Is Being Present Enough?

Simply yes, but it isn’t easy nowadays.

The Pyramid of Luxuries

The Bespoke - $1,000 Groceries Gift Card

The Ultra High End - $100 “To The Movies” Gift Card

The Superpremium - Elafonissi Beach

The Premium Core - Chicken N Pickle

The Accessible Core - Is Being Present Enough?

The Affordable Luxury - TRIVIA: Money Needed to Live Comfortably?

The Everyday Luxury - Thank you

The Bespoke

BESPOKE WINNER ANNOUNCEMENT

The winner of August 2024 Bespoke Contest is…

JEFFREY from SACHSE, TEXAS! Congratulations on winning the $1,000 Mobile Phone Shopping Spree! Here is his submission for “your favorite sport or exercise”:

Check out some of the other submissions for the month of August:

After 2 months with the mobile phone spree, you have voted for a grocery spree. Check out what I’m doing this month.

Click on the banner to enter The Bespoke Photo Contest. Click here for the Official Contest Rules.

• Prize: $1,000 Grocery Gift Card [ARV $1,000]

• Odds: For every 130 Ducky Tran premium member by the time of judging, I will give out one (1) Grocery gift card

• Contest Period: September 4, 2024 at 10 AM CST to October 1, 2024 at 10 PM CST

This time you have the opportunity to win a $1,000 gift card to your favorite grocer. As shown above, the 8 largest grocers in America; however, if you have one that isn’t on that list but they do offer groceries and a store gift card, then they will qualify.

Everyone has to eat and everyone can use an extra $1,000 for groceries so submit your photo and to have a chance to win the $1,000 Grocery Gift Card!

The Ultra High End

Previous Contest Winner

The winner of Issue 41 Ultra High End Contest is ALEX from ARLINGTON, TEXAS! Here’s his submission for “something that is scarier than it seems”:

Congratulations ALEX, you won $100 UberEats eGift Card! Go treat yourself to some good eats. Check out the other submissions of things that are scary:

It’s funny how as adults we see these dolls and puppets as cute, but our poor kids probably seem them as terrifying monsters or giants. Or how kids will just eat anything.

Kid’s POV: “How did the monkey get in our room? Why is that doll smiling even though his face is cut? Why is the mouse so big?”

Adult’s POV: “Don’t eat that gum!”

This Week’s Contest

Click on the banner to enter The Ultra High End Photo Contest. Click here for the Official Contest Rules.

• Prize: $100 “To The Movies” Gift Card [ARV $100]

• Odds: For every 70 Ducky Tran premium members by the time of judging, I will give out a movie gift card

• Contest Period: September 4, 2024 at 10 AM CST to September 10, 2024 at 10 PM CST

This week’s focus is social wealth, specifically on being present. Going to the movies has only started to make a swing back into weekly activities after the pandemic. It has always been a good way to enjoy your friend’s company without the need of directly interacting constantly. It’s similar to many sports or exercise, where verbal communication isn’t as necessary to build bonds between friends. Just being together or on the same team or watching a movie together gives a sense of connectedness. Plus, it provides something to talk about in the future.

Submit to have a chance to win $100 to your favorite theatre and take some friends to a movie.

The Superpremium

This week’s Superpremium topic is Elafonissi Beach. This is one of the most beautiful beaches I’ve ever been to and is located on the Greek island of Crete. It is known for its pink sand and crystal-clear beach. Because of the beautiful images and many raving reviews about the beach, many people have misconceptions about the beach so let me give a reality check in case you plan to visit and my experience at Elafonissi. First, the misconceptions:

1. You have to travel about 1.5 hours from the main city, Chania. If you take a bus which usually only leaves for Elafonissi ONCE and picks up ONCE. If you have a rental, the drive isn’t difficult, but the island of Crete is not like America roads and the drive is much more difficult and requires you to have undivided attention to the roads.

2. The pink sand isn’t actually sand. It’s pink and red shells that make the sand look pink. Maybe a small detail, but it’s important because it’s not like it’s pink everywhere, it’s only pink where the shell is washed up.

3. Even though it is a beach, it isn’t exactly a place many people swim in. It’s more a sightseeing location because the water isn’t deep and the sand is coarse, but also because of the distance it takes to get there.

4. There are changing areas near the beach but you’ll need change as it’s paid rooms only and bring water shoes because the walk out to the waters isn’t a pleasant one.

Despite all these warnings, Elafonissi Beach is still one of my favorite beaches. I visited it in the afternoon. There were only a few guests there and everyone was in water shoes hiking around the beach, or crossing the sand bridges, or walking the edge of the beach.

My friends and I spent an hour just following each other around the sand bridges and checking out the fish and clear water. The water seemed to extend to the sun and sky at the depth of your knees. It was a surreal feeling walking in the water that seem to be impossibly clear and never plateau. The pink sands are better viewed on the hills and around sunset. The sunset lighting intensifies the pink hue but only for about 10 minutes.

Unlike your normal trip to the beach, there wasn’t beach sports, sunbathing, or swimming, but we just followed each other through the sand saying little but just taking in the views and wonders of nature. It was more of a hike than a day at the beach, but that was also why it was enjoyable. It was the last activity we had in a week full of activities, and it really showed how close our relationship was that we can still enjoy such simple things why saying and doing so little while just being in the presence of each other.

The Premium Core

I made fun of this place when I first heard of it, the name that is, but little did I know it was exactly the type of place I wanted for so long. Chicken N Pickle, the name sounds like the ingredients for a sandwich craze that our Americans love. Turns out, it’s a restaurant that focuses on interactive outdoor games, like Pickleball. Food and social games all in one place, it’s a social paradise. It’s starting to expand in the Midwest and Texas, which is where 95% of Ducky Tran members are currently located. I want every member to be able to experience this social paradise and bring your friends along, so here’s the deal:

Deal #1: You can purchase a $25 Chicken N Pickle eGift Card for just $18 at shop.duckytran.com. There will be 15 available, if you order multiple in the same order, only a single eGift Card with the full amount will be sent.

The Accessible Core

Is Being Present Enough?

You may have heard of practicing to be and live in the present. Being present so that you live your life to the fullest; however, this week I want to focus on simply being present for our relationships. With the vast choices we have each day, we have to consciously make a choice to spend time with people in our lives. But even when we spend time with them, technology and social media stands in the way of the little time we spend with them already. To be able to do this we first need to find the reasons that are keeping us away from this.

1. Some of us may feel dull or empty when trying to live in the present. This feeling may make you feel like living in the present is boring or not worthwhile; however, it’s actually the opposite. We are so used to lively a life full of stimulation that we can no longer just sit still, relax, and be in the moment. We seek stimulation, not realizing that it does little for us in the long run, but the immediate satisfaction is too desirable to leave. If we just live the present and embrace the dull/empty feeling, over time we will see its true benefit. Small acts in our relationships will feel more impactful and our relationships will become more meaningful, not just transactional.

2. Putting the phone down. As you know from previous issues, smartphones have taken over our lives, so much that it is the second largest thing we do in a day other than sleeping. When spending time with people we value, we need to be willing to let the phone down to enjoy the moment. This is being present. Not letting social media, a text message, or random ads interrupt a simple conversation between friends. Over time, these conversations will be the connection between friends that can’t be broken just because of a Tweet, a text, or an ad.

3. We don’t know what to do, where to go, or what to eat. If we wanted to, we can always come up with a reason to not do something, but why do you need a reason, just go. Just be there, together. Meet at a park, at the movies, at a cafe, or anywhere you’ve been to before, and sit there. You don’t need to talk, play, or even interact with each other. After the event, you can discuss the event then, or over the phone.

Notice that all the reasons why we can’t build relationships is an individual issue. It is a choice we all have and we need to understand that we have the power to change it.

Call your friends to go for a walk in the park, for no reason other than to be there with them, and with enough repetition your relationship with your friends will improve. Soon you’ll miss the color of the leaves changing, miss the sound of the creek makes, miss the view of the sunrise, and miss the time you spent walking together taking in the views and sounds of nature. That’s all it takes to be present, and being present is all it takes.

The Affordable Luxury

Issue 41 Community Poll Results

Here’s the results from last week:

1. 50% says these quotes are true: “A picture is a worth 1000 words” and “Why say lot word when few word do”. I think this boils down to meaningful words versus context words. Even if a picture is worth 1000 words, it may just mean 1 word, or maybe be interpreted as 1000 different things. Like the picture, a sentence has a lot more meaning than the number of words it is comprised of.

2. 50% says the most crucial grade school subject is math. 40% picked English and 10% picked science. Science to understand the concepts of life, English for proper and better interactions with others, and Math to aid our journey in a capitalistic society. These may not be the reasons you selected the subject, but I can see everyone’s perspective.

3. The majority (50%) voted for a grocery-related Bespoke prize, hence this month’s Grand Prize.

This Week’s Community Poll

Here are this week’s poll questions:

The Everyday Luxury

Thank you to everyone that provided prompts and prize ideas for the Bespoke and Ultra High End Photo Contests. You should be seeing your prompts show up during the next 4 months.

(The referral program is only viewable on the email version of the newsletter.)

Visit shop.duckytran.com with the weekly password: movie