Peter Fountain

Month: July 2017

Uncategorized

Jul 19, 2017 #sunset mindful focus by Pete

Yesterday morning a 26 year old woman was killed by a drunk driver while driving home to pick up her two little girls. The accident wasn’t her fault. She was in the wrong place at the wrong time. 26. Gone. Two little girls left without a mother they will likely never remember. 

On Facebook people were outraged. “Execute the drunk driver”. “When will this stop”. And so on and so on. 

Maybe one of those angry people will write their congressman. Maybe someone will start a campaign to stop drunk drivers. Maybe Uber and Lyft will put a dent in drunk driving deaths. 

But it will all soon be forgotten, except for the family of the poor woman killed in the crash who will be sentenced to suffer until the end of their days. 

Lately I’ve been working frantically to launch my new business, Fit Pro Web Designs. Coupled with all the other demands on my time I can honestly say I haven’t taken much time to stop and smell the roses (so to speak).

Seeing the crash on the news, and thinking about the senseless and random nature of it all, I realized that I need to stop and smell the roses. So I went tonight to take in a beautiful sunset on Lake Ontario. 

I don’t know the deceased woman. i doubt drunk driving will stop in my life time. I know ranting on Facebook won’t change anything. 

But I can change my behavior. I can change my focus. I can find time to take in a sunset, or smell a flower, or say a kind word to a stranger. 

Uncategorized
Uncategorized

Jul 9, 2017 #forgivedontforget, #forgiveness, #peaceofmind by Pete

It took me years to understand and accept the difference between forgiving and forgetting. I hung on to the anger towards those who had hurt me with a passion believing that it was something I had to do.

We hear a lot about revenge, retaliation, an eye for an eye. I’m sure there some cases where forgiveness is not possible or healthy, but in most cases I’ve come to believe forgiveness is the only way to get on with your life.

It’s tough to hear someone say “so and so did such and such to me 10 years ago”. Really? Something that happened 10 years ago is still taking up your time (and who knows how much time during the past 10 years). Couldn’t that time have been spent on better things?

In the end I realized that forgiveness is for me. It frees me from anger, and allows me to focus on what matters.

But I also learned that I never forget. Someone can hurt me, but they won’t get multiple chances, nor will other people get the chance to hurt me in the same ways.

I truly believe that forgiveness is for the strong, and that it makes me stronger.

Anger is easy. Hate is easy. Forgiving is hard.

Uncategorized

Jul 8, 2017 by Pete

I am my own harshest critic, often times unfairly and unnecessarily. 

Recently I read a quote asking why we treat other people better than we treat ourselves. Shouldn’t we look out for ourselves first? 

Why would I give someone the shirt off my back, do things that put me at tremendous inconvenience, make me sad or angry, but can barely find time to love myself? 

In a few minutes I leave to march in a parade. Music is my first love. I will pick up a pair of sticks and play any time, anywhere, anything possible. It’s just in me. For the 10 or 15 minutes that we march down the street nothing else exists. 

I feel the music in me. As the music comes in, my hands move and things come out. It’s beyond notes and rhythms. It’s not time signatures or key changes. 

It’s about energy, about flow, about being one with something. It’s as though time stands still. All my problems are gone, all my anxiety stops, the thoughts that race through my head from sun up until sun down are still. 

And yet I will beat myself up for not marching perfectly straight, or missing a beat, or not staying perfectly in line. 

I have so much love that I give to others. I would do anything for anyone if they ask, and sometimes if they don’t. 

Why don’t I show myself the same compassion? Until I can unlock that question, I will never be all that I am meant to be.