I've been power-washing my house for the past few days. Its a tedious job. I've done it before and have come to the conclusion that the way I'm doing it is not the easiest way to go about it, but its the way that works for me. I thought about using some harsh chemicals. Not really big fan of toxic chemicals. I got a few bottles of biodegradable environmental friendly house wash. Turns out environmentally friendly is friendly to the environment, not so much to me. The stuff sucks. It just doesn't work.
I decided that I would once again do the job the old fashion way, with lots of elbow grease. I'm not afraid of a little, or a lot in this case, hard work. If there's an easier way that makes sense to me and I feel good about, then great, but that wasn't the case in this instance.
The job goes like this; I suit up. Goggles to keep the mold and backspray out of my eyes, crappy shorts, crappy shirt, and gloves to protect my sensitive hands. Yes gloves. My hands are cracked and irritated enough with out being soaked hours on end with house yuck. Then I pull the twenty-four foot fiberglass extension ladder off my truck. I only mention that it's fiberglass to give an idea how heavy the ladder, compared to say an aluminum ladder, which would be about half the weight. I haul that baby up up up and gently prop it up against the house. I pull out the power-washer, start her up, connect hoses and begin my ascent to the top of the ladder.
Now the fun begins. I say that somewhat jokingly, but I don't hate this job. Some weird part of me finds a certain satisfaction in this cleaning process. Its not a day at the beach, but it alright. So now, I'm a couple stories off the ground. I hit the trigger and the nozzle comes to life. It truly is a POWER washer. The thing delivers and intense stream of high powered water. No soap, tried that, just water (with lot's of pressure). I begin to make strategic swipes at the siding. I keep the nozzle about four to six inches away from the house. This is the optimum distance for removing the tough little mold spores that like to chill in the texture of the siding. Inch by Inch I go. Every square inch needs to be hit.
I'm a thorough kind of guy. I like things done just so. If its not done properly I get a little crazy. I always like to tell my son, Any job worth doing, is worth doing well. These are words to live by. I try to put the best of myself in everything I do. Does it always happen? No, but I keep on keepin on, doing my best as much as I possibly can.
This job takes a long time, but the further into it I go, the more I know this is how it needs to be done, at least for me anyways. I do a section, I step back and take a look, looks good! Nice. Sure its a lot of work, but shit is gettin' done, and at the end of day that's satisfying.
So I'm out there sprayin' my little heart away, I start thinking about things. How I want to write more, and what about. I look a little deeper into things then some, you could say. It comes to me how this task I am doing relates to (my)life on a grander scale. I start to think how certain things in my life need addressing, need cleaning so to speak. Interior house keeping lets call it. The house is my self, my soul, my being. If you don't take check on this, shit gets clogged up. Stagnancy is one of the worst things for soul. That's how the mold grows. And molds no good. You got to clean that shit quick, or it builds up, and that's when real difficulties start showing up.
Not to get to off track, but I do believe that half the illnesses in this world, easily more, are a result of poor interior house keeping. And remember the house is you, or me, in this case. You have to keep your house in order, you have check on things that are usually undercover. Old hurts from yester year can suddenly turn into today's illnesses. What I'm getting at is that we need to keep ourselves in check. You've got to do the hard jobs sometimes, you may not always like it, but a little hard work goes a long way to your overall well being.
I'm power-washing. I'm getting rid of shit that's been sitting around for far too long. The tough part about this job is that I let it sit too long. The longer it sits, the harder it is to deal with. The harder I have to work to make it shine. I am, while doing this job, quickly seeing the bigger picture. The important topics in my life that I have neglected only grow tougher to address as time goes on. For me its a lack of taking action on the things the lay dormant, but filled with awaiting passion deep within my heart. A passion to be exposed; to be enjoyed by myself and others, sharing my dreams with the world. Dreams of better day, but not a better day to hope for in some distant tomorrow, a better day to be created and embraced today, in this very moment. To make the most of every breath of my life. To live out loud with love in my heart, radiating outwards into the world with joyful currents to be felt by all who wish to embrace them! They're not all huge elephants in the room (or maybe they are!), but together their lack of upkeep results in a disharmony in my life. Little big things adding up to become mountains over time. If I would just keep tabs on my self on a regular basis, there would be much greater balance in my life. Its fun to climb mountains, but eventually your going to want to reach the top and shout your blessings out into the world to echo upon the ears of the Universe. Success felt singular is great, but a success embraced in the hearts of many is a true triumph of the soul.
Time goes by and we wish we would do this or that. Time goes faster and faster still, and we find ourselves struggling to keep up. Before we know it years have gone by and the dreams we've kept on the shelf have collected layers of dust while awaiting our action. This is where power-washing comes in. I have to laugh at the irony of all this, but its spot on. You have to step with-in and take a good look at what's not working in life. Pull the wool off your eyes and see what you've been missing. What's holding you back from truly living? What's keeping you from thriving? This is where you pull out your metaphorical power-washer and blast that shit. Get rid of the old. Blast the mold out of town. Clean your house. Take the time, make the time to do a little hard work to make a difference in your life. To uncover the secrets in yourself that will make you shine. Ya baby!
The party's not over yet. It's just beginning.
I continue on my power-washing journey and I discover myself in a section of my house where three separate sides come together to form a little nook of sorts. The point of interest here lies in the play of light and dark; Shadows and light, and how they play little tricks on the eyes and mind. The deeper you look into them, the more stories unfold. The shadow at first appears to hide what lays directly in front of you, while the direct sun shows what's right in front of your face. But on further inspection you begin to find if you look more carefully into the shadow side, you soon begin to see the details that lay hidden in the grooves missed at first glance. The sun shines bright just inches away, and yet its almost blinding. The Sun blends in the imperfections, disguising them with brightness. Its trickery at its best.
Introspection leads me deeper into the heart of this matter. I ponder my own shadows, seeking to expose issues I may be missing. Everyday life has always shared with me kindness and prosperity. I may not be the richest of rich when it comes to monetary devices, but let it be known, my prosperity is of the kind money can not buy. And for this I am eternally thankful. But when I dive a little deeper into the pool of me, I see another side hidden from the light of day. Its not a place that society encourages or much less mentions, or openly teaches to swim within, yet let us not kid ourselves, there's a darkness in us all that is in need of some introspection to bring forth a little more of our true self into the world.
We start asking deeper questions. What am I here for? Is it to work some 40 odd hours a week, only to spend hard earned monies on the weekend, to give some worth to working our asses off all week? Our we fulfilled with our life in all its many facets? Maybe some of us are. I would like to hope so anyways. But I know I for one have lots of living left to do. And when I say living, I mean discovering, creating, uncovering those things in life that bring true joy to the heart. Living life wide open, not afraid of the shit hitting the fan. In order to truly live we're gonna have to take chances. Sometimes things are going to work out, and other time shit's gonna hit the fan and its gonna be messy! This is part of life. So you take a shower. You wipe the shit of life off your face. You get back on that horse and ride baby!! That's what I'm talking about.
To find this hidden shit you have to be brave, courageous even. You have to be an adventurer, and explorer, a trail blazer. You (I) have to go within and uncover the truth of who you are, and then you have to take a deep breath and jump. Bring your passion to this life. If your already bringing it, GREAT! Bring more of it. What brings you joy? Do that shit! What makes your heart skip a beat and makes your eyes open wide in amazement? That's the shit. And when I speak to this "shit", I'm talking about the best "shit" in the world. Maybe "shit" is not the best word to describe this phenomenon, but it sure feels right! HAha!!
Let us not be confused here; I do love the light. I love to bask in it most days of my life. The darkness can be of benefit too. It contains the parts of ourselves that hold us back from living in the light more fully each moment. When we step into this room within, we shine light on the challenges in our life that prevent us from moving forward and expanding into more of our truest self. We were born to create, to live in joy, to learn, to love, to experience the many facets of life has to offer us. Anything that blocks this road, this journey to a greater realization of ourselves needs our full attention. Its needs to be shown in the light and either dealt with in some fashion, or simply let it go. The choice is of our own making. It takes a brave warrior of the soul to step onto this battlefield. It's no joke. I like to have fun and poke around in the waters of life, but kid you not, this is some serious shit. It's not for everyone in this lifetime, but all the same, its here for everyone to face when they choose to turn about to it.
SOoo.........I'm power-washing. I'm doing my best to step up to the plate. I swinging for the stars. Shootin' for the Moon. I getting rid of the Mold in my life. Letting go of the old and in the way. Making way for the next stage of my journey. It's a beautiful day. I am grateful to be alive and share my joy with the world. I send my love out to you all on waves of ocean, filled with rainbows to enrich your soul and expand the eyes of the world.
That's the "shit" I'm talkin' bout!
Love to you all :)
~Jimmy Page~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~