In loving memory of Fred

I have to admit that when when my web designers contacted me this last week looking for an initial entry for my Blog , I considered all of the possible entries relating to creating a new way forward for ourselves in this most incredible time of transition and transformation.

I wanted something that would set a tone for where we are headed together and it was then that I felt a gentle nudge from somewhere inside that reminded me that, it was coming up on the one year anniversary of the passing of a fellow that had given me the greatest gift that anyone can ever receive.

I figured that this ties into our theme of what inspires us. So here we go with a tribute to Fred, the gift that he gave me of unconditional love and how he inspired me.

This picture was taken just one week before we had to assist sweet Fred in passing over. What catches my attention is that in spite of the fact that he had 16 years under his belt, ( that’s 112 in dog years), you can still see in his eyes that he had that unconditional love for me and that it was in no way diminished by those 16 years.

You see Fred didn’t wake up in the morning, confronted with the question, ” Would I love him today?”, because it was integral to his very being . It was just who he was, because Love and Fred were one an the same.

Fred had other wonderful attributes as well that I came to admire through time. His ability to focus on his passions was one such attribute that I greatly admired, and chasing his tennis ball was probably at the top of this list.

One demonstration of his focus occurred when my brother, his new wife and their baby girl named Maggie, came to visit me shortly after my move to Tucson.

We had all sat down to dinner one night with lil’ Maggie on the floor next to us in her car seat when Fred saw an opportunity, and seized the moment by dropping a non too appealing tennis ball right in her lap, and when she didn’t respond appropriately by throwing the ball, he barked at her. After all she was breathing, moving her arms and making sounds…soooo why not take advantage of the situation, she was a candidate for fetch in his mind’s eye. We all had a good laugh and commiserated with Fred’s disappointment in lil’ Maggie’s not having quite perfected her hand, arm, eye coordination to throw a ball yet.

But when I look back I realize that what really inspired me was Fred’s commitment to unconditional love that he shared with almost every one that he came in contact with… that is except the mailman, and even he realized that Fred’s bark was worse than his bite as he would leave dog biscuits in the mail slot when he left.

And as I contemplate this, it made me wonder what if we, the supposed more “advanced” species in this equation, were able to focus our attention less on the externals of life and instead focus more on accessing and expressing that capacity for unconditional love that we have lying there within us?

What demonstrations of unconditional love that inspired you, have occurred in your life? Go ahead a and share your stories here in which you any have received an unexpected kindness that had no strings attached.

A subject definitely worth some consideration and spending some more time with when we pick back up here tomorrow.

Hello , my name is John and I am a recovering architect…..
This is the kick off for the Life Lab. A blog dedicated to my fellow travelers within the A&D community that still remember the original inspiration that fueled their passion to create.
If the intervening years have found you slowly being removed from the source of that inspiration and you feel stuck when you try to imagine how you might create a life that has you feeling inspired again, you’ve come to the right place.
This is an equal opportunity blog for self discovery, so if you are at any point along your road to finding your inspiration, jump in. I hope that you find that these waters a good for finding your what inspires you.

I’ve been traveling down my own road of self discovery for a few years now, and keep hearing from my clients similar stories of a desire to reconnect with what inspires them. As a result I came to the conclusion that this blog should serve as a place in which a community of similarly minded souls congregate and support each other.

This as a “watering hole” of sorts for architects, designers, and any of you other “creatives” out there that would like to gather and share your own stories while you are looking to make sense of these new times that we all find ourselves in.
Think of this blog as a Laboratory. A safe place for exploration, experimentation, for self discovery and expression, all within a community of like minded souls that share your same desire to create in the new reality in which we find ourselves.

See this as a blank canvas where we can experiment and paint whatever we choose. Experimenting often facilitates and leads to the emergence of something entirely new, so use this as a venue to throw your own creative ideas at the metaphorical fridge to see if they stick.

It’s a forum where each of you can entertain ideas about what you might do to rediscover what inspires you, and how to activate the creative forces within you. All in a setting of mutually supportive partners that are there to be your sounding board and champions for moving forward.

You are here for a reason : To find that something within your heart that you can feel passionate about. Something that inspires you in a way that motivates you to move forward and sustains you over the long hall.

I’m here for a reason too: I’ll be sharing my insights, revelations, ruminations and digressions with you, so consider yourself forewarned at this point. Many of which will draw upon the discoveries insights that I made during my own personal journey from out of the industry and back again into this new incarnation as a guide, on this most curious tour bus through this new reality.
It is my desire that you profit from my own experiences in creating a new life for myself by making you aware of some of the potential pitfalls, side tracks, and even hard knocks up side the head that can be avoided with the help of someone that’s already been there. If I can help and illuminate your path so that you can side step the “what you don’t know can hurt you” factor in all of this, I’ll consider this a successful exchange.

This is going to be fluid and elliptical in nature, so all of you project managers out there that like things in nice straight time lines better hang onto your seats. That being said, there is only one rule here , and that is Rule # 6 : “Not to take ourselves too seriously. ” So if you see me headed off in that direction , give me a nudge and tell me to lighten up.

So bring your most authentic self back tomorrow and in the meantime let us know what is nudging YOU from within to create out there? Or what are you looking for right now from me that might help you reconnect with your original
source of passion for creating.