Completely not associated with the comic book or movie character - AT ALL.
I have normally stayed away from biographical books, but
this one was recommended by a friend.
Which is pretty much the only method that they will get my interest. He is a RUSH fan, and a rider – so I wasn’t
surprised it was in his collection. I
look at books from a different perspective, and this one got me more on the
book title. Ghost Rider: Travels on a
Healing Road.
Those that don’t know - Neil Peart was the drummer for the Canadian Rock band
RUSH. In the late 90s, his daughter was
killed in a car crash, and 10 months later his wife passed from Cancer. This launched him on a motorcycle journey of
epic proportions.
I won’t go into a breakdown of the book, but hit the highlights of what raised
my eyebrows. There were 2 main concepts
that I found memorable, as well as an enjoyable feature.
The first main concept that I found enlightening was how he discussed his
feelings and emotions as various personalities.
I feel that I do something similar, and it did resonate with me. I do
make references occasionally to my “alter egos” or other personalities. I didn’t realize how developed his were, and
they did make sense of what individual quirks made up each personality.
Now, as a fairly famous person – some of what he did was part of being
incognito as John Ellwood Taylor. This
mashup of his significant others maiden name, his middle name, etc. Now, some of the things he did – including
credit cards in that name likely won’t make it through the many fraud
prevention digital filters of today - helped him with his anonymity. It also allowed him to use that personality
to live a new life (in his mind) while Neil mourned.
The more entertaining personality was “The Ghost Rider”. Like my more charming self, Dead Nought, The
Ghost Rider was the wanderlust nomad that ensured a good time was had on two
wheels. Decisions that were made by the Ghost Rider, were usually in direct contravention of what John Ellwood Taylor (JET), or Neil would have approved
of, but hey – haven’t been down that road before.
As a foodie, Chef Ellwood was the gourmand who enjoyed good
food, nice whiskeys, and culinary experimentation. Chef Ellwood also had some interesting new
regulations when thrust back into bachelorhood – such as the evening dishes are
required to sit in the sink until the next morning – no exceptions. He had a few tales of guests being shocked at
such policies, which made me laugh as I know exactly what he meant as I can
imagine my wife’s own reactions would be amazingly similar if she discovered I operated that way if she is away for more than a couple days. I do have my own kitchen personality – but I
have never thought about giving him a name.
He does enjoy culinary experiments, and has yet to meet a scotch that he
truly dislikes.
The more interesting personalities that he made reference to was Giai, the inner
14 year old girl that was still shy and timid, likes pop music and probably encourages Ellwood's "Hollywood Party Boy" and "Romantic Superhero" into fangirl action.
The second concept was when he listed his 5 main philosophy points of
rebuilding yourself. If you read the
book, you connect with how much he felt like he was at his lowest point ever. What I do connect with is that I have
somewhat developed my own philosophy points while rebuilding myself as part of
my cancer journey. Of course – his
points are more articulate and thought provoking – mine are still a jumble of
doodles. His points:
1. Keep moving – means do shit, and keep doing it, even if it scares you a bit.
2. Kick your own ass gently - set goals, endeavor to achieve them.
3. Allow others the privilege of helping you – if it makes
you life easier, let them do their part.
4. Replay Syndrome - you will get into an endless loop of
negativity that will feed itself, tell yourself to fuckoff
5. Make peace with others where you can – people impacted by
the same situation, I am out of it and may have offended -sorry bout that.
Where these resonate is that I have other friends who have taken large healing
journeys and have developed some of their own – such as Mike Terry who
articulated some of his during a rebel rebel podcast last year (insert link). The first one Mike identified was about
enjoying the view, not trying to find the perfect photo etc. This pointed out that we have to remember how memories are made, based on the experiences we have.
I have made some of my own revelations, even going back to watching the movie
“One Week” - not recommended during the
convalescence immediately following the surgery from the second cancer recurrence
FYI – and how it adjusted my thinking.
It even led to tattoos.
The interesting feature that I found enjoyable was how he ended each chapter
with some philosophical quotes which were actually lyrics. That has given me a better appreciation for
the RUSH discography and I find myself doing better at using my premium Spotify
subscription for more music than podcasts.
In summary,
The book is good, and I found many facets that would help a mental health journey as it shows how he went through his "healing journey". The mentality that I took when reading this book and noticing how he did things, was to find parallels with my own.
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