Ron: 0:08

I was just a kid, 11 years old, and as I look back today, I am absolutely positive that I experienced what so many of us adults are still trying to achieve. Maybe it's because I was so young. I wasn't carrying any loads at all, I had no weight of responsibilities on my shoulders. I've just come to realize that I was actually practicing mindfulness as a little kid, on a little red mini bike. Now it may not be the definition that you're thinking of mindfulness, but for me it is More often than not. When I'm out riding alone on a country road, I return to my 11-year-old self on a tiny motorcycle. It's all in my mind, of course, but then again, is it Today? We'll talk for a short while, but then we'll go for a ride. Yeah, you and I need a ride. Are we going to play mind games? Maybe, but then again, what's wrong with that? Thank you for joining me today. Hold on tight. Recorded in beautiful Loveland, colorado. Welcome to Peace, love Moto the podcast for motorcyclists seeking that peaceful, easy feeling as we cruise through this life together. Are you ready? Let's go.

Ron: 2:09

I've spent most of my career in corporate America. This was a travel week for me. I flew out from Denver to Dallas at the beginning of the business week. It was a relatively slow week meeting-wise, but while in Dallas, I had the opportunity to visit with a couple of new colleagues who I've met at our corporate site out there, both young men who are active in the corporate world, just as I have been for the past 30 plus years, and although the travel is quite difficult for me, both mentally and physically yeah, it's exhausting. I do appreciate, though, and I look forward to the opportunities to talk with young people in our company who are walking through the same career doors that I walked through so many years ago right out of college. So I love the opportunity to talk with these young professionals and I'm trying to be a listening ear and give some advice when I can, and, as someone once told me, just do no harm. So I try to listen, get some advice and do no harm.

Ron: 3:24

But here's where it gets tricky in those conversations for me, as you know, listening to this podcast, you're well aware that what brings relief to me relief from the stresses of work, relief from the endless 24-hour news cycles and social media and, you know, stresses of life what brings me calm is knowing that when I get home like in this case, when I'm traveling. As soon as I can get to my motorcycle, if weather permits, I'm going for a ride. So I say these conversations get a little bit tricky in the Dallas-Fort Worth area because these days there's not much country left out there to ride in. Riding a motorcycle just about anywhere in any metropolitan area is somewhat deadly, given the traffic and attitudes that some people sometimes write. I wouldn't do it for anything these days. So I can't necessarily share with these young professionals how I deal with stress myself, which is kind of sad because what I do tell them anyway, as an alternative to motorcycle riding, find something that you can just pour yourself into, something meaningful, something that has nothing to do with computers, I hope, because you're in front of a computer all day long. You need to get away from that thing, but rather go and enjoy yourself doing something, pour into yourself some happiness with no guilt, knowing that what you're doing for yourself you're also doing for your spouse, your family and so forth. It makes you a better person. If all goes well, you'll come home from whatever you do a better person, and that's my hope for myself when I go for a motorcycle ride, when my wife understands that I just need to go out for a ride every once in a while. Quite often she knows that I'm going to come back more relaxed and, hopefully, a better person. So that's what I try to share with these young people.

Ron: 5:51

As I got back home from that Dallas trip the very next day, as quickly as I could I got on my motorcycle and I went for a ride in the country. It's very hard to describe that feeling, isn't it? The easiest way I can say, and I guess the most direct thing to say about riding a motorcycle for me is it makes me really happy. I feel very focused, yet relaxed. I guess most importantly between us, I just feel really grateful. I just feel so grateful for the opportunity to ride out here where I live. I'm just overwhelmed with gratitude. If I'm doing anything right, I'm remembering to say thank you. So many of us know that feeling right. The wind, the sound of the engine, the open road stretching out in front of us it's wonderful, isn't it Just grasping this mindfulness thing, though on a motorcycle, or doing anything for that matter, that mindfulness thing can really be a mystery, but honestly, I think we're overthinking it.

Ron: 7:03

And, just as I mentioned in the beginning. What does an 11-year-old on a minibike know about mindfulness? Well, I think he knew a lot. I think I knew a whole lot about mindfulness. I just didn't call it that. Just didn't call it that. Maybe I referred to it or thought of it as zoning out when I was out on the rides on those country roads, out in back of our house. But yeah, you know, I don't think I was zoning out at all, I think I was zoning in and maybe that's mindfulness. Well, we've been talking a while, but I'm ready to go for a ride, Are you? Yeah, hey, it may be virtual right now, but I'm going to do my best to go back to my 11-year-old self how I felt Before I even understood the concept of responsibility. Maybe those were really, really good days. Let's go back there together.

Ron: 8:27

While you observe the road ahead, you start to notice the details, the changing landscape, the cloud formations, the colors. You just don't see. You really observe it, feel like you're a part of it. It's like you're not moving at all. Rather, the world's just moving past you now, out on the road, you listen to the symphony of that well-engineered engine underneath you. The wind rushing past, you catch the faint sound of a bird. You notice the tones and the rhythms of the road. In your bike, you start to pay attention to the vibrations that are in your handlebars, the feeling of the wind on your body even the direction of the wind may be coming a little bit more from one side than the other the pressure of your feet on the pegs, the way the bike responds to your guidance, not just with your hands, but with your feet, even your hips, giving the motorcycle guidance down the road. And sometimes you start to catch the smells the smell of a pine, even a distant shower, fresh cut grass.

Ron: 10:01

How's your stress now? Are your shoulders tense? Are you gripping the handlebars a little too tight? Being tense makes you tired, and you don't want to be tired on a day like this. So relax and don't let the busy life that you just rode away from creep in. When your mind starts to wander to your to-do list, to past conversations, to meetings, to missed deadlines, bring yourself back again, in my case to my 11-year-old self. I am writing, I'm here and I'm so grateful for this experience. Right now, so long you're right, thoughts are going to come and go, thoughts about the week ahead, no matter what pressures you may be facing, whether it's your job, relationships, money. Yeah, those things are important, those things are real. No-transcript.

Ron: 11:41

Now, at some point it's time to come back home, isn't it? We just make giant loops when we go for rides anyway. We always come back home eventually, most of us. So, once you've parked your bike, take a moment before you even take your helmet off. Just sit for a moment, feel the warmth of that engine, and this is kind of cool. If you've not done it before, listen to the gentle I don't know what would you call it Tinking the little crackling sounds of steel as your motor cools. You know that sound. Have you ever stayed around long enough to listen to it? Just listen to it for a few minutes. It's kind of cool. And I would encourage you this before you go out of the garage and turn the light out, express gratitude for the experience you just had, for the machine, for the open road, for the opportunity to connect with yourself.

Ron: 12:50

Now, I know that we talk about gratitude all the time, but I think it bears repeating. If you are fortunate enough to have a motorcycle in the garage and you have the physical and mental capacity to ride it, well, my friend, you are blessed, you are blessed, you are blessed. As much as I dread the business trips sometimes, I think it's a healthy reminder. When I see the people living under bridges and on the side of the road begging for money, I'm reminded of how so very blessed I have been to have a motorcycle all these years and people around me who care. Imagine a world where everyone has the opportunity to recharge, to find their center, to truly live in the moment. My friends, that opportunity is sitting in your garage.

Ron: 14:09

That's the power of mindful motorcycling. It's not about going fast, it's not about going far, it's not about having the coolest bike. It's about going deeper. Maybe that ride will take you back to a time when, even as a kid, you were zoned in. Huh. Maybe that's the peace of mind we're all looking for, as always. Thank you so much for listening. Until next time, I do wish you peace and I wish you love. Thank you.