Why is it that human relationships are such a jumble? Is it that there's just some humongous obstacle between each of us? I have to say, my set of relationships haven't been that bad, at least when I've been lucky enough to find rational people to have relationships/friendships with. Why can't people just follow that golden rule?
Do unto others, as you'd have them do unto you.
That pretty well sums up the entire scope of a perfect utopian existence. Why's it so hard to follow that simple rule? Why can't everyone simply just stop and say, 'Wait a minute, if I act this way then I'm giving this person to act that way towards me.' It seems like such a simple act, like a logical progression to relating to anyone else on this planet. Yet, every day we are faced with the same set of bullshit from the other people in our lives where this simple axiom isn't follwed.
Sure, each of us, likely don't follow the rule to the letter either. But, we know we should. Or do we?
Would it be such a trial to live our daily lives in reciprocation for the kindnesses which were enacted upon us, as well as the evils? After all, the inverse of the axiom is true.
You are free to do unto others, as they have done unto you.
It has to be, the original rule, while the spirit of it likely communicates to us that we should be just and kind to others still grants the opposite within it.
I guess, if you take the golden rule and the laws of karmic retribution together as a belief system, then you're likely to do okay in this world.
Do unto others, as they do unto you, but beware. Your actions will come back to you tenfold.
Said another way, If you make an ass out of your neighbor, it's likely you'll be the one eating hay for the rest of your life.
Sunday, December 11, 2005
Wednesday, November 30, 2005
Time, Time, Time
Why am I not sleeping?
Lately, the days haven't been composed of enough time. 2005 has been like a vapor. It hardly seems to have begun and now we are at the end of it. Perhaps time is accelerating, or my perception of it is growing, or maybe it's decreasing.
Is it that as we age our ability to sense time changes?
Rusted brandy in a diamond glass
everything is made from dreams
time is made from honey slow and sweet
only the fools know what it means
temptation, temptation, temptation
Lately, the days haven't been composed of enough time. 2005 has been like a vapor. It hardly seems to have begun and now we are at the end of it. Perhaps time is accelerating, or my perception of it is growing, or maybe it's decreasing.
Is it that as we age our ability to sense time changes?
Rusted brandy in a diamond glass
everything is made from dreams
time is made from honey slow and sweet
only the fools know what it means
temptation, temptation, temptation
Tuesday, November 29, 2005
Jokes stored in jars
The funny things in life are best hinted at. At times, they are painfully obvious and it takes a great strength of will to avoid pointing them out to a potential victim. At others, depending on the situation it's perfectly fine to plunge that razor witticism directly into an unsuspecting neck. Those situations are myriad and they depend upon the involved parties. You have to admit though, it does take a strength of will to pass on one of those instances and put it away for the future. To simply bide your time until the proper moment comes along to spring it once more. By then, you've evolved the perfect delivery and point of entry to deliver it in the harshest way. Or, you'll choose to laugh about it to yourself for a while and treasure that little snippet for yourself. You sort of just put it up on a shelf, in a little jar in your mind. Sometimes taking it down and opening up the jar, smelling it to see if it's still fresh, then recapping it, and placing it back on the shelf.
A few cryptic words of advice for anyone thinking about it, acting acting like it, considering it, desiring it, planning it, scheming on it, or plotting to get married.
First, what's the big hurry?
Second, if you're going to do it don't go about telling your former spouses. Just do it, why do they really need to know, or why do they even care?
Third, don't go about telling your former spouses after you've told them once before and it didn't happen.
So, let's recap.
If you have the opportunity to say something hurtful to someone, sometimes you should do it, other times you shouldn't.
After someone divorces you, they probably did it for a good reason and don't really care if you are getting married again. The fact is, they are probably hoping you will so that you'll have better things to do than take all your angst out on them. Further, you should learn your lesson after the first time you tell them that you are about to marry someone and it doesn't happen. If you don't learn that lesson, you're bound to be the butt of countless jokes stored in jars on shelves for many years.
You might not get laughed at to your face, but there will likely be a lot of laughter and pity behind your back.
A few cryptic words of advice for anyone thinking about it, acting acting like it, considering it, desiring it, planning it, scheming on it, or plotting to get married.
First, what's the big hurry?
Second, if you're going to do it don't go about telling your former spouses. Just do it, why do they really need to know, or why do they even care?
Third, don't go about telling your former spouses after you've told them once before and it didn't happen.
So, let's recap.
If you have the opportunity to say something hurtful to someone, sometimes you should do it, other times you shouldn't.
After someone divorces you, they probably did it for a good reason and don't really care if you are getting married again. The fact is, they are probably hoping you will so that you'll have better things to do than take all your angst out on them. Further, you should learn your lesson after the first time you tell them that you are about to marry someone and it doesn't happen. If you don't learn that lesson, you're bound to be the butt of countless jokes stored in jars on shelves for many years.
You might not get laughed at to your face, but there will likely be a lot of laughter and pity behind your back.
Monday, November 28, 2005
Nation of Idiots
We are a nation of slathering masses salivating at the moment when the delicacies of capitalism are revealed to us. We lose simple coordination if we don't get the products we need, soiling our clothing and our floors.
Advertisers paint the people in commercials to be stumbling and bumbling dolts. Consider the current commercial for the return of the McRib sandwich. The commercial is centered in a dry cleaner where a long line of customers are continuing to arrive with shirts and blouses stained with McRib sauce. The commercial cautions us to leave our good shirts at home. Are we really this moronic and incapable of having a meal without spilling or dripping foodstuffs upon our clothing? McDonald's marketing would like us to think that we are. I wonder, of you out there, how many fit into this psychographic niche. These fast food diners who can't seem to avoid staining their clothing.
Another good example is the campaign from Hardee's(Carl's Famous Star in the west.
Their campaign claims, 'Without us, some guys would starve.' Now, I've eaten at Hardee's on several occasions, but I don't feel like I would starve without them. I'm a guy and I'm perfectly capable of seeing to my needs for sustenance without the need of driving to their restaurant. A prime example of their target audience is depicted in the commercial that features an early morning thirtysomething who has foolishly allowed his coffeemaker to run over into the floor. The voiceover is painting a picture of his ability(and other of these guys who would perish) get a promotion, juggle three girlfriends, etc, but this 'breakfast' it's mystical and there's no way that one of these guys can actually manage to feed himself in the morning.
Are we really this nation of idiots?
And where is our portion control gene?
Advertisers paint the people in commercials to be stumbling and bumbling dolts. Consider the current commercial for the return of the McRib sandwich. The commercial is centered in a dry cleaner where a long line of customers are continuing to arrive with shirts and blouses stained with McRib sauce. The commercial cautions us to leave our good shirts at home. Are we really this moronic and incapable of having a meal without spilling or dripping foodstuffs upon our clothing? McDonald's marketing would like us to think that we are. I wonder, of you out there, how many fit into this psychographic niche. These fast food diners who can't seem to avoid staining their clothing.
Another good example is the campaign from Hardee's(Carl's Famous Star in the west.
Their campaign claims, 'Without us, some guys would starve.' Now, I've eaten at Hardee's on several occasions, but I don't feel like I would starve without them. I'm a guy and I'm perfectly capable of seeing to my needs for sustenance without the need of driving to their restaurant. A prime example of their target audience is depicted in the commercial that features an early morning thirtysomething who has foolishly allowed his coffeemaker to run over into the floor. The voiceover is painting a picture of his ability(and other of these guys who would perish) get a promotion, juggle three girlfriends, etc, but this 'breakfast' it's mystical and there's no way that one of these guys can actually manage to feed himself in the morning.
Are we really this nation of idiots?
And where is our portion control gene?
Sunday, October 30, 2005
Perception
When we peel back the thin gossamer of our perceptions, what is it that we see there staring back at us? What is truth? Is the truth what we can see? Is it what we can touch, smell, or hear? Is it just that the truth, the reality is what is happening between our ears, inside the synaptic junctions flashing at light speed in our brains as we struggle to understand.
I think that I've hit bottom sometimes, and I feel that I can't string a few words together to describe a feeling or a thought. I write something most every day, whether it's a scribble in a notebook, a post in a blog, or something for my courses. But the words which I can attach to things, they seem to be coming slower lately, more labored, and perhaps with more difficulty. Perhaps it's the onset of old age at 33, or maybe it's an excessive imbibe of alcohol from time to time, who knows...it could be some bad hamburger, the ozone, the cleaners, or any environmental, physical, psychosomatic factor. All I know is that there are spaces, where the efforts to describe a thought, or a feeling, are growing more difficult. My perceptions of life, perhaps, are changing.
I think that at times, I try to stop thinking, to dwell in an empty-ignorant haze, just so I don't have to deal with some events which surround me. Maybe it's time to come back and pour all of that crap out. Maybe I should pull back the thick layer of gauze that I've covered over my perceptions of late, step back out of the shadows, and let the sun warm my face again.
I think that I've hit bottom sometimes, and I feel that I can't string a few words together to describe a feeling or a thought. I write something most every day, whether it's a scribble in a notebook, a post in a blog, or something for my courses. But the words which I can attach to things, they seem to be coming slower lately, more labored, and perhaps with more difficulty. Perhaps it's the onset of old age at 33, or maybe it's an excessive imbibe of alcohol from time to time, who knows...it could be some bad hamburger, the ozone, the cleaners, or any environmental, physical, psychosomatic factor. All I know is that there are spaces, where the efforts to describe a thought, or a feeling, are growing more difficult. My perceptions of life, perhaps, are changing.
I think that at times, I try to stop thinking, to dwell in an empty-ignorant haze, just so I don't have to deal with some events which surround me. Maybe it's time to come back and pour all of that crap out. Maybe I should pull back the thick layer of gauze that I've covered over my perceptions of late, step back out of the shadows, and let the sun warm my face again.
Tuesday, October 25, 2005
Right Brain
Happiness is the qualification of your efforts by the right side of your brain.
Maybe I've been thinking about the dual nature of humanity lately. There's a creative side and an analytical side, so why wouldn't our greatest moments of happiness come from those moments when both sides of our brain are in complete agreement?
Maybe I've been thinking about the dual nature of humanity lately. There's a creative side and an analytical side, so why wouldn't our greatest moments of happiness come from those moments when both sides of our brain are in complete agreement?
Left Brain
Where the heck does the day go? There you are working away on something, totally absorbed in it, and then suddenly it's 10 pm. Isn't the conscious mind a remarkable thing? How our perceptions fool us with linear time; making one moment of dread last forever as bliss passes in a wink.
I guess that's what is meant by, ignorance is bliss. Whether it's the ignorance that comes from being absorbed in the moment, or the ignorance born from unknowing. When the trappings of our analytical mind are prevented from intrusion upon coloring our realities we are left to our creative interpretations of what we see before us. How the sun sets in the evening, how the daisies grow in summer, and how the birds fly south in the winter. The mundane becomes remarkable without the harshness of reason.
The absence of creative spark, of inspiration, and joy leaves us longing. Inside of everyone there is a piece of the universe that is connected on some level to a world which is much larger than we can ever know. Those gossamer threads that run between hearts, connecting the far away together, and the close even closer; find purchase in words. Those threads are woven into tapestries, invisible, only to the unseeking. Those who never seek, shall never find, their anylitical minds forever dominating their view with shades of black and white.
I guess that's what is meant by, ignorance is bliss. Whether it's the ignorance that comes from being absorbed in the moment, or the ignorance born from unknowing. When the trappings of our analytical mind are prevented from intrusion upon coloring our realities we are left to our creative interpretations of what we see before us. How the sun sets in the evening, how the daisies grow in summer, and how the birds fly south in the winter. The mundane becomes remarkable without the harshness of reason.
The absence of creative spark, of inspiration, and joy leaves us longing. Inside of everyone there is a piece of the universe that is connected on some level to a world which is much larger than we can ever know. Those gossamer threads that run between hearts, connecting the far away together, and the close even closer; find purchase in words. Those threads are woven into tapestries, invisible, only to the unseeking. Those who never seek, shall never find, their anylitical minds forever dominating their view with shades of black and white.
Sunday, October 23, 2005
Spiders on a Screen
I wonder what it's like sometimes to be a spider perched on the screen of a porch and suddenly you're brutally flipped away from an unknown force into a somewhat familiar environment of grass. It must be a sudden shock for that moment of time, though to the spider who likely doesn't have the same concept of time it must be an eternity to be falling toward the ground and to suddely be buffeted by blades of grass. I suppose that those same things happen to us in our own lives. We fall into our own complacency with how our lives are, the routines of our daily lives and then from nowhere a force comes into our perceptions and hurls us headlong into a new perception. At that moment we're given the choice to seek out new paths, new routes to success, new modes of being, and new horizons...or we can simply die there in the grass.
Yes, I've changed the perceptions of a few spiders in my time. It's a hobby of mine. When I see them on my screen porch, like a mischevious child I decide that I'm going to flip them off the screen. It's the closest that I come to affecting the lives of any other beings on this planet in the short term at least. I suppose you can make a correlation between the parent/child role also. Will you be a parent who supports the child like the blades of grass, or that which flips your child maliciously from the screen which they've climbed for so long to reach a perch upon? But, deeper still...there are other correlations which can be made. God, The Universe, The Prime Mover, Shiva, Allah, Buddah, or whatever you call the Supreme Being is essentially that same sort of mindset which I've expressed here.
We climb all our lives to reach a zenith, a precipice where we can look over into the abyss and see what we've been striving for our entire lives. When, at the moment of our greatest revery, after we've stalked our prey for so long, in a moment...everything changes and we're forced to start anew. It could be a death, the destruction of our homes, a divorce, a marriage, or some other major change in our own specific paradigms. Regardless, it happens to everyone, shall we just give up and die there in the grass...or seek out other screens, other points of superiority, and other vistas for our dreaming?
Yes, I've changed the perceptions of a few spiders in my time. It's a hobby of mine. When I see them on my screen porch, like a mischevious child I decide that I'm going to flip them off the screen. It's the closest that I come to affecting the lives of any other beings on this planet in the short term at least. I suppose you can make a correlation between the parent/child role also. Will you be a parent who supports the child like the blades of grass, or that which flips your child maliciously from the screen which they've climbed for so long to reach a perch upon? But, deeper still...there are other correlations which can be made. God, The Universe, The Prime Mover, Shiva, Allah, Buddah, or whatever you call the Supreme Being is essentially that same sort of mindset which I've expressed here.
We climb all our lives to reach a zenith, a precipice where we can look over into the abyss and see what we've been striving for our entire lives. When, at the moment of our greatest revery, after we've stalked our prey for so long, in a moment...everything changes and we're forced to start anew. It could be a death, the destruction of our homes, a divorce, a marriage, or some other major change in our own specific paradigms. Regardless, it happens to everyone, shall we just give up and die there in the grass...or seek out other screens, other points of superiority, and other vistas for our dreaming?
Tuesday, October 18, 2005
One more thing
We the people, in order to form a more perfect union have deemed it necessary to place unexperienced people in the highest positions of government. Sure, it's old news, but it's still irritating. Why is it that there seems to be a scourge loose where you don't need to know anything, but you do need to know someone?
Harriet Miers and Mike Brown spring to mind, they seem to embody that old phrase. Whatever happened to having hard work recognized and earning a position? Isn't that what it's about?
There are scary things happening in the world, but they're going to happen and we're powerless to stop them. Powerless that is, unless we choose to take steps to stop them.
I could go on about this, but I've got a country to run, I just got promoted.
Harriet Miers and Mike Brown spring to mind, they seem to embody that old phrase. Whatever happened to having hard work recognized and earning a position? Isn't that what it's about?
There are scary things happening in the world, but they're going to happen and we're powerless to stop them. Powerless that is, unless we choose to take steps to stop them.
I could go on about this, but I've got a country to run, I just got promoted.
My next _______ will be a _________
This whole game of life, sometimes it really kicks you square in the teeth. Somedays your up on the top of the game, and then next there you are stuck in the proverbial Monopoly jail with the bloody thimble. I guess that everything has it's purpose in our lives. Each of these silly incidents that happen to us are supposed to teach us a lesson, give some guidance, direct our path a bit through the maelstrom that our lives gradually degrade into, but c'mon. After you've already learned the lesson, when is the teacher going to step outside for a smoke break?
I'm not going to get into the particulars of what the lesson that I've learned is, or which one I'm studying another chapter of, but needless to say it's not a pretty lesson to learn. I shut down sometimes, I guess everyone does. You just get to a point where you've got all these things plugged into the wall, you're running full power, the blender is slinging crap all over the place, the television is blaring, the radio is playing some terrible ballad from the 80's, and in the middle of it all the washing machine is bouncing all over the living room.
What I'm getting at is, marriages sometimes end, and the obviously end for a myriad of reasons. But you would think that two people could find some way of getting along afterward, some uneasy silences that reach a peaceful settling of the dust. Although, there are instances, perhaps many of them where it's an impossibility for the people to get along. Such is life, such is the game, stalemate.
It's difficult to vent and not just spell out the reasons for why or what is at the root of the problem, but it's cathartic to approach it from another vantage point. One where you're describing it to yourself, but where anyone else looking into your life would be puzzled and wonder, what the heck?
Anyway, it's been a while since I've posted anything here. Hell, it's been a while since I've written much of anything that wasn't related to schoolwork. I started all of this blithering so I'd sit down and write in a forum that was new, something to jog the writing juices, give myself a forum for free-writing, but lately..I feel those introspective tugs. I think I've really been avoiding confronting some things, just because they irritate me so much. But, things aren't going away are they? They'll remain there, festering until you grab them out and shake them up in the light of day.
Again, I'm wishing that I was somewhere else. Far away from this point in life, in another part of the globe, in another time all together. Eventually, it's going to happen where I'm happy in the moment again. It only takes a moment for our rhythms to be upset and we're plunged headlong into madness, off kilter, spinning out of control, but it takes time for us to find that comforting pattern of routine to embrace us and silence the living that swirls around us all.
I'm not going to get into the particulars of what the lesson that I've learned is, or which one I'm studying another chapter of, but needless to say it's not a pretty lesson to learn. I shut down sometimes, I guess everyone does. You just get to a point where you've got all these things plugged into the wall, you're running full power, the blender is slinging crap all over the place, the television is blaring, the radio is playing some terrible ballad from the 80's, and in the middle of it all the washing machine is bouncing all over the living room.
What I'm getting at is, marriages sometimes end, and the obviously end for a myriad of reasons. But you would think that two people could find some way of getting along afterward, some uneasy silences that reach a peaceful settling of the dust. Although, there are instances, perhaps many of them where it's an impossibility for the people to get along. Such is life, such is the game, stalemate.
It's difficult to vent and not just spell out the reasons for why or what is at the root of the problem, but it's cathartic to approach it from another vantage point. One where you're describing it to yourself, but where anyone else looking into your life would be puzzled and wonder, what the heck?
Anyway, it's been a while since I've posted anything here. Hell, it's been a while since I've written much of anything that wasn't related to schoolwork. I started all of this blithering so I'd sit down and write in a forum that was new, something to jog the writing juices, give myself a forum for free-writing, but lately..I feel those introspective tugs. I think I've really been avoiding confronting some things, just because they irritate me so much. But, things aren't going away are they? They'll remain there, festering until you grab them out and shake them up in the light of day.
Again, I'm wishing that I was somewhere else. Far away from this point in life, in another part of the globe, in another time all together. Eventually, it's going to happen where I'm happy in the moment again. It only takes a moment for our rhythms to be upset and we're plunged headlong into madness, off kilter, spinning out of control, but it takes time for us to find that comforting pattern of routine to embrace us and silence the living that swirls around us all.
Wednesday, September 07, 2005
Wake Up From This
How do we know which are the right answers to our questions? What are the crossroads when each of our descisions are myriad? I've had so many things swirlling around me for so long, I just don't know what the right answer is for me anymore. Life, in all it's splendor is pretty damned confusing at times. I guess it's really up to each of us to determine which is our best path. That's the only answer that I've really been able to come up with for myself. I've picked and chosen which are my best paths, what course of action is the best for me to pursure, and which choice will lead to better choices. I've shirked the dead ends which are presented, worried incessantly about the possibilities, and become overly concerned about the future of current descisions. But, it's really all good. I mean, I'm still alive, I still have the memories I've managed to salvage from the last large life change which I endured, and I'm not neck deep in toxic sludge like a million of our neighbors.
Again, let me take a few minutes to contemplate the scope of what's happened in New Orleans. I went to New Orleans once. I went there alone and had an unfavorable experience. It's a tough city, the people are rude as hell. It's not a family environment, at least for outsiders or tourists. But, the people there have a reputation for warmth and joy. Who knows, perhaps it was me. But, there is a smell when you went to the city. It's a smell of piss. A smell of desperation.
Aside from any personal feelings that any of us have about the city and it's aura. It's horrific that the people of New Orleans would be cast into the mold which they've been given. Uprooted from their homes and cast out into America. The open arms of their fellow citizens waiting for them with offers of comfort and future. Yet, there's a great sadness which follows them, which will follow them always. They've lost their homes, their belongings, every last scrap of what they've experienced. Every Tangible Scrap.
The people of New Orleans, no longer have the first movie stub they collected when they had their first kiss at the movie theatre. They don't have the photos of their children when they lost their first tooth. They don't have anything which we take for granted every day when we wake up in our comfortable dry beds each morning.
Just take a moment to consider, losing everything. Everything which you own personally, everything that you have in your bedroom or your house, all of the useless bits of flotsam and jetsam which you've held onto for all your years. All of it suddenly and permanently GONE.
Perhaps all of us should take away a lesson here. It's not a new lesson, it's something which has been said time and time again. Live simply, so that others may simply live. We've all got a wealth of junk in our lives which we don't need. Some homes have 3 televisions, how many times a day do you watch each of those three televisions? A lot of us have clothes that we don't wear, are you ever going to wear them? Many of us receive gifts which we'll never use and we hold on to them, why?
I guess it's time that each of us should wake up and do something for our fellow man. Our government has left us to our own devices in this country. We're no longer a nation 'by the governed'. This nation is run as a business. We are the employees of USA, Inc. The board of directors meet in their boardroom and we hear the minutes of the meeting, but our input is relagated to a suggestion box which has little effect on the outcome. It's well past time that we take back this country and our rights as citizens.
No longer does the rest of the world look at us and see beauty, now the rest of the world looks at us and they see sadness they see an enslaved mass, servants to tyrants in red, white, and blue.
Again, let me take a few minutes to contemplate the scope of what's happened in New Orleans. I went to New Orleans once. I went there alone and had an unfavorable experience. It's a tough city, the people are rude as hell. It's not a family environment, at least for outsiders or tourists. But, the people there have a reputation for warmth and joy. Who knows, perhaps it was me. But, there is a smell when you went to the city. It's a smell of piss. A smell of desperation.
Aside from any personal feelings that any of us have about the city and it's aura. It's horrific that the people of New Orleans would be cast into the mold which they've been given. Uprooted from their homes and cast out into America. The open arms of their fellow citizens waiting for them with offers of comfort and future. Yet, there's a great sadness which follows them, which will follow them always. They've lost their homes, their belongings, every last scrap of what they've experienced. Every Tangible Scrap.
The people of New Orleans, no longer have the first movie stub they collected when they had their first kiss at the movie theatre. They don't have the photos of their children when they lost their first tooth. They don't have anything which we take for granted every day when we wake up in our comfortable dry beds each morning.
Just take a moment to consider, losing everything. Everything which you own personally, everything that you have in your bedroom or your house, all of the useless bits of flotsam and jetsam which you've held onto for all your years. All of it suddenly and permanently GONE.
Perhaps all of us should take away a lesson here. It's not a new lesson, it's something which has been said time and time again. Live simply, so that others may simply live. We've all got a wealth of junk in our lives which we don't need. Some homes have 3 televisions, how many times a day do you watch each of those three televisions? A lot of us have clothes that we don't wear, are you ever going to wear them? Many of us receive gifts which we'll never use and we hold on to them, why?
I guess it's time that each of us should wake up and do something for our fellow man. Our government has left us to our own devices in this country. We're no longer a nation 'by the governed'. This nation is run as a business. We are the employees of USA, Inc. The board of directors meet in their boardroom and we hear the minutes of the meeting, but our input is relagated to a suggestion box which has little effect on the outcome. It's well past time that we take back this country and our rights as citizens.
No longer does the rest of the world look at us and see beauty, now the rest of the world looks at us and they see sadness they see an enslaved mass, servants to tyrants in red, white, and blue.
Monday, August 29, 2005
Doesn't Remind Me
You could if you wanted to.
There's so much power in those words. They mean many things, depending on when and where they are said. We can do anything if we set our minds to it, though....the spirit is willing, the flesh may be weak. We can if we want to...make ourselves better people, be more tolerant to each other, love more, laugh more, look to the stars more, and dream more. We can do many things if we want to. When those 'wants' become perceived needs, that's when we'll act.
We want so many things that our wants have lead many of us to bankruptcy, debt management, and worse. Yet, where will it end? Where will we take responsibilty for our 'want's and rein them in?
Sure, there are things that I want...it's a normal response. When we see something shiny, no matter if it's inside of a gourd, we want to grab it and never let it go.
This post doesn't remind me of what I want.
There's so much power in those words. They mean many things, depending on when and where they are said. We can do anything if we set our minds to it, though....the spirit is willing, the flesh may be weak. We can if we want to...make ourselves better people, be more tolerant to each other, love more, laugh more, look to the stars more, and dream more. We can do many things if we want to. When those 'wants' become perceived needs, that's when we'll act.
We want so many things that our wants have lead many of us to bankruptcy, debt management, and worse. Yet, where will it end? Where will we take responsibilty for our 'want's and rein them in?
Sure, there are things that I want...it's a normal response. When we see something shiny, no matter if it's inside of a gourd, we want to grab it and never let it go.
This post doesn't remind me of what I want.
Tuesday, August 23, 2005
Sweeten this bitter taste
Sometimes, I wonder. What's all the good in this thing? Why bother with all of it, what's the use? You know the questions. We all ask them from time to time, mostly when we've been confronted with some aspect of consciousness which just throws our little world a bit off kilter. But, after a few moments of despair, most of the time we all come back to our reality in our cushy little dreamworlds and plop back down on our thrones of apathy. Maybe we should ask more often, why we're here. Maybe we need to be upset more. Maybe I'm just being negative.
Anyway, it's not a bad life. We cling to our visions of what we feel our life should be, no matter what anyone tells us. We make our own paths, brick by brick with every good or bad choice. Those bricks can carry us away, or wall us in.
It's in the magic of the moment where memories meld into history. We'll remember all those passages, where we knelt to pick ourselves up one day, each forlorn breath of despair when we felt lost.
Someday, as we close our histories, the memories will return to haunt us. Will they be pleasantly welcomed....or sadly reflected? Shall all our losses return, our winnings grow cynical, and our triumphs merely failings? Or, shall the smallest of our joys grow into our greatest happinesses, enduring through all our years, fulfilling our days and nights bringing peace from our miseries.
Each brick has a price, we buy them with our choices. They are cast in the kiln of our hearts set in place with the grit within us...
Anyway, it's not a bad life. We cling to our visions of what we feel our life should be, no matter what anyone tells us. We make our own paths, brick by brick with every good or bad choice. Those bricks can carry us away, or wall us in.
It's in the magic of the moment where memories meld into history. We'll remember all those passages, where we knelt to pick ourselves up one day, each forlorn breath of despair when we felt lost.
Someday, as we close our histories, the memories will return to haunt us. Will they be pleasantly welcomed....or sadly reflected? Shall all our losses return, our winnings grow cynical, and our triumphs merely failings? Or, shall the smallest of our joys grow into our greatest happinesses, enduring through all our years, fulfilling our days and nights bringing peace from our miseries.
Each brick has a price, we buy them with our choices. They are cast in the kiln of our hearts set in place with the grit within us...
Friday, August 19, 2005
Mysteries
They always say, 'When life hands you lemons, make lemonade." Well, really they say a lot of things, but for right now this particular axiom is in my mind. I'd just like to say that I've been given a lot of very sour lemons, but through time and perserverance I've been able to make some very sweet lemonade.
I think that it's one of the key things which we should be able to learn from our lives, no matter what life throws at us, there is a purpose behind all of it. Whether we can't, or won't, see it in the moment. Somewhere down the line, there is a rhyme, a reason, and definitely a rhythm which life bestows upon us through the sour times.
It's funny, since I started this blog, I've become a much more reserved writer. More intent on communicating a message than an emotion, and more cautious of my reader, that's you whomever you happen to be at this moment. But, all in all, I've not changed my mode of relating to the world. I've determined over many years of trial and error that it's best to go with the flow and take what life gives you. Staying with the current and remaining rooted in the rocky undertow, has resulted in the best of outcomes for me through these years.
Who knows where I'll go, what I'll see, who I'll meet, what I'll learn....right now it's a mystery. But, Thank God for that.
We all need mystery in our lives. It gives us a reason to go on, a purpose by which to measure our existence, and a cause to die for. Without our own little mysteries, we wouldn't be much more than snails occasionally exiting our shells to leave a slimy trace behind us of where we've been.
I think that it's one of the key things which we should be able to learn from our lives, no matter what life throws at us, there is a purpose behind all of it. Whether we can't, or won't, see it in the moment. Somewhere down the line, there is a rhyme, a reason, and definitely a rhythm which life bestows upon us through the sour times.
It's funny, since I started this blog, I've become a much more reserved writer. More intent on communicating a message than an emotion, and more cautious of my reader, that's you whomever you happen to be at this moment. But, all in all, I've not changed my mode of relating to the world. I've determined over many years of trial and error that it's best to go with the flow and take what life gives you. Staying with the current and remaining rooted in the rocky undertow, has resulted in the best of outcomes for me through these years.
Who knows where I'll go, what I'll see, who I'll meet, what I'll learn....right now it's a mystery. But, Thank God for that.
We all need mystery in our lives. It gives us a reason to go on, a purpose by which to measure our existence, and a cause to die for. Without our own little mysteries, we wouldn't be much more than snails occasionally exiting our shells to leave a slimy trace behind us of where we've been.
Thursday, August 18, 2005
Consumer Revoloution
Lately, I've been getting very fed up with the hit that my wallet is taking every time I decide to turn the ignition on my car.
No amount of trying to save gas by getting out of the car, or walking, or riding my bike is going ot change the fact that
we are living in a society where Big Business is lining it's pockets with the hungry stomachs of children, the tattered clothes of parents,
and the empty wallets of you and me. It's about time that we, as an oppressed population raise up and send a message to
the corporations, legislators, and tyrants which are in control of the prices of gasoline, milk, clothing, food etc. etc. etc.
Sure, people are pissed off about the prices of gas. I'd wager that everyone hears it at least once a day. A collegue or a friend mentions that they just filled up their car and it cost them so much money, they're mad about it, they feel cheated, and they feel like they're supporting someone else other than themselves. The truth of the matter is, we're captive as consumers, how can we get to our jobs, take our kids to school, or get to the grocery store to feed ourselves and our kids without purchasing gas to put in our cars? They've got us by the throat, but we just seem to be apathetic enough to just smile as they tighten the leash a bit more.
It's well past time that we do something as consumers. Over the last 10 years, we've taken massive hits to our wallets, to our jobs, and to our national image. Through wars, escalating trade deficits, and improprieties of corporations the cost of living in the US has increased dramatically. I know that the current administration in this country is responsible for a great deal of the situation which we are in, think about it, we've sat by and witnessed this administration, just recently, pass a huge energy bill that offers Big Business so many tax breaks, while they continue to reap huge profits from you and me.
Is this really a nation for the governed, or has it become a nation for the governing? We've allowed more and more taxes to be levied upon us, sat by and watched prices escalate, and escalate at a phenomenal rate, and as a populace, we've done nothing but sit idly by and allow it to happen.
How much longer is this to go on? Isn't it about time that we do something? Organize as consumers?
Where's our spirit as a nation of free men and women?
No amount of trying to save gas by getting out of the car, or walking, or riding my bike is going ot change the fact that
we are living in a society where Big Business is lining it's pockets with the hungry stomachs of children, the tattered clothes of parents,
and the empty wallets of you and me. It's about time that we, as an oppressed population raise up and send a message to
the corporations, legislators, and tyrants which are in control of the prices of gasoline, milk, clothing, food etc. etc. etc.
Sure, people are pissed off about the prices of gas. I'd wager that everyone hears it at least once a day. A collegue or a friend mentions that they just filled up their car and it cost them so much money, they're mad about it, they feel cheated, and they feel like they're supporting someone else other than themselves. The truth of the matter is, we're captive as consumers, how can we get to our jobs, take our kids to school, or get to the grocery store to feed ourselves and our kids without purchasing gas to put in our cars? They've got us by the throat, but we just seem to be apathetic enough to just smile as they tighten the leash a bit more.
It's well past time that we do something as consumers. Over the last 10 years, we've taken massive hits to our wallets, to our jobs, and to our national image. Through wars, escalating trade deficits, and improprieties of corporations the cost of living in the US has increased dramatically. I know that the current administration in this country is responsible for a great deal of the situation which we are in, think about it, we've sat by and witnessed this administration, just recently, pass a huge energy bill that offers Big Business so many tax breaks, while they continue to reap huge profits from you and me.
Is this really a nation for the governed, or has it become a nation for the governing? We've allowed more and more taxes to be levied upon us, sat by and watched prices escalate, and escalate at a phenomenal rate, and as a populace, we've done nothing but sit idly by and allow it to happen.
How much longer is this to go on? Isn't it about time that we do something? Organize as consumers?
Where's our spirit as a nation of free men and women?
Wednesday, July 13, 2005
Outside Sales
Sales is a tough cookie to crumble. For a person who's never done outside sales before, there is a lot of information to remember and to disseminate. I'm quickly finding that confidence is one of the most valuable tools for a salesperson to possess. Which, I have to admit, I thought I had a lot of it, but the past couple of days the confidence that I do have has truly been shaken.
I'm working with someone who's truly a salesperson. And, an honest salesperson which I've also found from dealing with salespeople in the past is truly a commodity in short supply. He's a very knowledgeable person, lots of experience, not just sales experience, but true life experience. Which, I think is one of the most important things that we can bring to anything that we really do that we wish to do well.
I've not had a job before which has challenged me as much as outside sales has. But, it's exactly what I need to grow beyond this point where I'm at in my personal life. It is challenging yes, but it's not beyond what I can accomplish. Not at all.
It is the exact challenge which I need to rouse me up to be a better communicator. I've always felt that I was a very good at written communications, but verbally, I think that I've allowed some of my confidence level to intrude into my abilities there. I am enjoying this challenge, and I do feel that it's forcing me to grow beyond my bounds.
Today I've learned a few valuable lessons. One of them being that I'm not as direct or assertive as I should be. I had that pointed out to me, and it was a bit of a wake up call for me. It's funny that I know how to write in the active voice, but I'm passive in my speaking voice. So, this new immeditate challenge to me is to learn to speak in the same voice that I write with. I know how to write the active voice. I'm going to call you. I'm going to do this. I'm calling to confirm our appointment. But, in my speaking voice it's always been. Do you mind if I call you? Do you mind if I do this? I was wondering if you were still available for our appointment?
Yes, it's really time that I took charge of this thing.
I'm working with someone who's truly a salesperson. And, an honest salesperson which I've also found from dealing with salespeople in the past is truly a commodity in short supply. He's a very knowledgeable person, lots of experience, not just sales experience, but true life experience. Which, I think is one of the most important things that we can bring to anything that we really do that we wish to do well.
I've not had a job before which has challenged me as much as outside sales has. But, it's exactly what I need to grow beyond this point where I'm at in my personal life. It is challenging yes, but it's not beyond what I can accomplish. Not at all.
It is the exact challenge which I need to rouse me up to be a better communicator. I've always felt that I was a very good at written communications, but verbally, I think that I've allowed some of my confidence level to intrude into my abilities there. I am enjoying this challenge, and I do feel that it's forcing me to grow beyond my bounds.
Today I've learned a few valuable lessons. One of them being that I'm not as direct or assertive as I should be. I had that pointed out to me, and it was a bit of a wake up call for me. It's funny that I know how to write in the active voice, but I'm passive in my speaking voice. So, this new immeditate challenge to me is to learn to speak in the same voice that I write with. I know how to write the active voice. I'm going to call you. I'm going to do this. I'm calling to confirm our appointment. But, in my speaking voice it's always been. Do you mind if I call you? Do you mind if I do this? I was wondering if you were still available for our appointment?
Yes, it's really time that I took charge of this thing.
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