There was an evening in the autumn months which I remember specifically and for no other reason than the color of the sky, which was beautiful and I, well . . .
I was listening to a song called Us and Them by a band called The Pink Floyd.
I remember this more as a moment of reprieve. To be honest, this was a moment of truce or a temporary stay of execution.
There was nothing about being right or wrong. There was no thinking about the crowds or my status with anyone or anything.
What I am about to share with you comes from a personal perspective. And I agree; opinions are subjective. Perhaps life is subjective as well. However, our differences do not have to mean that we have to fight or argue.
Deep down, I do believe that we all want the good things. We all want success. We want ease. We want joy and, equally, we want to be valid and enjoyed. We want to be included and regarded.
In most cases, yes, there are exceptions to the norm; however, most people are good at heart. I would argue that there are times when goodness is hard to see. I will say there are times when peace seems more of an impossibility than just unlikely. Nevertheless, as good as people are; even good people are capable of bad things. We all make mistakes. We all say things that we wish we could take back. Ignorance is not prejudice – even if we are. Ignorance isn’t.
Again, I go back to the quote from Twain when he said, “Man is the only animal that blushes. Or needs to.”
There is something to this. Deep inside the shame-machine, I know there has to be a conscience. I know that there is training behind hatred yet we know the difference between right and wrong. Intellectually, we understand the difference between kind and hurtful.
I was never much for sports, which is not to say that I did not enjoy the idea of playing or have the urge to have fun. However, there is a saying that comes to mind. This saying was something that I heard at a young age and while I am no longer young, I still wonder why people say, “It doesn’t matter if you win or lose. It’s how you play the game.”
That’s what counts, right?
I think of this and say to myself, “Sure. Now, go tell this to someone who is always picked last.”
See how they feel about this.
Each day you are tasked with an option. To do or not, to be, or to stand or retreat; these are all options the same as it is an option to succeed or to fail. All of this is a position of the mind and a relation to our thinking. We are either the outcome of our assumptions or we can be the product of our efforts. This is something that has challenged me throughout my life. In conjunction with the stories I’ve learned from people who struggled to believe in themselves, I came to the conclusion that the biggest challenge is the direction of our thinking.
Continue readingIt’s amazing, the strength of the hand. It’s amazing what people can do. It’s amazing what people can build and equally, it’s amazing what stands or what falls or what we can create or destroy and lay to waste.
It is amazing how infinite we are and at the same time, we are our thoughts. Thus, it is amazing how unaware we are – about us, about the way we are, about our worth, our beauty, our abilities. Above all, it is amazing how unaware we are of our ability to rise above or endure.
I have lived different lives and like you, I have come to new understandings. I have grown. I have circled back. I have come to conclusions and reached new levels of awareness. I have come to the understanding that there are times when I had everything I needed, right there, in front of my face. Yet, I never knew it was me (or that it could be me) who could change or improve or be better than my expectations.
In some cases, we might call this maturity. In other cases, we might see this as lessons learned. Or, perhaps this is just life.
Maybe we think too deeply. We pick apart and overthink and no one wants the complications; yet, here we are on Project Earth. We complicate simple facts. We argue, we battle and we mix our opinions between facts and fiction.
Patience is a virtue, or so they say. The dictionary says patience is the ability or willingness to withstand or to endure discomfort, to stay even-tempered when faced with provocation and to remain without complaint. This means patience is the ability to coexist or show tolerance. So therefore, patience is a talent. Some have it. Others, not so much.
Our ability to interact is a talent as well. There are people who support change and promote growth. They do this lovingly and wholesomely. There are people in this world who celebrate the advancement of people around them. And of course, there are other people who don’t.
Continue readingI wonder . . .
When can we throw it all away, as if yesterday never mattered and now, here we are. Nothing else could be more important than this moment. Right here. Right now. And without judgment.
Just to be present.
I find myself in various stages of inspection. Some would say that hey, this is just me. I think too much or too often but then again, we all do.
We think too much and we pause too often. We miss the boat sometimes and then it hits. us. There we are thinking about a sunset that we will never see again. Or wondering what the temperature is like in places we’ve never seen but only dreamed about.
In the end, there is really only one question. There’s only one idea that comes with life. And this comes down to a decision. The question is what do you want? The idea is what do you have to do to make this so? The questions are actually simple. The answers are simple as well.
The truth is we all have a goal. We have dreams and ideas yet another truth is there are times when life doesn’t agree. There are times when life does not support our dreams. There are times when we find ourselves, running through the mazes on a daily basis. We get lost or misdirected. We find ourselves turned around and we lose our sense of direction. We lose our way. Life can be like this.
And we wonder, “Is this a test?” Am I suppose to be learning from this?
There are times when our faith is questioned. Our resolve is pushed to the limit. People test us. Life tests us and we find ourselves lost in a pit of frustrations.
The purpose of this message is to connect a thought to an idea. This is to link a picture to a time in which, I swear, I have never seen a moon quite like this one. We were out in the ocean, approximately 110 nautical miles south of the Jones Beach inlet.
We tied up at a place called The Dip for an overnight tuna trip. The water was deep. There was a little action before we hit the spot and one yellowfin was brought on board. The fish was a decent size, but of course, we were looking for bigger fish.
This is not a fishing story per se but more, this is about a dream. This is about an idea and a picture that I keep close to my heart. This is about a connection, a bond and a promise.
Continue reading
The Written Addiction 