Like looking through a telescope into the Milky Way and wondering if we're alone in the universe, it made me realize with the glaring clarity of desert light how scarce and delicate life is, how insignificant we are compared with the forces of nature and the dimensions of space.

Aron Ralston

Categorized in : Light Space Delicate Life

Adversity is the source of our deepest growth and greatest blessings; embrace it, dare to seek it.

Aron Ralston

adversity greatness inspirational

Everything happens for a reason, and part of that beauty of life is that we're not allowed to know those reasons for certain.

Aron Ralston

beauty-of-life everything-happens-for-a-reason life-is

May your boulders be your blessings. May you be able to embrace them. And may you find what's extraordinary in yourself.

Aron Ralston

boulders blessing may

When we find inspiration, we need to take action for ourselves and for our communities. Even if it means making a hard choice, or cutting out something and leaving it in your past.

Aron Ralston

cutting inspiration mean

So many people live within unhappy circumstances and yet will not take the initiative to change their situation because they are conditioned to a life of security, conformity, and conservatism, all of which may appear to give one peace of mind, but in reality nothing is more damaging to the adventurous spirit within a man than a secure future. The very basic core of a man's living spirit is his passion for adventure. The joy of life comes from our new experiences, and hence there is no greater joy than to have an endlessly changing horizon,for each day to have a new and different sun.

Aron Ralston

passion adventure reality

It's me. I chose this. I chose all of this — this rock has been waiting for me my entire life. I’ve been moving towards it my whole life.

Aron Ralston

rocks letting-go moving

What you're looking at there is my arm, going into the rock... and there it is, stuck. It's been without circulation for twenty-four hours. It's pretty well gone.

Aron Ralston

rocks gone hands

I kind of entered a flow state. I've been there before while climbing. You are not thinking ahead. You are just thinking about what is in front of you each second.

Aron Ralston

climbing flow thinking

Indeed, it has affirmed my belief that our purpose as spiritual beings is to follow our bliss, seek our passions, and live our lives as inspirations to each other.

Aron Ralston

passion inspiration spiritual

I stepped out of my grave and into my life again.

Aron Ralston

graves

I was able to first snap the radius and then within another few minutes snap the ulna at the wrist and from there, I had the knife out and applied the tourniquet and went to task. It was a process that took about an hour.

Aron Ralston

knives able tasks

I was accustomed to being in far, far riskier environments. So I thought going into that canyon was a walk in the park - there were no avalanches, it was a beautiful day and I was essentially just walking.

Aron Ralston

avalanches parks beautiful

We are not grand because we are at the top of the food chain or because we can alter our environment - the environment will outlast us with its unfathomable forces and unyielding powers. But rather than be bound and defeated by our insignificance, we are bold because we exercise our will anyway, despite the ephemeral and delicate presence we have in this desert, on this planet, in this universe.

Aron Ralston

unyielding desert exercise

You'll never find your limits until you've gone too far.

Aron Ralston

limits gone

Saying farewell is also a bold and powerful beginning.

Aron Ralston

saying-farewell powerful farewell

I certainly made mistakes.

Aron Ralston

made-a-mistake made mistake

How would I behave in a situation that caused me to summon the essence of my character? The tragedy inspired me to test myself. I wanted to reveal to myself who I was: the kind of person who died, or the kind of person who overcame circumstances to help himself and others

Aron Ralston

tragedy essence character

Perhaps it’s time, I muse, to close those chapters and remember the enduring lesson of my entrapment: that relationships, not accomplishments, are what’s important in life.

Aron Ralston

accomplishment lessons important

It adds up, but I deem it all necessary, even the camera gear. I enjoy photographing the otherworldly colors and shapes presented in the convoluted depths of slot canyons and the prehistoric artwork preserved in their alcoves.

Aron Ralston

cameras color depth

A crystalline moment shatters, and the world is a different place. Where there was confinement, now there is release. Recoiling from my sudden liberation, my left arm flings downcanyon, opening my shoulders to the south, and I fall back against the northern wall of the canyon, my mind is surfing on euphoria. As I stare at the wall where not twelve hours ago I etched “RIP OCT 75 ARON APR 03,” a voice shouts in my head: I AM FREE!

Aron Ralston

rip wall fall