, especially If you let it. Anchors of the mind, like the ships they hold, are only effective when you let them grab into something. If you let the anchor stay attached to the ocean floor it will continue to hold you stationary in that place. But if those anchors are painful, you can pull it up. That is the secret of anchors, they can be moved and changed.

Life's anchors can hold you to something good or keep you bogged down to things not good. The anchors you place in your boat of life are what define your journey. You are the captain. You get to decide where to put them. The meaning you associate with them can be changed, moved and reset. That is one of the useful skills of our mind. Don't let painful anchors hold you down, While storms are inevitable in life, your anchors must be set in safe places. If they are not placed well, you can blow about. Let the pain go, move or remove the anchors. Find good places to weigh your anchors. It's your boat. You are the captain. Or in the case of music, the DJ.

Because Life is Like Us.

Life is Like Us #44 - Beginnings, Endings, and Beginning Again

By Scott Patrick Erwin

October 6, 2020

Life is about beginnings, endings, and beginning again. Everything we experience in life is a beginning. We wake up and begin a new day. We lay down to sleep and end that day. We close our eyes and fade off into dreamland and begin an unconscious journey into our minds and whatever connection that has to the Universe. We end the night of sleep by waking up and again beginning a new day. Life is one big cycle of beginnings, endings and beginning again.

What was the last thing you began? For me it was picking up the guitar after decades of letting it sit in the corner of my room. I played it as a teenager. I was never very good at it. The instrument just seemed to elude my ability to grasp it and all its complexity. I was a singer. I played it just enough to strum out the melody of a few songs. However, I picked it up a few weeks ago. Found a simple online program and was amazed to find, something had changed in me. I suddenly found that I had a new connection to the fretboard. Decades ago, I could play a few chords. However this time, the notes now seem magical. I can hear them. I can feel them. I can imagine them in my mind. It is all new. In just a few weeks, I am further along then the years of “trying” to play it way back in my youth. I am now excited about playing the guitar. So a new beginning has started.

This “pandemic,” as it seems to be called, has ended a lot of things in our lives. Maybe not for good, but it has ended things that will never be the same. We can mourn those things, yes. We can reminisce about those things, certainly. And it is natural to think that the good things and the good times will never be again. However, there have been plagues before. There have been disasters before. There have been political turmoil and wars before, and mankind has carried on. We have risen. We have overcome. We have battled, fought, died, and eventually, something new started.

What is your new thing? What can you let die in your life and where can you find a rebirth. We never know what can come out of hard times. For me it is discovering an internal voice in my writing. For me it is realizing the music that is within me wants to sing and play out loud. It is embracing the artist that long ago was quieted, not gone, but was watching waiting for the chance to come out. What is your new beginning? What is the new beginning for society? What is the new beginning that can propel you into the future. Nothing is ever truly ended. It just transforms. The artist that is emerging from a significant ending in my life is stronger, deeper, and more experienced than it could ever have been as a young man. Life begins today, everyday. Life and parts of it, parts of ourselves end today. And each new day is a new beginning. So let it begin. Let life begin. Let your life begin. Embrace the newness of life everyday. Be thankful for endings instead of constantly reliving the lost. Life is worth living, everyday, and with its endings is the unique blessing of beginning something new.

Because Life is like us.

Life is Like Us #43

By Scott Patrick Erwin

August 9, 2020

Life is like a Playlist

I have come to learn that music and sounds feed my soul. When I am in a mood, any mood, I can find music that matches it. When I wake in the morning I listen to upbeat music that helps me to wake up and get going with thankfulness, joy and motivation. When the workday begins I like to turn on relaxing instrumentals to calm and focus the mind for the task at hand. If I am working out I play the driving beats. When something in life boils my anger, and I choose or want to let it simmer, I’ll explore the harsh tones of speed metal. If I’m trying to lean into purpose, sometimes it can be hard rock.

In this age of streaming services, I get lost in the diversity and possibilities of new music to be found. There is some music that I go back to everyday, there is some that I turn off every time I hear it. There are songs “that remind me of the good times and there are songs that remind me of the better times.” There are songs that are “Sad but True.” There are songs that take us “back to the bar room again.” There are songs with “High Hopes,” and songs that make us “Swing Low.” There are songs for an “American Girl” and songs for a “Ramblin’ Man.” There are songs that take us on a “Highway to Hell,” and songs that put “Heaven in our Headlights.” There are songs that make us “Jump” and songs that find us “Free Falling.”

Life is as diverse as the music we play. The instruments are different. The lyrics that inspire us are original. The styles are eclectic. The creation of new genres come out of creations of our minds. Some are creative and artistic. Some are delicate and refined. Some are rough and rude. Some are sweet and sassy. The songs that inspire me, probably wouldn’t inspire you. The music that pushes you forward for action might just make me push the forward button. It is all different and yet it is all called music. And I believe we can all agree that music is special. It has a special purpose for our spirit and soul.

Life is like a playlist, it is unique, distinct, and original. It is made up of a lot of different songs. We are all different and yet we all the same. We are a group of original songs. We walk to different beats. We dance to different tunes. And we play to different audiences. Our words, language, and sounds are created out of love, passion, and inspiration. If we want to live passionately, creatively, and with peace in our soul, we have to appreciate that each of our lives will be different. It is the diversity and originality of each of the songs that make it worth playing.

Because life is like us.

Life is Like Us #42

By Scott Patrick Erwin

August 9, 2020

What is the Question to Life

The Universe, and Everything?

There is a book series and movie called The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. In the story, a Super Computer, after seven and a half million years, calculates the answer of life, the universe, and everything. And the answer is 42, as in the Number 42. Everyone is puzzled by this answer. It doesn’t make sense. How could the answer to Life, The Universe and Everything be 42? Of course, there is confusion, frustration, and angry shouts from the crowd who had gathered to hear the answer. So they ask the Super Computer, “If the answer to Life, The Universe, and Everything is 42, “What is the question?” The Super Computer doesn’t have an answer for them. It tells them to come back after another seven and a half million years.

Isn't it funny how we all want the answer to the Meaning of Life, but when the answer doesn’t make sense, we stop and do not consider the answer very deeply? Forty two? Why forty two? Why the numbers 4 & 2? Maybe we haven’t REALLY considered the question of the Meaning of Life, The Universe, and Everything. If the answer is For Two, what is the question?

It is a fictional story, but what if the answer to the Meaning of Life, really is for two. And if that is so, what if the question is “For Love.” The question is, as I see it is, “What is Love?” and the answer is “for two.” Maybe, the question and answer of the meaning of life, the universe and everything is for “The love of two.” In the Hebrew and Christian traditions, It's for the original two. It was all created to let two humans experience love for each other. It was for the Love between Adam and Eve. So maybe, Love is the meaning of life. Maybe, just maybe, Life was created so we could experience Love together.

So if loving Life with each other and for each other, by each other individually, is the meaning of life. Life is for love. Life is for us to love. It is for us to love ourselves, life and each other... Life is lived individually. We each have to be individuals first. We each must be unique, strong and powerful individual humans who come together for love. It is great to be a couple, a unit, and a team, however it must be done without losing yourself to a new thing called a relationship, love must be something you add yourself to, creating a new beautiful coupling of two unique individuals. The answer wasn’t to be a new thing in love, but to be yourself for the sake of the two of you. So go forth and love for the two of you.

Because...life is like us.

Life is Like Us #41 - Life Signs

By Scott Patrick Erwin

June 15, 2020

Life right now is about protesting. Protesting control over a virus. Protesting unjust treatment. Protesting the death of black lives. Protesting the disrespect for law enforcement. There are protestors, and protestors protesting the protestors. There are riots. There are peaceful demonstrations. It is a wild storm of anger, frustrations, and built up tensions. Everyone has something they believe in and can protest. There are valid viewpoints and frustrations on all sides.

Signs are everywhere - Black Lives Matter, Blue Lives Matter, All Lives Matter, and variations of them all. As an observer and lover of life, I can certainly relate to them all. I’m a middle aged educated white man and I know my life and interactions with law enforcement are generally positive and respectful on both sides. The first thought that goes through my head when I have an interaction with law enforcement is not fear. I’ve been stopped. I’ve had stupid moments in life. I’ve been arrested twice, once as a teen, once as a young adult. But never have I had the experience of being stopped for “driving while white” and fearing for my life during that interaction. Also, I know a lot of law enforcement officers. It seemed to be the cottage industry when I was growing up. I can think of two dozen high school friends and family that joined some form of law enforcement. I’ve also always had a great deal of respect for the profession. It is not an easy job, and I certainly would not want to do it. So I respect both sides of this struggle.

The thing I see clearly is that Life Matters and everyone is seeking for their perspective to be heard and validated. Civil rights and racism is a real and relevant issue of the times. Being a law enforcement officer is a noble and necessary part of a civilized society. And being a human being that can observe and respect those two perspectives with compassion, objectivity, and concern, is valid too.

Life matters. It matters in the distinctions. It matters in the whole. Can we search for the perspective where all lives and all perspectives matter. It is hard to point out and hope to understand the particulars and to understand the generalities at the same time. But that is what we must do. We must look for the similarities. We must look for solutions to the concerns on all sides. We must seek and respect the other side’s perspectives while holding our own concerns closely, as well. We all live. We all die. And in the middle, we live with and fight for our unique experiences, concerns and perspectives. The fact is that we all need each other. We all need each other, as humans. And whoever you are, your life and your life sign matters.

Because Life is like us.

Life is Like Us #40

By Scott Patrick Erwin

May 28, 2020

Life is like a workout

What is your workout? Workouts are uncomfortable. Workouts are exhausting. Workouts are demanding. We can dread a workout or it can be addicting. Workouts can be and usually are inconvenient. Workouts build muscle. Workouts build skills. Workouts build mental fortitude. We can start a workout not wanting to do it and finish it thankful that we did. The benefits of a workout do not come from doing it once, the benefits come from the discipline of daily repetition.

Workouts help us in life to train the body. By training the body, we have more energy, stronger muscles, more endurance, and clearer minds. Some workout because it is for their sport, their game, their ability, and their performance. Others workout for the sake of physical improvement and endurance. Training and improvements take place away from the competitions, the races, and the human arenas of performance. We workout for ourselves, either for personal improvement, satisfaction, or for desired outcomes. Ninety nine percent of the effort needed for success is never seen. It is in the daily habits and routines away from the places where that effort is recognized, rewarded, and applauded. Success is the one percent result of the ninety nine percent of our efforts.

Life is like a work out, we have to choose to show up and do the work, we have to do more than our normal activity to get any benefit, we have to push ourselves beyond our perceived limits, and we have to keep coming back to the workout everyday. The improvements we get from working out come from the daily moments of slowing our actions down, breaking down our performance into micro steps, relearning the actions for better results, and then making those actions routine subconscious programs. Life does not get better from wishing we were superstars. Life does not get better from dreaming we are physically fit. Life does not get better by thinking about how we could be a top performing athlete. Life gets better by jumping in everyday and doing the work needed.

If you want to improve your life, understand, you have to choose to show up for it everyday. You have to choose to do the work away from the places where the results of that training are tested. You have to believe that the work of today will be rewarded tomorrow. You have to sweat with no guarantee of victory tomorrow. You have to put the effort in and have faith that your training will pay off when you are tested. Life is like a workout, we have to show up everyday and do the work to see the results tomorrow.

Because...Life is Like Us.

Life is Like Us #39 - Travel Show

By Scott Patrick Erwin

April 29, 2020

I watch travel shows. They have become one of my favorite genres of television programming. I grew up a few hours North of Los Angeles. One of the channels available to us was a Public Broadcasting Channel out of Los Angeles. I used to love watching Huell Howser's My Golden California. He was a YouTuber, way before YouTube. It was a low budget production, one cameraperson and microphone. He’d travel to obscure places - forgotten historical sites, national forests, museums, gardens, gold mining towns, etc. The kinds of places you pass on the road, see a sign, and wonder, “Hmm, I wonder what that is?” You usually never stop because you are in a hurry to get to your destination. And even if you did stop, there is no one there to tell you it's true history, significance, or importance. Those are the places he would go. I learned to have a great appreciation for the unusual and out of the way sites. As an adult, I discovered British travel shows, Anthony Bourdain’s Parts Unknown, and even Mike Rowe’s Dirty Jobs. They have taught me to appreciate the diversity of life instead of just those people, places, cultures, and occupations that are the same as I am.

Travel shows are so enjoyable, because they introduce me to new places, new people, and new cultures. I learn about different customs, unusual but necessary jobs, different ways of living, and the motivations behind different ways of thinking. Each place has a long history. Each place developed into the way it is because of the people, the environment, the food sources, the challenges and the needs to survive and thrive. There is no one way that life exists. Humans on either side of a mountain range that divides them, may have completely different resources and challenges, that affect their culture, their way of living, their existence. And those differences often caused division and strife, but on their own, they thrived. Some found peace when they interacted and others found strife. That mindset exists today. We look across our divides and we can choose to understand and find commonality or we can choose to disregard and find irregularity.

Life is different everywhere. Life finds a way to survive. Life adapts to its surroundings. Life is flexible. As we understand different cultures, people, and ways of living, surviving and thriving, we become more accepting. Consider the work of Darwin. A species on one island evolved one way because of a threat, food source, or need to adapt. Whereas the same species on the mainland evolved completely different due to the lack of that environmental situation. We are all different, and yet we are all life that is striving to survive, to thrive, and to live victoriously.

When you experience differences, seek first to understand the source of those differences. Seek to learn about the life of people, their history, their motivations, and their perspectives, instead of rushing to judgment. Judgment without understanding is closed minded. It shuts us off from growing. It shuts us off from opportunities to learn and find common concerns. The world today is all about differences. Those in power, in leadership, and in the media would seek to have us all fight about our differences. In the end, that diversity is what is beautiful about life.

Because...Life is Like Us.

Life is Like Us #38 - Goals

By Scott Patrick Erwin

March 24, 2020

Anything worth doing is worth setting a goal. Can you think of anything you’ve accomplished in life that wasn’t a goal? Sure, maybe something fell into your lap when you didn’t know you would want it, but probably not many things. For me, I know that anything that I’ve accomplished in life, education, career, travel, etc. all came when I set a goal, an intention, and then kept going toward it, and remarkably enough, it happened even when I “forgot” about the goal.

Example, when I was about nineteen or twenty, I went to one of Tony Robbins' early seminars. It was around 1986 or 1987. The seminar ended in a firewalk. Remarkably they lay out ten yards of red hot coals, get you in a focused hypnotic mindset, and then have you casually walk across a bed of hot coals. It is difficult to describe the power of your mind to accomplish such a thing. (Fun fact, right behind me in the line, was LaVar Burton. This was post Roots, and Pre - Star Trek TNG).

After this life changing event, I set some goals - life, career, education, etc. I wrote them down and put them away in some personal files. For the next thirty years my mind eventually accomplished all of the things on the list. I only recall going back to the list a few times, but each time, I could see how I’d found chances in life and doors that were opened because my mind remembered my goals.

Over the last year, I have made the concerted effort to re-evaluate and set new goals. My early goals were kind of traditional and external based- education, career, and material accomplishments. The goals I’ve set for myself this time around are more internal based goals - Mindset of self love, positivity and joy, letting my internal voice and artist out by writing and creating, and living powerfully in the present moment, instead of living in fear and stress. I haven’t really set many material goals this time. They have emerged as more internal life goals.

Life either happens to you or you happen in life. The life we live is a direct reflection of the goals we set for ourselves. If you are feeling like you are drifting in the world, then slow down, look inside, get in the right peaceful and positive mindset, then set goals for yourself. Set the kind that moves you toward your best self, whatever that may be to you. Set goals that will require you to grow, to learn, and to change, because those are the ones that will improve your life. Life is yours to write. Goals are your destination points in that story. Let the journey toward your own goals be one filled with anticipation and excitement. Your life is worth it.

Life is Like Us.

Life is Like Us #37

By Scott Patrick Erwin

March 25, 2020

Laughter

I’ve lost count, but today is somewhere around day ten of the COVID-19 isolation orders by local, state, and national governments. For the most part, I’ve been working on writing, creating, and actively working on staying positive. However, today was a Ho-Hum kinda day. I am not full of anxiety or stress, as I might have tended to be in the past. There are definitely things to be concerned about today, but for the most part we have little control over their outcomes. This kind of thing can definitely cause anxiety and stress and I see it in a lot of people’s social media feeds and posts. We as a collective group of people are fighting fear and getting a little stir crazy.

Mindset is a daily practice for me right now, especially during times of uncertainty and turmoil. I’ve come to realize that every morning, it is my choice how I am going to face the day - stressed out living in the past or fearing the myriad of possibilities that the future can bring OR I can stay in the moment and actively choose to manage my mood. Today my mood management tool is laughter. After getting a little work done this morning, I was having trouble focusing on the moment. So what did I do? I chose laughter. You see joy and laughter are healers of the soul. They help us to appreciate the moment we are in.

Your mindset is important. Think about your current mood. Is it stressed about where you are in life? Is it based in fear of all the many potential things that could happen to you or those you love? If it is, is your current mood helping you? Is it helping you make today a great day? If it is not, consider the things you can do - you can exercise, you can play, you can engage with those quarantined with you, or you could work on something creative, like writing, art, or music.

Today I’m focusing on laughter. I’m focusing on finding the joy within the moment. Laughter helps. It can help a lot. There are scientific studies that say laughter can elevate good hormones and brain chemicals that improve your mindset. And if you are in some funk in your mind, observe that fact. Take actions. Choose laughter. Find some comedy - a show, a YouTube video, a good book, or a conversation with a friend. Even in times of trouble and turmoil seek to find the laughter in the moment. Seek to actively engage your mind toward the things that elevate your emotional state. You will find that laughter is one method to do that. Do it by yourself. Do it with family. Do it wherever and however you need to to stay positive in the moment.

Because...Life is Like Us.

Life is Like Us #36 - Jazz

By Scott Patrick Erwin

April 21, 2020

I love listening to Jazz. The kind that is free flowing and improvisational. Going back and forth between the musicians. A seemingly undefined interaction of players yet set in a clear structure of give and take, back and forth, melody and cacophony. It is the flow and creativity of it that inspires me. The way the sounds seem to draw you in to an appreciation of the present. And in so doing liberate you from stress, fear, and concerns that are not within the moment. If you can really focus on the flowing beat, it provides an escape from concerns outside of the moment. It takes your mind into a vibrational groove that fills your soul with a calming peace and freedom.

Jazz emerged out of the roaring 1920s into its own unique, and almost undefinable musical genre, to cross societal divides worldwide and usher in an appreciation for, and a liberation of, a group of people that, before that time, had been abused, exploited, and controlled for centuries. I sincerely believe that Jazz and the explosion of it into world culture, ultimately led the way for the Civil Rights movement of the 1960s in the United States. As more people began enjoying, and appreciating, the freedom of the music, it was impossible to ignore the lack of freedom of the group of people who created it. Jazz has a freedom to it. Jazz liberates the mind. And appreciating Jazz opens the mind to the freedom of the moment.

Like Jazz, life is about freedom - freedom of thought, freedom of choices, and freedom of the now. Life is not yesterday. Life is not tomorrow. Life is right now in this moment. Life is about interacting harmoniously with those around us. It is the give and take, the back forth, and the flowing movement of consciousness, with a love for all of those that are contributing to the composition.

Make your life your beautiful Jazz creation. We all have different instruments that we are playing as a band of humanity. We all have unique sounds, beats, and contributions that we add to it. Make your life your Jazz. Live free and creatively in the Jazz of the moment.

Because...Life is Like Us.

Life is Like Us #35 - Self Love and Dogs

By Scott Patrick Erwin

March 26, 2020

If you ever lose your way in life, a dog can show you the way to love yourself. Think of your old faithful companion. The day was rough, you just got home, and you are sitting with your best friend looking you in the eyes; saying welcome, asking you for a walk, to throw a ball, or pet it's tummy. If you tell them you love them, they will tell you right back. A dog is our spirit guide for how to love ourselves.

What if we could take their example and love ourselves just as much as they love us. Just think about if you were to love yourself as passionately and completely as your dog can. Have you ever really sat and looked in your dog's eyes? It is the easiest place to find an example of love. If they think we are worth loving that much, shouldn’t we try and love ourselves that much as well?

In my quest for self love, I used my dog as a mirror for that example. Every time I came home, to welcome my arrival, she was there to believe in me, and be thankful I was in her moment. She was my example of self love. Life is a constant challenge to love yourself as fully and completely as our always faithful companions.

When you are struggling to love life or yourself, slow down and consider loving yourself first. It is the longest relationship you get to have in life. It's a shame when we spend so much of our life loving others, and forgetting to love yourself that much as well. If you are struggling with self love let your faithful family friend help you understand.

Because... Life is Like Us.

Life is Like Us #34 - Happyness

By Scott Patrick Erwin

April 20, 2020

In 2006, Will Smith starred in a movie titled “The Pursuit of Happyness” based upon the life of Chris Gardner. It is a brilliantly told true story of one man’s slow heart wrenching decline into homelessness and his battle to fight his way back; not just to where he had started but ultimately toward his true potential. In storytelling this kind of story is called a hero’s journey. The hero or heroine starts in some ordinary world dreaming of better. They face some overwhelming situations. They seek out or accept a quest. They take paths that are not understood by themselves or others. They meet a guide or prophet who points the way. They face challenges and struggles. They deal with the conflicts, trials, and ordeals they must overcome. They meet allies and enemies. They descend into darkness. They doubt themselves and potentially give up or turn back. They meet wizards and sages who help them learn. They discover and use their gifts and talents. They battle the monsters, the demons, and the antagonists. And then ultimately they overcome; bringing victory to themselves and their tribe of people, returning home a hero.

Examples of heroes and heroines in modern culture can be found in literature and cinema. They include Frodo Baggins of the Lord of the Rings, Rey in Star Wars 7 thru 9, and Harry Potter. The opposite of a hero’s journey can be compared to a tragedy. In tragedies, the protagonist does not or cannot overcome. They make choices that lead to their downfall. They choose darkness instead of light. They accept their reality as hopeless instead of fighting for something different. And ultimately they bring tragedy, chaos, and suffering upon themselves and their people. Examples of tragic characters include Hamlet, Romeo, Darth Vader, or Severus Snape. Their choices lead them down a dark path. Some find redemption at the end of their journey by their actions and choices. While others just suffer consequences, despair, and death.

Life for all of us can either be a hero’s journey or a tragic ending. We all are called to an adventure called life. We all face trials that we rise to or befall us. We all take action or choose inaction. And we all make choices that lead to victory or defeat. The Universe wants us to overcome. It wants us to find that deep secret within. It wants to bestow great powers upon us and battle bravely the forces of evil, within us or outside us. It wants us to overcome the challenges we face. The Universe wants this for everyone, not just the few. The Universe truly wants you to overcome.

And since you are the author of your story in life, you get to decide. In your life you are either choosing to be the hero or the victim. You are either choosing to take action or giving up. Indecision is a decision. No one and no circumstances, however daunting are final, until you take your last breath. Everyday is a choice to begin anew and face your challenges, whatever they may be. You are going to heroically face your circumstances, your financial difficulties, your lack of knowledge, your mental state, your disease, or your quest, or you are not? Are you going to fight, everyday to overcome? In life, the choice is yours to accept your tragedy or pursue your happyness.

Because Life is Like Us.

Life is Like Us #33 - My Longest Day

By Scott Patrick Erwin

March 17, 2020

In my last post I discussed my ascent of Mt. Whitney. Reaching the peak was the fulfillment of a lifelong goal. To reach the top of Mt. Whitney you have to hike eleven miles and climb 6,100 feet. By the time my hiking partner and I reached the top of the mountain, that day alone, we had walked four miles and climbed 3,000 plus feet of the entire journey. After we summited, we were going to walk the same amount down and back to the base camp before resting for the day and hiking out the next day, the remaining seven miles back out to civilization. However that is not what happened.

Once we reached the base camp, after a seven hour up and down hike of around eight miles, my hiking partner decided he wanted to hike out the rest of the way. I was spent, or least I thought I was. Walking out that day was not in my plans. I had intended to rest and recharge for a night before hiking out in the morning. And yet, my partner was deciding to hike out, leaving me alone. It was not my expectation for the day. After conferring about the new plan, we said our goodbyes and agreed to meet at the trailhead seven miles and 3,000 plus feet of elevation down the hill. I rested up a bit, took a nap, made a cup of coffee, had a quick meal and packed up my backpack, tent and bedding. And then I began descending the mountain.

To say I was on reserves was an overstatement. I did not think I had it in me. And yet I kept going. For the first few miles I believed I wouldn’t make it. I told myself all the reasons why I should just stop and finish the next day. But I kept going, pushing aside the negative self talk. I did not feel any better about the hike, but I knew that if I just kept putting one foot in front of the other I would make it. By the time I reached half way down the last seven miles, I began to believe I could make it. I felt worse physically, but mentally it seemed possible. Why? Because I had decided I was not going to quit before the end. Stop, rest and recharge for moments, yes, but not quit. And in spite of the overwhelming exhaustion, I made it. I finished. Not gloriously victorious, but with digging deep soul satisfaction.

Life does not always allow for our expected celebration of our accomplishments. I remember the part of the day when we reached the top, and I remember the day with fifteen miles of total hiking after I had reached my perceived maximum. You could say, “It was the best of days, it was the worst of days.” When the day was through, I had two distinct memories to carry with me. One was the fulfilment of a bucket list item. The other was the challenge of the day after that box was checked off. I could look back on the day and perceive it as bad, but I learned two things that day. One was that I can accomplish challenging goals when I set my mind to the task. The second lesson was that I can make it through everyday even when they end up being the longest toughest days of my life.

Because... Life is like us.

Life is Like Us #32 - Mt. Whitney

By Scott Patrick Erwin

March 17, 2020

In the summer of 2016, during a time of professional transition, I summited Mt. Whitney, the highest peak in the lower forty eight states of the United States of America. It’s summit sits at 14,505 ft. (4,421 m). It had been a lifetime bucket list goal to climb the mountain. I knew others who had done it. I had planned it before and not followed through. I had dreamed about it as I drove by the summit on the Eastern Sierra high desert. And in 2016, I finally put the plan in motion. I started training at my local gym and on nearby trails with weekend hikes. I acquired passes to make the hike through the National Park Service. I gathered my equipment and purchased supplies for the adventure. I pulled together a set of fellow adventurers to make the hike with. It was coming together and I was making my intentions a reality.

And when the day for the climb finally came, I started up the trail ready and excited for the adventure. The start of the climb, the trial head, begins at around 8,300 feet above sea level. In seven miles you climb about 3,000 feet to a final base camp area. The first night we hiked a few miles and climbed about 1,500 feet. The next day we did the same. Some make the hike up and down in one day. Eleven miles in, eleven miles out and approximately 6,100 feet of elevation. Since I was in my late 40s and not the naturally fit person I was in my 20s, I decided to break up the challenge into smaller, more practical stages. So after two nights on the trail, at zero dark thirty, my companion and I started up the trail on our final push to the top. The day was going to be a three thousand foot ascent on ninety seven switchbacks up the face of the mountain. We completed the most difficult part at around sunrise. The next hour we traversed across the crest of the mountain toward the final summit. And we made it. We high fived. We took pictures. We even called home from the top of the world.

When doing something like summiting Mt. Whitney, you learn things about yourself. You learn grit and determination. You learn to dig deep in your soul for strength to take the next steps. You learn to push out the pain of your muscles and the weariness of your physical being. It challenges you. It changes you. And when you get to the top of such a challenge like climbing Mt. Whitney, you feel like you have overcome something. And you have. Anything worth doing is going to be a climb. Anything worth having requires you dig a little deeper to overcome the doubt, pain and challenges.

Life has all kinds of mountains that we climb. My Mt. Whitney summit has become a sign post in my life. A memory that I can go back to when the road ahead seems daunting. We need those memories. We need those moments when we pushed ourselves beyond our perceived abilities. Why? Because everyday is a push toward the summit. Everyday is a new trail ahead of us. Anything we want to create in life is going to challenge our perceived abilities. On that day, I strived and reached a summit goal and in doing so, I came to realize that everyday is a new trail toward my latest goal. If I want to reach the top, I have to accept that it will not come easy. It will not come without preparation. It will not happen without getting up each day and pushing forward and up the hill. Life is worth living each day pushing ourselves toward the summits.

Life is like us.

Life is Like Us #31 - Waking Up

By Scott Patrick Erwin

March 17, 2020

I have spent a considerable amount of my lifetime asleep. Not physically, but mentally, emotionally, and spiritually. Life is a funny thing. We wake up everyday and let society around us influence the direction that we will go. Society would tell us that life is about tomorrow - the next thing, the new thing, the missing thing, everything we need to do to get it, and everything we will have when this life is over. And our minds would tell us it is about yesterday - about the pain caused us, about the regrets we have, about the mistakes we have made, and about the disappointments we have experienced. Life is about none of that. It is about now - this moment, this time, this experience, the people around us, and the life we lead together.

So much of life we chase. We chase the next thing, thinking it will solve some emptiness we have today. We chase the hope we have for tomorrow, without knowing why we want it. We chase peace in the future with fear and frustration in the here and now. We chase acceptance by others without fully accepting ourselves. We chase love without loving ourselves. We chase joy in the future without any satisfaction for the moment we are in. The hope for the future will never be enough to satisfy us in the now.

Life is about now. Life is about loving the moments we are in right now. It is about accepting the person we are now. It is about choosing to be happy now instead of tomorrow. It is about focusing on the love of ourselves in this moment. It is about doing whatever is needed to love ourselves fully. It is about loving ourselves enough to accept the good things around us and choosing to change those things that are hurting us. It is about waking up to the glorious nature of ourselves.

If you are living in a place of pain, fear and despair, I encourage you to stop and wake up to the infinite beauty and complexity of the life within us and around us. Life is a beautiful thing. It is ours to wake up to everyday. Look around you. I mean really look. Some of us live in situations that are terrible, there is no denying that. There is war, starvation, illness, and domination in the world. But, most of us do not. Most of us in the world live in places of relative peace and abundance. Oh, we don’t feel like we do, but we really do live in a place of abundance. Wake up to the moment you are in. Wake up to the power you have within. Wake up to the joy you can create in this world. Once you do, you will begin to see it in everything around you. You will begin to feel it within. You will begin to appreciate it deep within your soul. And the life you are living will begin to fill up those empty places that you will never solve by resolving the past or chasing the future. You will wake up to the power of now.

Because... Life is like us.

Life is Like Us #30

By Scott Patrick Erwin

March 17, 2020

COVID-19

As I am writing this, the Corona Virus (COVID-19) is shutting down the world. In some strange version of an end times movie thriller, the world has descended into quarantines, travel restrictions, forced and voluntary business closures, self isolation, social distancing, herd mentality tissue paper shortages, nervous social media meme-ing, and general tentativeness about the world around us. We have never experienced this. We have never experienced anything like this. This is one of the first worldwide shutdowns of interactive community life in the modern connected world. And I am seeing the nervous and anxious reactions of humanity contemplating the negative future possibilities of this insanity. This situation will change a lot in the world, but it does not need to change us - our humanity.

Yesterday was one of the first days for me when I felt like my actions were in direct response to the situation. I had a chance to see a good friend. The kind where usually a good hearty handshake is customary and occasionally, a manly bear hug is exchanged at our parting. And when we said our goodbyes, we did neither of those things. We air-bumped; a mutual non-touching, virtual fist bump; and then we shook our heads at the ridiculousness of it, saying, “I know man, crazy.”

Life is a bit crazy right now. It is REALLY crazy right now. And it could be very easy to descend into fear, anxiety and nervousness. In the past, I probably would have done that. I could think of a thousand and one possibilities of the direction of the world. All of them are worse than today. But today, I am deciding to instead choose to love life. Why? Because I woke up this morning and I was alive. Like many before today, it is a new day. And I am thankful for it. I do not have all that I want. The world is not how I would like it to be. However, I have all that I need. I have life inside me. I have love within me and around me. I have beauty to appreciate all around me. I am blessed.

Life is about today and our reaction to it. It is about being present and thankful for the life we get to live everyday. Humanity has faced difficult circumstances throughout time as we know it. And we will again. And...this does not need to be the moment where we lose hope. When you begin to get those feelings of nervousness, overwhelm, and despair. Stop. Stop it. Stop the script in your head. Slow down. Consider that you are alive and you are strong. We will see the other side of this craziness. We will wake up to a day in the future where this too has passed. You will appreciate more of tomorrow, if you can slow down and appreciate today with joy, hope and love. Appreciate life.

Because... Life is like us.

Life is Like Us #29 - The Why

By Scott Patrick Erwin

March 17, 2020

Why did I start writing Life is Like Us? Well, I started 2019 in depression and burnout as I finished a long challenging season of work. At the time, I was stuck in a view of life that only looked negative.

Life became a real search for survival. Because if I didn’t find an answer and make changes, I wasn’t going to survive, or maybe that’s all I was going to do...survive. And I was done just surviving in life. I realized I was in a battle for my soul, and I could only save myself. I had to make changes. And I did. Tough ones. It hurt. It hurt myself and others. However, I made the decision to love myself enough to change. I realized no one is responsible for my life but me. No one can make me happy, but me. And being happy requires asking, “Why do I deserve to be happy?”

I had to look inward and examine myself. I had to dig deep and peel off layers of my self beliefs and core values. Not only that, once you displace a belief, you have to find replacements for them. I had to ask myself, “ I know I’ve acted that way, about that situation in life, but am I really “that” or has that been a protection mechanism?” Loving yourself enough to change is difficult. Extremely difficult, but not impossible, because life is your choice to be happy.

It comes from resilience. The word is generally defined as, “the capacity to recover quickly from difficulties” and “toughness and elasticity(Oxford).” As humans we stretch. We are very elastic. We mold ourselves to situations. Because life requires it. Good and bad. When we stretch ourselves for love, improvement or growth, we get stronger. When we stretch and bend for the wrong reasons, we become weak. Sometimes life stretches us a bit too far. In 2019, I had reached a point where my rubberband was about to snap. Then one day I decided I loved myself enough to let go and let the elasticity find a new balance. That decision required painful sacrifices in the act of self care. When the release happens and everything has changed, the parts that were stretched snap back with speed and energy. Once everything comes to rest, the parts that were stretched are weak and hurt. Then it requires some healing and recovery. Next is soul searching. I had to go inside myself. I had to go deep inside and examine subconscious values, beliefs, and actions. And I had to make some decisions about myself and my outlook on life going forward.

Never shy away from the question, “Why am I doing this?” When you don’t have a good answer for that question, that is the answer. Use your internal intuition to make the tough decisions. You know what you need, if you really want to listen to the answers. And then have the resilience to recover from difficulties you face. I had to ask myself, “What is in the best interest of my survival.” For me the answer was self preservation and self love. My life was worth loving as much as I loved everyone else's at the expense of myself. We all deserve to be happy, and life starts with ourselves.

Because... Life is like us.

Life is Like Us #28 - Who am I?

By Scott Patrick Erwin

March 14, 2020

I believe one of the hardest questions in life is to truly ask yourself, “Who am I?” In the last year especially, and off and on for the last few years, I have been asking myself that question more and more... “Who am I?” It wasn’t easy, but eventually, I had an answer…”Not this!” That may seem like I’m over simplifying it, but until you have an answer for yourself, whatever your answer is, nothing changes. Self analysis is about making tough decisions to look at your circumstances and decide to change. I could have looked at myself, my actions, my story, my faults, my triumphs, my lessons, my part in it and choose to accept it and let it continue, or choose something else. Honest, brave self analysis is not easy.

Do you know what is even harder than brutal self analysis? Change. Change starts with a mental decision. “I love myself enough to make a decision to change ‘This’ in my life.” Whatever ‘This’ is to you. And once you ask yourself these questions, you have to be brave enough to accept the answers. Self examination is what is needed to change. What got you to this point in life is not going to get you somewhere else. Self analysis and change does not come without a price. Everything has a price. For every action there is a reaction. Or to simplify, for every action, something has to change.

Life is about living your story, not letting the story of life live you. Are you going to choose to be the change agent of your life story, or are you going to let life write a story for you? And the key to being able to make that change is self love. Most people never make the decision to live the story of self love. They never fully make the decision that, “I love myself enough to change.”

Wherever life has you right now. Whatever your circumstance. Whatever your challenges. Daily ask yourself, who am I? Am I moving toward my best self? Or am I failing myself and my potential. I guarantee you when you do choose to love yourself enough to change, it will not be easy. It will not be pleasant. It will not be fun. And it will not be without a cost. Have the courage to honestly look inside and examine yourself. Have the courage to make changes needed to get better, to be better, and to become better. And understand that it will not be easy. But I can promise you, that if you do make changes in life, your life will eventually get better. Maybe not quickly. Maybe not smoothly, but eventually, the changes you make will lead to something better.

Because... Life is like us.

Life is Like Us #27 - Grief

By Scott Patrick Erwin

March 14, 2020

I am familiar with grief. When I was eighteen, I lost a brother to cancer. It was my first encounter with death. He’d lived a tough life medically. Appendicitis as a teen. He had cancer at seventeen. A motorcycle accident and six months in traction at nineteen. Follow up surgeries for the accident. Rehab at twenty five. And he died at twenty six of lung cancer. Just after Christmas. It was my senior year in high school. Then in 2009, I lost a brother to suicide. He was a veteran. That one was tough. We were close. Just about the time I was beginning to come out of that, my mother passed away in 2014. I hate to say it, but that one was easier. You expect to lose your parents eventually. It is a circle of life thing. Not easy, but it seemed more normal and natural. Still, I miss her and my brothers, because grief is a part of life.

Grief is a tough thing to go through. We are never prepared for it. It seems to me, that we feel so much grief at times, because we felt so much love. It's a pendulum. Now from the distance of time with those situations, I can objectively look at the pain, and the love. I’m working everyday to leave behind the feelings of grief. It will never fully go away, nor will I be immune to it in the future. Because life happens and therefore death happens. It's a circle, and the more we can accept the circle, the easier it becomes to wake up each day and choose life.

Choosing life instead of grief is a daily decision. Some days, you hardly think about it. And others, the memories just won’t go away. Today when I think of those memories; the life, the laughs, the love, the adventures, etc. I choose to think of them like Obi Wan Kanobi from Star Wars. Instead of missing them, I imagine they are still right with me. Shadow Force beings, cheering and guiding me on. I know it's kinda silly and all, but hey if George Lucas can use it in his story, then why can’t I? I’m writing my life in my mind in language, so I get to use whatever literary tools I want.

Grief is part of life. It is our eventual journey to leave this place. Hopefully we live a life that others will warrant is worth grieving for. While you are still here though, during times of grief, seek to live with thankfulness for the life we had with others. It is a much more useful perspective. Life is a circle. We all live in the paths of our forefathers and ancestors.

Life is like us.

Life is Like Us #26 - Change

By Scott Patrick Erwin

March 14, 2020

Our lives are constantly changing, because life is change. From the day we are born into this great world, till the day we pass on from it, we are changing. First we grow; our bodies get bigger, our minds develop, and we learn new things as we grow from helpless infants to hopefully productive adults. We start things. We finish things. We begin relationships. We end relationships. We learn, we grow, and we teach. We live and we die. They are all points on the storyline of life. And all of it is change, because life is change.

Can you think of any story in life that inspires you that did not have change? I cannot. For example, think of your favorite character from a book or a movie. Take a moment...Got one? Now, really think about that character and about their story arc. Where did the character start in the story? Where did they finish? What was the rising action of their story? What were the plot twists and what changes did they go through? I can guarantee you that there were significant changes in your character over that story arc. Their circumstances changed. They faced challenges and problems. They failed or they succeeded. The best stories are ones where they grew in a positive manner and as they did, they overcame their struggle. They had to change to overcome their struggle. It may be difficult for you to grasp this, but your life is no less dramatic than the character you just imagined.

Is your life and your story a heroic tale or a tragic drama. Because you are either the hero of your life or the tragic character in it. However you interpret your story in life, up to this point, you get to write, as Paul Harvey used to say, “The rest of the story.”

What I am getting at here is that you are the hero in your own life drama? When faced with change, embrace it, push into it, understand it, seek growth and wisdom within yourself. Make the tough choices. Change can be good or bad. And generally, how we label change depends upon our outlook, our mindset, and our own self talk. Unfortunately, you cannot change the beginning of your story, whatever that is, but you can write the rest of it with purpose and intention. And since you are writing it, I challenge you to write yourself as the hero. Because at the end of the story, at the end of life, you are the author. You can choose to make life changes that lead you to greatness, or you don’t, and either way it is a choice. Today, I’m choosing to write a better story in life.

Because... Life is Like Us

Life is Like Us #25 - Noise

By Scott Patrick Erwin

March 14, 2020

Several years back, I discovered a book titled Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking, written by Susan Cain. There is a TED Talk video available if the title of the book speaks to you, just search “Ted Talks Quiet,” you can’t miss it (or a link to it is here). I’m an introvert. The book opened my eyes and mind to the fact that the views and feelings I often had about myself were incorrect. It helped me to embrace my true introverted self at the time. One key idea that I began to understand from the book was that the world is not structured for my most effective and efficient mindset. I discovered that the world is noisy, and my personality does not enjoy or do very well in a constant state of noise.

Noise is everywhere in the world. Workplaces with open floor plans are noisy. Restaurants and the indistinguishable chatter of other diners is noisy. Music playing in bars can be noisy. Walking down a busy street can be noisy from all kinds of noise pollution sources. Even conversations with a group of friends can be noisy, if everyone is talking over each other. Noise does not have to be sounds. It can be digital as well. Consider your social media feeds when the world has lost its mind. Consider the sales pitches of those selling their latest and greatest products online. And one of the worst offenders, news outlets, are extremely noisy. I realized from this new insight, that I had to become aware of situations that were triggering stress and overwhelm due to noise.

Life can be stressful and the constant state of noise surrounding us, in all forms, adds to that stress. Life needs quiet peaceful moments. And as an Introvert, which is defined as “one who recharges their energy by being alone,” this requires me to shut out some of that noise on a regular basis. It requires some isolation. To others, isolation can look a lot like being distant, unfriendly, and unapproachable. At times, It can look and feel like melancholy or depression.

In your life, recognize that the noise around us affects our mindset. It affects our ability to filter out the good thoughts, experiences, and guidance from the not so good ones. You may be feeling stressed right now, not because of your actual circumstances, but because the noise of our society is distracting you from your internal voice. Your internal voice, self talk, intuition, etc. can be easily silenced when highly charged circumstances of life press in. When the noise of the world begins to overwhelm you, recognize the need to slow down and turn off the noise. Your life is worth finding your peaceful quiet mindset.

Because... Life is like us

Life is Like Us #24 - BBQ

By Scott Patrick Erwin

March 11, 2020

I love Barbecue. Aka, BBQ. I don’t recall spelling it out much as “Barbecue,” in fact, I had to use spell check to get it right. BBQ was a staple in my home and life. You know the kind good on a good charcoal grill. The kind that cooked steaks, chicken, tri tip, vegetables, corn, potatoes, zucchini, etc. I can’t remember not cooking any kind of meat on a BBQ (Revision...Never BBQ'd a Turkey). Steaks, chicken, tri tip, brisket, pork, lamb, and chili; I consider chili as part of the meat group, by the way, even with beans. We had backyard weekend dinners, Saturday afternoon socials, networking and non-profit events, weddings, farmers markets, BBQ contests, etc. Often enough the meal was BBQ.

BBQ in the USA is a social food. It grew out of the good old south and Texas traditions. As Bakersfield was an Okie town, it had a lot of good old south feeling to a BBQ event. Throw into it Country Music and the legend of the Santa Maria tri tip. And you have a local tradition. Santa Maria tri tip grew out of a Santa Maria, California, Vons grocery store meat counter trying to cook and sell unused hamburger meat. They seasoned it with salt, pepper, fresh garlic and Italian seasoning, and cooked it in the store. Also known as the Tri Angle Steak, in other countries the cut is known as the aiguillette baronne in France, the Bürgermeisterstück or Pastorenstück, in Austria, the rabillo de cadera in Spain, and colita de cuadril in Argentine. The piece of meat has become a staple in Central California. Quick to prep, 40 minutes to cook on a BBQ Marinated or seasoned rubbed, and utterly delicious when prepared well. And it is not hard to prepare well.

The life around a BBQ is the closest thing to a perfect moment that I know in life. People, enjoying each other’s company, good adult beverages enjoyed, music, laughter, joy, energy, and love. We all have those meals that bring you that feeling. The ones with family, friends, and neighbors. All cultures have them. The dishes are different but the social tradition is the same.

In life, make time to appreciate the simple pleasures and moments of the favorite dish around a table full of love. So often in life we eat quick meals prepared for timeliness with nothing by ourselves and our mobile phone. Slow down and embrace those Sunday afternoon moments to sit with your family, share a meal and appreciate the love around you. The show on TV can wait. The phone call can be made on Monday. The homework will get done, probably better on a full stomach served with love. Slow down and enjoy some BBQ.

Because... Life is like us

Life is Like Us #23 - Art

By Scott Patrick Erwin

March 11, 2020

Have you ever looked at a piece of art and wonder what motivated the artist to create it? Why do people create art? Why do we enjoy art? Why is so much time, energy and money invested in art? Art can be viewed as inspired or frivolous. It can be viewed as brilliant or crap! It can be viewed as original or ridiculous. How you view art says something about your ability to create things in your life.

Robert Rauschenberg, a distinguished American artist of the 20th Century, is quoted as saying, “The artist's job is to be a witness to his time in history.” He also stated, he wanted to work "in the gap between art and life" suggesting he questioned the distinction between art objects and everyday objects.

Your life is your art. You are creating your legacy everyday. Whether that art is your own self expression, your relationships, your children, or your professional contribution. Everything you create in life can be viewed as your art. Do not limit your understanding of art to the painting hanging on a wall or the sculpture in a park. Your art is where you place your mind. It is where you create. It is what you leave behind in this world.

Whatever your medium of creation, put your soul and genius into it. Life is your canvas. Life is your color palette. Life is your marble block. Life requires you to see the piece on the blank surface. It requires you to chip away at the parts that don’t belong. It requires you to put your vision of the colors down on the canvas. Look at each day as a piece of art. And before long the museum of your creations will be laid out behind you in history.

Because... Life is like us.

Life is Like Us #22 - Searching for my Brother

By Scott Patrick Erwin

March 11, 2020

There is a statistic, that approximately 22 Veterans commit suicide each day in the United States. In 2009, my brother became part of those statistics. He was 49 years old. I miss him. He was a tall blonde muscular guy. If he were in the room, you knew it. He had that kind of dynamic personality. I was seven and half years younger than him. And in spite of his persistent and annoying big brothering, which only big brothers can do, I loved him immensely. When he died, it took a while to feel again. A good long while.

In 2014, Robin Williams died. When I got the news of actor Robin Williams' death, even before the news reports, I knew. It took my breath away and I wanted the report of his death to be wrong. And the survivor inside me knew what the cause of death would be. I wanted to be wrong. I wanted the whole thing to be wrong, a hoax, a joke. But as a survivor of suicide, I knew the instant it was reported. Somewhere deep in my soul, I knew that he had taken his life.

As the world reacted to Robin’s death, I saw something that only the survivors of suicide can relate to. The world was mourning. Robin so touched deep within our souls that we all felt like we'd lost a friend -- and we had. He was special that way. He had that gift to reach deep within us and make our journey through this life a little bit lighter. He shared so much of his talent on screen that we all had a connection with him. I may be making a stretch here, but he was our family. Our chosen family, like a brother, sister, uncle or a cousin, who whispers a joke during Thanksgiving prayer or points out a belly laughing observation during a family wedding processional. He moved us. He connected with us. He loved us through his talent. And, in turn, we loved him deeply! And that is why the world reacted the way it did. They were hurt and hurt for him. They hurt, as family hurt at the suicide of a loved one. Robin became part of our life because he was like us.

Whatever caused my brother to take his life, before that moment, my brother was an adventurer and we did some of it together, not enough, but a lot. We hunted, we fished, we boated, we road-tripped, we rafted, we hiked, we partied, and over all we enjoyed life, together. As a survivor of suicide, I’ve decided, I’m going to search for the adventures my brother and I would have enjoyed. Live the adventures of life for him. Make memories where we would have enjoyed going. So for the rest of my life, I’m searching (for adventures), for my Brother.

Because...Life is like us.

Life is Like Us #21 - Reunions

By Scott Patrick Erwin

March 9, 2020

I have had the rare privilege of growing up with a set of kids from Kindergarten through high school. I’d have to count the school yearbook photos, but about 15-20 of them. We missed a few years in the elementary school years because of new schools being built, but eventually reunited in 7th grade through high school. Two of them, we went all the way through university together. Looking back on those years was a blessing. We weren’t all close all the time, by no means, but we were all friends. When our paths crossed, we were full of friendship and love. At least for me it was. I appreciate them. I appreciate that I had that kind of experience in my life, I know that many people’s lives are not like that.

Once, a couple of years after university, I was playing Softball with the company sponsored team in Los Angeles, and got a impromptu invitation to join one of my teammates at the Los Angeles Dodger game later that afternoon. They were nosebleed seats, but we were in the stadium. I had no complaints. As we sat down, I noticed a set of five of six school friends in the seats two rows ahead of me, at least two, maybe as many as four, of them were from this group of friends, I'm a little vague on who was there, it was twenty five plus years ago. It was one of those head shaking serendipity moments. I had to tell my company softball teammate, “Hey, thanks for the ticket, and whatever happens, I’m going where they are going tonight.” We ended up at somebody’s apartment in Venice, California. It was one of my favorite nights. Nothing spectacular happened, it was just that I was with friends; safe, accepted, loved.

Life has all kinds of connections that we carry in our hearts. For me it's a group of kids that I shared nine of my twelve years of school with. I’ve seen most of them here and there at reunions, charity events, and serendipitous moments in time and I am grateful for each crossing in time.

Life is like these types of early accepting relationships. Developed during times of freedom of mind, with love, joy, fun, and friendship liberally applied. We develop and remember these moments, because they were simple. They were pure. They were special. When you are feeling alone, think of these moments, these friends, and these human beings that we love, wherever you meet them in life. They can and will carry you through moments when you are all alone grinding things out. Doing the work. Doing what needs to be done. Feeling all alone. Because you are not alone in this world. You are loved. Friends carry us through. Keep them close to your heart.

Because... Life is like us.