How to Keep the Fire Burning
Ever since I was a kid, I was always interested in outdoor activities, one of them being firemaking. In recent years, I've learned many different ways to start and maintain a fire outdoors. Recently, I've discovered how building a fire truly applies to who we are and how we about different aspects of our lives.
About a year ago, I went to a camp for Atienza Kali known as Camp 505. One of the activities was building a fire in unideal conditions. While the drill taught me how to persevere and overcome the odds, it also showed me the power firemaking can have in all aspects of one's life.
In my experience, to build a fire, you need a few things. You'll need a firestarter, which is something that can create a spark or flame (matches, lighters, flint and magnesium, etc). However, this is not enough. You need more than just that. You will need tinder, which is material you need to catch flame and keep it going. Tinder could be anything that can catch fire or maintain a flame such as dry branches, cotton, leaves, etc. You need to make sure that you use this tinder to create the base of the fire, which is the platform in which you are building your fire on. Without this base, the fire will die out. Once your base is solid, you will need to constantly feed the flame with good tinder and good materials. The moment you stop feeding the flame with the right materials, the quicker the fire dies out.
As simple as this process seems, people who build fires realize how difficult it is to keep a fire going. I've seen many people try to build a fire by just depending on the firestarter. They have a lighter or match and think just because they can get a spark or light a flame, then the fire will take care of itself. What they soon realize is that without the proper base of tinder and good materials, the fire quickly dies. I have seen people who have both the firestarter AND the right tinder, which in theory, should be enough to keep a fire going. However, they light a piece of tinder and make it catch fire, and try desperately to keep feeding tinder to the lit piece of tinder to keep it going. However, this doesn't work well, either, as they are frantically trying to feed the fire over and over as it dies.
The most important thing to building a fire is to have the right BASE. If you have a solid base of the right materials, then the spark can ignite a flame, and that flame can keep going. The more you feed the base with the right material, the fire continues to grow and grow. Eventually, you have a fire that only needs to be maintained every few minutes as opposed to every second.
In the various parts of our lives, we need a solid base to keep the fire going in whatever we do.
In our relationships, you need a solid base to keep that relationship going. That base needs to consist of solid beliefs, experiences, and events that you and the other person (significant other, friend, relative, etc.) have built the foundation of the relationship on. It's easy to start a "spark" or "flame" in any relationship. That spark or flame can be physical attraction or emotional attraction. It's easy to even feed that flame to some degree with different emotions. But without a base, the fire in the relationship quickly dies. A base in any relationship is built with time, patience, and work, and this serves as the foundation of any strong relationship. With a good solid base of experiences shared between you and the other person, the flame can continue to flourish because your belief in the relationship is built upon on the experiences you and the other person have shared together. In times of struggle, you can call upon that base of experiences to reinforce your belief in that relationship.
In our professional lives, you need a solid base to keep your hunger to improve and suceed. It's not enough to just go through the motions and hope to succeed. If you want to improve yourself financially, then you need to improve yourself mentally and spiritually. You need to feed the base of your desire with the right materials: a good support system, a strong sense of will, and the right resources.
It always amazes me how something as primitive as building a fire can really help you see things in life in a different light.
About a year ago, I went to a camp for Atienza Kali known as Camp 505. One of the activities was building a fire in unideal conditions. While the drill taught me how to persevere and overcome the odds, it also showed me the power firemaking can have in all aspects of one's life.
In my experience, to build a fire, you need a few things. You'll need a firestarter, which is something that can create a spark or flame (matches, lighters, flint and magnesium, etc). However, this is not enough. You need more than just that. You will need tinder, which is material you need to catch flame and keep it going. Tinder could be anything that can catch fire or maintain a flame such as dry branches, cotton, leaves, etc. You need to make sure that you use this tinder to create the base of the fire, which is the platform in which you are building your fire on. Without this base, the fire will die out. Once your base is solid, you will need to constantly feed the flame with good tinder and good materials. The moment you stop feeding the flame with the right materials, the quicker the fire dies out.
As simple as this process seems, people who build fires realize how difficult it is to keep a fire going. I've seen many people try to build a fire by just depending on the firestarter. They have a lighter or match and think just because they can get a spark or light a flame, then the fire will take care of itself. What they soon realize is that without the proper base of tinder and good materials, the fire quickly dies. I have seen people who have both the firestarter AND the right tinder, which in theory, should be enough to keep a fire going. However, they light a piece of tinder and make it catch fire, and try desperately to keep feeding tinder to the lit piece of tinder to keep it going. However, this doesn't work well, either, as they are frantically trying to feed the fire over and over as it dies.
The most important thing to building a fire is to have the right BASE. If you have a solid base of the right materials, then the spark can ignite a flame, and that flame can keep going. The more you feed the base with the right material, the fire continues to grow and grow. Eventually, you have a fire that only needs to be maintained every few minutes as opposed to every second.
In the various parts of our lives, we need a solid base to keep the fire going in whatever we do.
In our relationships, you need a solid base to keep that relationship going. That base needs to consist of solid beliefs, experiences, and events that you and the other person (significant other, friend, relative, etc.) have built the foundation of the relationship on. It's easy to start a "spark" or "flame" in any relationship. That spark or flame can be physical attraction or emotional attraction. It's easy to even feed that flame to some degree with different emotions. But without a base, the fire in the relationship quickly dies. A base in any relationship is built with time, patience, and work, and this serves as the foundation of any strong relationship. With a good solid base of experiences shared between you and the other person, the flame can continue to flourish because your belief in the relationship is built upon on the experiences you and the other person have shared together. In times of struggle, you can call upon that base of experiences to reinforce your belief in that relationship.
In our professional lives, you need a solid base to keep your hunger to improve and suceed. It's not enough to just go through the motions and hope to succeed. If you want to improve yourself financially, then you need to improve yourself mentally and spiritually. You need to feed the base of your desire with the right materials: a good support system, a strong sense of will, and the right resources.
It always amazes me how something as primitive as building a fire can really help you see things in life in a different light.
posted by Mike Pana at
9:47 AM
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