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Art Of The Smoke

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November 1, 2019

– By Ben Schooley Barret and Claire Klein, owners of Klein’s Smokehaus in Boerne, enjoy the fact that their business…

Artist Of The Month: Noelle Goforth

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November 1, 2019

– By Matt Kersh One of my favorite things about writing this column each month is it allows me to…

Survivor’s Story

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November 1, 2019

– By Casey Bonham Growing up in a small town where everyone knows your Mom and being the oldest of…

Dearest EXPLORE Reader, I read a little parable a few months ago that has stuck with me. It’s called “The Elephant Rope”. It reads that a gentleman was walking through an encampment in Africa, and he noticed that there were several elephants that weren’t being kept in cages, or held by chains or any other…

5 Score and a Few Months Ago

– By Marjorie Hagy A little over a hundred years ago, the people of Boerne were gearing up for an election. On November 5, the men of Kendall County would decide between Rudolph Phillip and Adolph Theis for the office of County Treasurer ; Otto Schweppe was running for re-election for District Clerk, JA Luckenbach was…

Think About Your Future

– By Samuel Smith “Think about your future, son.” Regret is a strange phenomenon. It’s pain over something we can’t change. Intellectually, we all know it’s pointless and counterproductive. But it’s still there, if we’re at all honest. I’ve got a bag full of them. But one of them stands out above the rest. I…

Old Timer

Btown. Ever growing. Ever expanding. Ever under construction. Yeah, it can get old as it seems like as soon as one thing is finished, they tear up a different section and begin screwing up another part of town. I shake my fist at all of it like the rest of you, but guess how much…

From The Publisher

Dearest EXPLORE Reader, I read a quote one time that has stuck with me. It’s quite simplistic, and on its first reading you think to yourself “That can’t be true.” But taken in context, I’ve learned it to be extremely true. The quote: You can never go home again. Again, upon first review you might…

Art Of The Alternative

Derenda Shewbert, owner of CBD American Shaman in Boerne (next to Toyota) is on the forefront for one of the hottest natural remedies in recent memory. Through a series of events, Shewbert now spends her days growing her own business, working closely with her customers, and going home satisfied that she is helping people enjoy…

The Wine Trail

Let me speak frankly. I don’t know wine. I can’t pick out the notes or tell the difference between vintages. That doesn’t mean I don’t like wine. Even if I can’t stand the dry ones, I do enjoy an occasional glass every now and then. The Texas Wine Trail has many vineyards to choose from,…

High and Dry

Back in high school I admit I wasn’t real ripped on history, to me it was just a required course I took after lunch when I was already nodding off and my teacher was a coach who told us to read a certain chapter & answer the questions at the end while he read the…

From The Publisher – September 2019

Dearest EXPLORE Reader, You’ve all seen the movie: JAWS. And you all know the character: QUINT. You might know the character, but the name might not register with you. QUINT was the crusty fishermen that took the guys out to catch the shark on the ORCA. All of you just threw your head back and…

Artist of the Month – September 2019

It’s always enjoyable to be surprised. Aaron Patterson is one of the nicest guys you could ever meet. Sincere, kind-hearted, and someone with whom it’s incredibly easy to converse. Maybe it’s my weird mind, but I guess I subconsciously pigeon-holed him that he only plays a “real nice” brand of music. I was incorrect. Aaron’s…

Gary Loper Music – August 2019

There are a lot of people that “play music,” but only a small percentage of them that a learned-ear would define as seasoned. Perhaps they’re just beginning their own musical journey, or they become one of the many that give it up before their ability has the chance to grow and mature. For many, they…

From The Publisher – July 2019

Dearest EXPLORE Reader, Sometimes I think that I’m going to sell all my stuff and move to Puerto Vallarta. Yes, I’m kidding…but no, I’m not. I have actually sat down and scouted out available beachfront condos, investigated employment opportunities for tall gringos that can’t speak Spanish, and tried to understand immigration issues. When I do…

The Impending Storm

Austin Siemering, founder of the San Antonio Express News, wrote of the years and months leading up to the US Civil War in the German-Texas hill country, that “an uncomfortable feeling of uncertainty started creeping on all who opposed slavery, like the feeling preceding a thunderstorm of the worst kind.” You know that part of…

I’ve Seen It All

Dear Sam, I freaking hate going to church because they’re all a bunch of hypocritical pricks. Talk to me. – Signed, almost everybody I meet who knows I went to seminary As they trained me to say when I started raising money for charities, “I agree, I understand.” You always start from a place of…

From The Publisher – June 2019

Dearest EXPLORE Reader, I’ve been fully self-employed now since 2003. No safety net. No side-hustle. No every-other-Friday paycheck. Just a laptop and some hard work that has managed to keep a roof over my head for a whopping 16 years now. I remember when I started that I wasn’t really too worried about things. I…

From The Publisher

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November 1, 2019

Dearest EXPLORE Reader,

I read a little parable a few months ago that has stuck with me. It’s called “The Elephant Rope”.

It reads that a gentleman was walking through an encampment in Africa, and he noticed that there were several elephants that weren’t being kept in cages, or held by chains or any other sort of security. They were simply standing around the camp with what appeared to be the only thing holding them from escape being a single piece of loose rope tied to one of their large feet.

The man gazed upon the elephants and he was completely confused as to why the elephants didn’t use their strength to break the rope and escape the camp. They could have clearly just walked out of the camp with no restraints to hold them back, but instead, they didn’t try at all.

Curious, the man wanted to understand why, so he asked one of the nearby trainers why the elephants just stood around and never tried to escape. The trainer replied, “When they are very young and much smaller we use the same size rope to tie them and, at that age, it was enough to hold them. As they have grown, they are conditioned to believe they cannot break away. They believe the rope can still hold them, so they never try to break free.”

Ah, the parallels in our own lives.

The things that we struggle against can feel so overwhelming. Real change in our lives is no small order most of the time, and much like the elephants, we can find the smallest excuse to hold us in our current patterns. We all do it. The problem as I see it is that, before you know it, life has a fast way of passing you by and you’ve now stayed in your sad situation for far, far too long.

I had lunch with a friend the other day that is stuck in what I’d call an abusive relationship. He is miserably unhappy with his girlfriend, and there seems to be a daily situation that he summarizes for me that has me just shaking my hand in compassion for him. They have no kids, they rent a small apartment, and their money isn’t really intertwined. He’s just with her, and is just battling through the daily body-blows of dysfunction and misery.

“So leave her,” I say.

“I can’t!” he exclaims.

“Why?”

“Where will I live?”

“With me until you get on your feet.”

“But what about all my stuff?”

“Who cares. We’ll get you some new stuff.”

“But we have a lease on the apartment.”
“Oh well. Your health and sanity matter more.”

“But she can’t afford it on her own.”
“Not your problem.”

“But I need some important things from the apartment.”
“Then get them while she’s at work. I’ll bring my truck and we’ll pack you up in one hour.”

…and on and on. An endless array of resistances against this imaginary yet impossible entanglement that he cannot escape. He’s blind to the fact that all he has to do is make his decision and instantly improve his life, but he keeps digging into excuses for why that’s just too damn hard to do. So he’s reading this article right now, sitting in that same little apartment, enjoying his dysfunctional and abusive relationship. And he’s oblivious to the fact that he has the keys to his freedom in his front left pocket as they also operate his car, and he could be free in 32 seconds. But the imaginary ropes around him are simply too strong.

I’m not innocent in this discussion. And neither are you. How many of us have said “Ya know, I’m going to start working out and getting healthier.”? We get our gym membership or we buy some contraption that we put in our bedroom and we work out. Three times. “Man, I don’t have time for this.” Yes you do – know why I know? Because you can spend 3 hours a day surfing stupid Facebook. “I’m too sore.” Boohoo – keep doing it, and the soreness will go away. “I get home from work too late.” Then go in the morning. “I like to sleep in.” Sensing a pattern here? We want the benefits of a healthier version of ourselves, yet can’t shake off those imaginary ropes that tie us to the ground. And so in the blink of an eye, a decade flies by and we’re sitting on the couch watching Jeopardy with a killer beer gut or sore knees because our thighs are ballooning.

I keep talking about how one day I want to sell everything I know and move to a coastal village in the Caribbean. I’ve written about it on here a few times. I’ve had the thought for several years and I lie awake at night thinking about all the details of how I might pull it off. I want the simplicity that the life would afford me, and as it’s my one and only life, I want to experience it.

However, yet again, I can find dozens of excuses for why I can’t do it. My parents would miss me. Would the kids come visit me enough? All the immigration stuff sounds complicated. Would the drug cartels get me? Sigh, I’d have to learn Spanish probably. What would I do for money?

And on and on.

The reality is that when my kids graduate in a few years, I could put a FOR SALE sign on my house, sell everything, take the equity and begin the adventure. That’s really it. The other details would just have to sort themselves out. Maybe the kids visit a bunch to their crazy Dad’s bohemian condo in Puerto Vallarta, or maybe their own lives busy them and they can’t visit much. So I’ll come see them perhaps. Same with my parents. Maybe I’ll work on a fishing charter boat and make enough to be comfy. Maybe I find an online job using my experience to spend a few hours a day at a computer, and the rest of the day beachcombing among the tourists. Who the hell knows is my point. But these ropes around me are of my own creation and I have nobody to blame but myself. Adventure awaits, and the decision is mine with what to do with it.

Sometimes life is as complicated as we make it. Just like the elephants in the parable, we can be constrained by our own minds, and not by any real shackles. Losing weight, travel, health, relationship, career…the areas for positive change are endless. It takes some real honesty to cease the excuses and instead embrace that you ARE free, and that you hold the keys to that freedom all the time.

Welcome to November. Ah, cooler temps. Take this opportunity to strike out, EXPLORE your dreams, and map out a plan. When you feel shackled by responsibility or excuses, reach in your pocket, let your keys jingle a bit, and smile knowing that you are 100% free at all times and that nothing can hold you back. Except yourself.

Smiling,

Art Of The Smoke

Artist Of The Month: Noelle Goforth

Survivor’s Story

Moore On Art: Stevie Ricks

Featured Articles

Art Of The Smoke

Artist Of The Month: Noelle Goforth

Survivor’s Story

From The Publisher

5 Score and a Few Months Ago

Think About Your Future

Old Timer

From The Publisher

Art Of The Alternative

The Wine Trail

High and Dry

From The Publisher – September 2019

Artist of the Month – September 2019

Gary Loper Music – August 2019

From The Publisher – July 2019

The Impending Storm

I’ve Seen It All

From The Publisher – June 2019

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