Ron: 0:12

A couple of days ago, after work, I took a look at the news on my computer and, wow, that was a mistake. While my work day had gone just fine, reading the news reports just brought I don't know this heavy weight of discouragement. As you've gotten to know me thus far, you know what I did then. I put on my motorcycle gear and I went for a ride. Yep, I headed north. Yep, I headed north. I stopped at a gas station that I've frequently stopped at over the years. It's at the intersection of Highway 287 and Highway 14 here in Colorado. I topped off with gas and went inside to pick up something to snack on for my next stop, wherever I decided to stop. The lady behind the counter was there, and I just felt compelled to tell her what I had just experienced. I told her that I looked at the news and I got discouraged and I hopped on my motorcycle and here I was, right there in front of her. She didn't have to be as kind as she was, but she was she. She talked with me for a few minutes because there's no one else around at the time. She went on to tell me that she too gets discouraged sometimes, but in her work there at the gas station, she meets a lot of really nice people. She said something to the effect that there's a lot more good people out there than there are bad people. It's just that the bad people are just so much more loud. Yeah, I get it. That little comment, that statement of fact. Yeah, that helped a lot.

Ron: 2:07

Anyway, from there on my motorcycle, I went west and followed the canyon road that parallels the river and I stopped, oh, I don't know, 10 miles up into the canyon. I stopped at a small riverside park. No one else was there. In the pack on my bike I carry a hammock these days, something really foldable, easy to carry. I took the hammock down by the river and connected it up between two trees, and it was there that I had my snack that I got at the gas station. It was there that I had my snack, that I got at the gas station.

Ron: 2:50

I spent time there doing nothing. I just watched and listened to the river, looked up at the canyon walls to look for wildlife and I watched the clouds go by. After a few minutes I heard voices. Now, these weren't voices in my head, no, these were real voices. I glanced back up to where I'd parked my motorcycle some I don't know 40 yards away and nobody was there. But a moment later, two guys on their kayaks floated by down the river right in front of me. They were having a little conversation. That was pretty cool.

Ron: 3:33

In a moment I'll talk about another conversation that I heard about, but today we're going to talk about the value of turning off the bad stuff and turning on the good stuff. Turning off the bad stuff and turning on the good stuff. Sometimes, when bad things are happening and they feel like they're just overwhelming our senses, maybe it's time just to walk away and in our case, maybe just ride away. Some may call it escapism, but, as for me, when I choose to ride away from the chaos of life every once in a while, honestly I usually return with some new insights, some new energy and hopefully, new ideas to solve some of those problems in the world, at least in my own little small way, in my little small space. So that's what I want to share today. Thank you for joining me, stay tuned. 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: 5:11

Recently I was listening to an audio book. The book was about Abraham Lincoln. There are lots of books about Abraham Lincoln Quite an admirable guy, to say the least. Anyway, it described an occasion where he was riding in a small two-seater open carriage pulled by a single horse. He was going down a country lane. He was riding along with his then law partner. They were having a conversation. Riding along with his then law partner, they were having a conversation. It was in that conversation that Abraham Lincoln shared some personal and private thoughts with his law partner, who was also his friend. Just the two of them riding through the countryside. This is well before he became president and the additional pressures that came with that, I'm sure. Anyway, what captured my attention from thinking about that experience was not so much the conversation that they had but the fact that they had one in an open carriage, pulled by a single horse, down a country lane, sitting side by side, just talking, no distractions.

Ron: 6:29

I guess today, sometimes we forget about the value of a conversation with no distractions. Fast forward to today. I've also heard recently that some bars and restaurants in big cities are feeling the effects of a changing culture, a culture where fewer people go out after work to socialize like they used to. Instead, if they're not already working from home, they're going straight from the workplace back to home to be alone. Well, maybe they're not really alone, but rather they're connected to the outside world through their computer, the phone in their hand or whatever, and that has replaced the desire to connect with others in a real way, in a side by side way, and it's removed a desire maybe to even be outside in the real world. Wow, that's sad, you know, in our real world, wow, that's sad, you know, in our modern world, so much of our life is designed to separate us from the outside world, even separate us from other people, from real relationships, those side-by-side relationships. Think about it, our cars are sealed off right side relationships. Think about it, our cars are sealed off right Soundproof, temperature controlled entertainment systems that keep us entirely within our own little bubble. The goal for most modern cars is to make the journey as uncensory as possible, to get from point A to point B without feeling, hearing or smelling anything.

Ron: 8:24

An experience of not experiencing Interesting. But that's not the case for us. Is it that experience of not experiencing? No, we are motorcycle riders, we get out on our bike and we experience everything. And everything changes for us. Yeah, the world changes. You get out on your bike and then, suddenly, you're no longer a passive observer, you're an active participant in the world around you and this, my friends, is aesthetic experience. The word sounds a whole lot like anesthetic or anesthesia, but the word is anesthetic experience. The word sounds a whole lot like anesthetic or anesthesia, but the word is anesthetic and it's polar opposite in meaning.

Ron: 9:26

Anesthetic experience is about heightened awareness. It's about engaging all of your senses. So when you're out on your bike, you feel the, the world. You feel the cold rush of air at times and the warmth of the sun at other times. You feel the subtle vibrations coming from the engine, the rhythm of the road. You feel the lean of the bike into every curve. They say it's the closest experience that you can have to flying while still being on the ground.

Ron: 10:04

Yeah, you experience the world differently. You see the world differently. On the bike, your field of vision is wide open. You're not looking through a small screen, you're looking at a panorama. The scenery isn't a picture, it's this immersive 360 of reality. That's awesome and that's what we get as motorcycle riders every time. I know we can draw all sorts of comparisons between driving a car and riding a motorcycle, but here's a few Fresh cut grass, the smell of a field that's just been cut by the farmer, the rich scents of pine trees after a rainstorm, and even this, a small town diner as you pass by.

Ron: 11:08

I was riding through the tiny community of Encampment Wyoming recently and passed the one and only diner in town and I could smell those hamburgers getting cooked. Oh, that was so good. Did I turn around and go into the diner? You bet I did, and it tasted as wonderful as it smelled for sure. You know, maybe this is all where riding for mindfulness comes from. It forces us to be present, to see, to feel, to smell what's real, what's really out there.

Ron: 11:51

In a world that so often wants to numb us, riding a motorcycle, at least for me, is a solution. It's something that, rather than drives me back to bed to hide underneath the covers in frustration and maybe fear, it drives me to put on my riding gear, go out to the garage, start the bike, say a word of gratitude and then just go, just go. It's this deliberate choice to embrace the wonderful world that's really, really out there, just like the lady said at the gas station, those negative voices are just really, really loud. So tune them out and then make your positive voice, make your positive action that much louder. It's an act of defiance and it's a choice, I think, to feel, to be alive, to connect with the world in a way that modern society these days keeps discouraging us.

Ron: 13:07

But no, next time, next time you swing your leg over a motorcycle, I want you to think about this. You're not just going for a ride. You're engaging with a real world and having an experience with your mom, with mother nature out there. Maybe you're riding through the city and you're not able to go out into the woods or into the country, out there on the road, in the wind. You are a part of your environment, the real environment, and that's a very, very good thing. So until we visit again, go for a ride, and with that, I wish you peace and I wish you love.