New Year’s resolutions reviewed and revised

REVISING  YOUR  RESOLUTIONS?  SLIGHTLY  ALTERING. YOUR. PATH.  ON THE JOURNEY  TOWARDS. PEACE AND. JOY

Well this here calendar  says it’s. Almost June and I  have  one simple question.  I also. Have a. More complex. Question, however did your  first grade teacher throw an algebra book on your desk?

Simple question: how are those resolutions coming?   I mean if you made some at the beginning. Of the year?  I did.  I made. Three.  Now it’s. Time for a quick progress check.  I  figure I still have. Time to pull it out if I’m behind.  

Ok here is  a quick flashback  to my original  offerings.

 For the coming year I have three resolutions—

First create more than I collect.

 Second, forgive more than I judge.  

Third, approach the world with curiosity more often than fear.  

I am not certain this will bring peace and or joy but it is a step down that path...

Hmmm... 

On the first  resolution I think I’m okay except if I flip the script a bit and  specify  what I was. Creating and what IUam collecting.  I have created a lot of  blog posts and some music/songs and lyrics and have had a truck load of creative thoughts about  the world so  I’ll put that in the  “doing well enough” category.  Now for the collecting realm.  At first glance things look  goood and yet I have experienced a lot of new/interesting emotions over the last. Several. Months.  I have some new  body irregularities to experience on a fairly  regular basis and  have collected a. Lot of knowledge  regarding those.  IThen I estimate I. Have listened to  109 books so far collecting. Some wisdom and (sorry  to say) reading  some fantastic descriptions and some not.  

So on this resolution, I will say I have created more than. Collected and what I’ve collected has been  okay too for the most. Part when it comes to  experiences.  What I. Haven’t collected. Is a lot of things and that was.my intended  point of the resolution, but I don’t mind  thinking of  collecting experiences so maybe  I’ll revise that resolution next year.

Numero. Dos:  Forgiveness. Vs. Judging.  

My thinking on this isthatI’m doing pretty well.  I  have forgiven  some people for  actions that I don’t  believe were  fair or necessary.  In the greater. Scheme I have  forgiven the universe many times this  year for failing to consult my. Master plan.  Seriously, I have  started to figure out a new  process of thinking about  the actions of others which is why assume they either understand everything they do or could. Control the results even if they wanted to.  Now  I should admit I haven’t. Quite figured out  how or if that. Applies to me too, but  I threw  the red flag  and it’s under. Review.  Now. For the judging part.  I have always  been guilty of judging  fairly quickly.  In recent years and during this. Year what  I have decided is that. There is not really  a need for. Me to judge  as many people or actions as I oncde did.  You see judging. Means  setting some standards—yes I have. Standards— and then  analyzing. Whether. Something matchesa up.  Well, that’s a lot of work and maybe it doesn’t really matter how much whiter Crest. Makes your teeth than  Colgate and whether that applies to the special formula that includes baking soda.  To sum it up Ithink I judge less.  I still need work.

Resolution  Number  Three— Whatthe hell was Ithinking?  I do approach more  things with curiousity than I used to and more so each day.  IIn many ways. I have started treating  life like an experiment rather than  a box cake that tells you all the ingredients  you will need, exactly  how to mix them, and for. How long you  need to place  it in the oven.   What? You ask/. I’m comparing  life to a cake?  Well yes—yes I am and they both go better with. Just the right. Amount of frosting  applied in the right places....but this is a family blog so  end of discussion.  I am just saying  I am curious, I try reframing some things.  Failures. Are now referred to as lessons to be learned unless I really screw up and then it’s a mistake and I’ll own it. And try to. Fix it. It right away.  

Okay READ THIS  CAREFULLY TO CATCH THE  POOR USE OF  VOCABULARY   I’m almost afraid to talk about fear.  I’m doing better, but let’s just say I have let fear drive some of my behavior  like Kevin.  harvick drives his  race car.  it sometimesgets me to thefinish line and sometimes gets me into the.  wall at about 175 miles per  hour.  To improve  on this ihave reduced two things.  one is that I nolonger. assume I can know what. is going to happen  18 months. from now if I don’t tie my left shoe before I tie the right.

I try to stay. A little more in the  moment and breathe a little slower just in case I. Am using. My finite. Number of breaths. Up too quickly (just kidding it’s blinks you have a finite number of).  Now a second thing I am doing is actually what I’m doing. Right now—creating. Something. That. I hope will have a positive impact. On someone else’s  experiment. Called life.  If. I am doing this. Then I  don’t. Ponder so much. What. Could  be happening to me.  I focus upon what  I could be  doing.  Many folks say success lies...oh happiness lies just on the other side of fear.  It’s a cute saying and  makes  fora quick reminder and yet I am finding. That when I acknowledge. It and act I sometimes find that. Ontheothersideof fear there’s  a big mud. Puddle full  of broken glass super glue and something that looks like medical  waste.   What’s working for me is  looking at the fear and building a team to support me. As I  deal with it.  That means. I also hcan learn the skills and awareness to help others when fear comes knocking.  Fear does not worry about. Equal distribution.  Some people. Get. More chances to  experience it than others and some people  are better abt wasting their  imagination on things to fear rather than  inventing solutions to real  circumstances— (hey. Dude refer to that stuff about judging above alright?)

Okay so on this resolution I need to work smarter.  I need to practice curiosity  so much that it. Becomes  the standard behavior  in new situations.

Now I  have provided an analysis. Of my resolutions thus far and  as with any planning. Exercise there. Should be some  room for adjustments.   In my case I  am going to add  two  new resolutions that should  drive my performance vector a bit higher.  

So Number  Four

—Every  time I choose to wear a pair of socks (which is  very, very, often). I will put  one on each foot. 

Number. Five— When  I brush my teeth I will not knowingly  skip. Every other one on a regular basis.

That’s certainly been enough street corner. Philosophy for one entry.  I hope  you are. Doing well on your. Resolutions—if not forgive yourself and reach inside. To find the light  and follow it.....the rest will work out.

Yep 

The tribute song to the writing and reading communities

 This goes out to all the people who have been involved in my development as a writer and musician and basically as a person I hope you enjoy it if not we’ll try to listen through and will do a better job next time    Yes and the lyrics to the song or basically the rhyme from the page before

With simple syllables I sincerely salute

So this goes out especially to all the people who have taken even a peek at my blog.  It also goes out.to a few people who have created  a bit more inspiration for me to write more again.  I could mention every member of my family but this is supposed to be a short intro.  I will mention everyone from the NoDaScope (Jane and Brad in particular).  I would give Tom Murray a shout out because of the way he talks about his writing projects  and their meanings   There’s Mac who has.   influenced my writing in the area of music mostly by tolerating  the painful first few years.  If youdon’t know who. Mac is well he’s one of a special folks I met in my college years.  Speaking of those years  there is Whiz and  Bob “Ramblin.Reha whose  comedic inspiration  is semi legendary   Each always knew how to make me  see joy in the smallest of  indiscretions .    In more recent days  there has been  Peter Leidy who has  helped me expand my  thanking  about everyday life  and some things like choices and independence   There is Scott Burlingame who really loves writing even though  sometimes  it is a chore.  Finally, I thank some twitter  folks including the writing and reading communities because they  me how the love of writing.can  be an obsession and a curse.  

Of course there are additional people I could name...but sometimes the names have  to be changedchanged or omitted to protect the innocent  and he omitted 

... yep Anyway here. It. Goes..

Some. Simple Passing. Praises

You folks are all amazing

And  inspire my  cryptic. Phrasing

And deserving. Of  my praising 

For favors. Big and small

When demons I am fighting  

You still make my days inviting

AAnd. You make some  moments exciting  

Sor I keep rising when I fall

Some live farther than the oceans  

Yet. You understand. My. Notions  

And  put up with my. Emotions 

When I’m low or standing. Tall

So sometimes when I feel. Fear 

I imagine that. You’re near

And you whisper in  my ear

Take a swing. Here comes the ball

Finally ..With  simple language I employ

And the syntax. I destroy 

Writing brings me peace and joy

And for that I thank you all

May the light you have inside bring you blessings

Amendment to today’s blog

 You can reach Peter Leidy at amazingly enough  Peter Leidy.com
 The others mentioned her not hard to find at all search your podcast provider for images that look like these one is the do you  even blog  The other one is the blogger podcast and you can find the images when you search the podcast provider that you use search for Pete McPherson or Giles Jordan

Blogging writing piece enjoy my story sort of

BLOGGING: SEEKING PEACE AND JOY—Some notions on intention and connection.

I apologize for not having an entry for a bit.  I have rewritten this one a couple times because it involves my characterization of some blogger/writers podcasters, and storytellers.  I have points to make with each of the 3 people mentioned below (please see and USE the links to these people below.)

I didn’t want to make these people out to be saviors or sinners or losers. And winners.  I only wanted to place them in the context of my development as a blogger/writer. In this era of social media, tribes, and such.

So since humans learn very well via the story, let me tell you mine.  

I was born at a relatively young age and raised by an energetic herd of Catholic nuns.  Oh, maybe we better not start quite that far back.  How about we start a decade or so ago when I first heard about this thing called a blog.  I started one and wrote maybe five entries.  They were as I recall fairly structured philosophical collections of verbiage. All formed up in those things called,  ummm paragraphs.  Well, that lasted about a month and then  I got bored with myself and quit.  There was no writer’s block or lack of creativity.  I may have experienced the results of not having good writing habits and not observing the world very closely.  By the way, I don’t believe in writers’ block—more on that later.   Moving forward... It was around last Thanksgiving when I was experiencing some  sleep issues and someone I know had said: “I hope you find something that will bring you  some joy.”  Well since I was awake and it was the middle of the night I decided to write up a list of things that bring me joy.  The minute I opened my iPad and started to type, it dawned on me that just sitting down to write brings me some joy and allows me to express some thoughts which brings some significant peace.  

So after a couple nights of writing two or three pages of rambles, I started thinking—what about that blogging thing again?   Well, this time I decided not to just jump in head first, which is my usual pattern.  I decided I would find some info on that web thing about writing. A blog.  Well....since I was already. Listening to a  handful of podcasts I thought  “someone must have a podcast  about blogging.”  Well, I scrolled around the podcast offerings and then like a stroke of good luck (what kind of phrase is that?  I have never associated a stroke with having good luck) in big white letters on a blue backdrop were the words, "Do You Even Blog?”   My first thought was “Great  title...not yet, but I am sure as hell gonna learn how.”    So then I scrolled around some more and some white letters on a black background struck me as relevant.  It was the blogging podcast.  You can find the links to each of these below.  After listening to a few episodes I figured I'll write up a few blogs and then listen to these podcasts to see how I did, so to speak.  So it began after posting a few entries and sending out an email to a select few; I was getting a whopping six or seven page views a day. That didn’t bother me for about 22 seconds and I decided to reach out to the people who did these podcasts on blogging. I was a bit surprised that both of them replied fairly quickly.  Pete and Giles both provided answers to my questions.  Pete sent me a short video. Now that was significant because Pete knew that I didn’t see well and he figured the audio explanations would be faster and more personal than struggling with a long text or written answer.  He was right.  He talked about only expanding my platforms if it didn’t detract from the quality and fun of writing the blogs.  Giles pretty much echoed the ideas of Pete and added some ideas about some of the trends in blogging that had come to mind in the last year or so.  Pretty much they gave me the idea of blogging a bit longer sometimes in terms of word count and pretty much making it good or don’t bother.  

I highly recommend that anyone just starting out, listen to the two podcasts.  

Now I started forming better narratives and choosing more tangible subject matters in the realm of daily peace and joy. I started looking at breakfast cereal, shoes, and cookies as subject matter. And the overall impact such things really have on a person’s outlook.  Well, that did the trick. The page view count started rising slowly but very consistently.  Pretty soon we were averaging in the mid 20's for increases. Each day and sometimes more if I added some pictures, poems, and an occasional song.  Holy crap! This started to make me feel a bit more joyful! 

Now here comes a third big influence in my development as a blogger.  I started thinking about the “marketing” aspect of blogs and social media in general and I discovered Seth Godin’s  “This is Marketing.”    This is a book that incorporates many of his earlier ideas......but mainly he preached find your flock, your group, no matter how small, and focus on what that group wanted and would share with like-minded folks.  He emphasized that you as the author/storyteller were not the important piece; it was giving the audience opportunities to connect that was critical.   

Finally, that brings me to a friend of mine and a great storyteller who often helps me focus on the peace and joy aspects of things.  Peter Leidy is a “consultant”/storyteller/advocate/songwriter/problem-solving facilitator.  In his role, he visits any number (well not any number like 888342) of organizations and conferences each year and presents on topics such as employee engagement and morale, self-advocacy, mindfulness, and using improvisation to combat organizational, program brain-freeze or stagnant groupthink.  I mention Peter because he does all the “content” work, and probably more than most “experts”. However, the one aspect of his developmental process that I have learned from, is that he has not had the time to construct the tools to connect what could be an infinitely powerful tribe if they had the structure to get and stay connected in the wake of Peter’s visits with them.  Now Peter is a humble person and a really genuine sort of guy and doesn’t seek “followers” and normally I would stand and applaud that.  However, as he knows I believe that a blog or some regular writing where his audience could be connected would benefit the people he has spent a lifetime learning to serve.  If  Peter would offer a connection point for people across the spectrum of his great work, many of the people he impacts would pick up the threads, think about them, make connections with others and extend the wisdom and curiosity Peter exhibits in person. There is a link to his web-page down below as well.  

He has inspired me to expand my thinking on many personal and professional levels and I’d like to see others feel that impact and spread it which brings me back to the beginning— the peace and joy of blogging.

First, it has helped me express myself to others in ways that I choose and those ways often bring me both peace and joy.  Second, there is a community of folks that rise above “marketers” to make the writers feel welcome and able to grow.  Even the mighty Seth Godin responded to my email personally and thus highlighted the importance of connecting his audience when he used a common phrase of going out and causing a ruckus.  Pete continues to do his podcast, his blog and has dipped into the Instagram space.  He is a generous storyteller and.encourages his guests to provide their wisdom through the telling of their stories.  Giles provides basic information and then also talks about resources and tools available to writers and bloggers that can really improve the visual and content appeal of that mode of expression.  I must warn you that his prime interest is in travel blogging and he is off in Western Canada so his posts are a few less than they have been.  I guess the moose, elks, and bears still use dial-up out in the wilderness; so you know Giles will reappear soon with some really good stuff.  Peter knows how to write, but it is my belief that he worries about the perfect post and highest impact per post.  I have great faith he will drop a pebble in the water almost by mistake and then he will see the true power of the force, so to speak.  Anyway, directly through what these folks have done and what they are yet to do...they have kept me writing and improving slightly each time.  Learning is a joyous experience for me and these folks almost seem to intuitively understand that about their  “tribes.”  

Now to the end of this very long post....I’ll put into four points.

1. I like to write because the words that can be used are like musical notes and I can string a pop song or a concerto together about the same topic if I wish.
2. There are others out there who will help you learn how to have an impact and improve without judging where you are right now (that makes them nicer than I am to my friend Peter)—and allow you to have the joy of learning.
3. There are many folks out there who have so much potential if they choose to trust their own writing voice and those it would connect with.  That brings me hope!
4. It’s going to take more than four items.
5. The #writing community, #readers community,# advocates, and most other groups on Twitter are ravenous and supportive of sharing our successes and failures— thanks to all of you, oh and there are #bloggers too and I haven't even scratched the surface of that group. 
6. Finally, the diversity of acceptable blog materials that I share and people pass along is interesting and creates hope that we can get through this temporary period in American (and world) culture where we must all choose one side or another and lean hard to the extreme. Well, I have two more posts on writing and peace and joy to come.  They will come tomorrow in the form of a poem and on Tuesday in the form of a song about blogging (Some of this song you may have heard, but it has been revised...)

Those two posts are dedicated to you my friends who have joined the peace and joy crowd.  Soon I will offer a mechanism for you to connect maybe through Twitter or a Facebook group or as the first customers of a book of this stuff I’m channeling... Okay enough...

More soon.

 I 

 The Do You Even Blog Podcast
The Do You Even Blog Podcast
The Blogging Pod by Giles Jordan

Writing questioning answers answering questions seeking peace and joy

WRITING, READING, QUESTIONS,ANSWERS, PEACE & JOY

So for the last couple mornings my pants legs wer virtually even and I wasn’t particularly hungry so it was straight for some liquid and a pill.  S Then I set out. To write the follow-up. From the  last entry.  Ok, I’m coming back to the sweat pants  and of course the cereal mascots later,however, today is  going to be focused uponythree things.  

1. The connection  between  questions writer’s pose and seeking. Joy.
2. The invitations writer’s give readers to approach lessons, and
3. Then a sneak preview of tomorrow’s.   The joy of  offering and. Accepting the challenge of  being a writer on purpose.

In the grand scheme of things what do writers and writing. Have. To do with  Peace and Joy?  

WellI think two things jump right out once you. Think about it for a bit.  Writers are in the storytelling  business.  People make sense. Of their world in terms of stories.  In short we experience things and wonder what it means. In terms of our life story.  Writers offer story after story and as scene after scene fill the pages the reader puts in some effort to connect with the scene.  for example Tom Murray  wrote a  book called The Fathers Sons and Holy  Ghosts of Baseball.  There is a scene of a 1970’s. Small midwestern town Main  Street.  If you lived in a small rural town  in the Midwest at that time. You couldn’t  help but identify with the. Descriptions and therefore, if you had questions or lessons left to figure  out  about that time in your life, it made. It almost impossible  not to start the mental process of seeking peace (of the lesson)  you had yet to gain  even after all these years.  One of his main characters was a person displaced from a culture much different  from this one and  a teenager.  Here. The author. Gives us someone on a quest ti fund an identity in. A strange land.  How often does.seeking  peace involve seeking identity in a strange land?  Quite often I imagine.  Then there is a town fixated upon  a narrow set of. Values—in this case a particular religion. And a particular sport.  Sound familiar?  I bet it does. If you grew up in a small community no matter the size of  the city or town.  Now what the  writer has offered  a somewhat  safe space for you the reader to start asking and answering  questions to bring  possible peace from times long ago or maybe current ones.  He has presented  many perspectives  or quite  simply  places where. You can stand. And see how things unfold.  What also happens. In this story is a story where  he not only offers some answers but  lays out some situations  that raise important questions regarding values and the rubles of  religion opposed to the strength of faith.   That is a. Very  relevant theme in today’s  Catholic Church and in many. Others for that matter.  

In short the writer. (Tom Murray)  provides the gift to the readers that so many writers do.  They  invite readers to answer questions to  gain some. Peace and lead the reader to ask  some questions that will likely  arise in seeking peace in the future.  The writer also  offers. A moral—a lesson— if you will, however, doesn’t. Force you to accept it.  So the writing becomes  a tool to find some peace and to seek some peace.  That is the gift writers  have or the curse they have.  You see most  writers cannot avoid leaving the space. To answers question and question answers....that both  leads to peace and creates  some  uneasiness or clues to peace yet to be gained.  

So that covers  two of the things I wanted to cover today.  

Tomorrow I’m going to talk about being a. Writer/storyteller  on purpose and how it adds. To the joy  to be found. In the world.  I will cover some people who I consider story telllers in our society today namely one presenter/song writer/consultant and a blogger/podcaster/ slash street level  philosopher.  

After that brief  discussion  I will offer some notes on my personal journey with writing in several  forms including this blog, some poems, and some songs.   

Until then keep questioning. As many. Answers as  you are. Attempting to answer  questions.

There is something. To be said about balance.

The gift and curse of being a writer and seeking peace and joy

Writing the Gift & the Curse

So I wake  up and once again my left sweat pants leg is up around my knee.  Easy fix?  Pull it back down around my ankle where it belongs.  Writer’s reaction— “why is this  leg of my sweats. Up by my knee again?”  You see this happens. A lot and I have no idea why and I now have to throw  it on my pile.  What pile?  The pile of observations that will eventually. Have to write out of my system.  So I roll the  sweats into position and walk into the kitchenn, grab the most convenient liquid  available (today it’s the water bottle in the fridge that incorporates a football theme (it was a gift and I like it, however drinking from a football doesn’t make sense).  Anyway I  take the bottle and a pill and get that job done.  Now I start thinking—cereal.  Now many of you know I have already written about. This, but  let’s go a little deeper because that’s what writers offer.  To eat cereal, I first look in the cupboard for one of my favorite bowls (what the hell a grown man shouldn’t have a favorite bowl—so I have three).  Now I find one and  go to the cereal  shelf in another cupboard.  I have a favorite cereal and it’s in the cupboard often enough, however do I reach for it?  No, that would be too simple.  I reach for the box  with the most  in it.  Why? Because of course I’m not the only one who should be eating. Breakfast  here and a box that is not too full means someone else is eating that and that is good so I leave that for them.  

Now sometimes I am not that  selfless and pour. A couple. Types of  cereal into the bowl.  

Anyway  I will talk a little more about cereal mascots in a future blog because I find them  fascinating.  But. Just for the  record I don’t  Believe anyone who says  Trix are just for kids and I’m not a silly rabbit (as if cereal is best sold by foiling the plots of rabbits).

So what does. This have to do with writing and peace and joy?  Well so far I have been awake for about ten minutes and  have you noticed  how much  meaning  my brain has  questioned or provided to things?  That’s a gift and a curse.  It’s a gift because. It means writers often walk through. The day seeking and finding meaning.  In almost anything.  There is little chance that  a writer is going. To wonder if. Any experience. At all. Has meaning....because. Everything has meaning.  The challenge of. The writer is not understanding that things have  meaning or even meanings in different contexts, the challenge  for the writer is finding the better ways to express those meanings through words.  If  for instance  something isn’t. Very large a writer  can say it’s smal, miniature,tiny, puny,petite, or microscopic.  That is just one adjective.  Yet 

Every single word is an instrument  for the writer  as conductor to include in the orchestra that will present the message the writer wants to use to express meaning of a though or an action.  For me it is a joy to have so many choices and it creates a sense of joy when all the words comic together to form  a page that creates  a concept or vision for the reader.  It’s different from telling someone  a story because. You are allowing the reader to connect with their inner4 conceptual universe guiding them to. Reach a shared  meaning or create. One far more powerful than what. You ever could  have imagined. 

So that is the gift of writing.  The joy in  putting words together that can help people gain understanding.  

So what  is the curse?  Well  like I said in the beginning, writers  often carry  around a pile of questions with them.  Why does this one leg  of my sweat pants move up ing the night?  Why does a  otherwise  adult person have a favorite cereal bowl?  How to cereal companies. Choose  these odd  representatives?

Oh yes and writers also. Wonder about. International relations, the economy, medicine, family relationships, and their general sanity for wondering  so much about  almost eferything and that’s efen before we start  pulling  words out our vocabulary  to assign  to the experience of exploring ythis endless array of questionas and topics.  

The curse iasn’t the  complexity and  the massiveness of the  spectrum of topics though.  The curse is that. We cannot avoid  writing about them.  It is our. Calling.  The confusion and complexity of the world is. Just a matter of fact.   It cannot stand in the way of our purpose which to  become a channel for the message of all these thoughts and objects.  

So... that’s about enough for one day of trying to express  why writers do this thing.  However, if you are a writer at heart, you must engage in this process or peace will never be yours.  

Tomorrow will talk about some of the  people and paths. That have helped me understand why  I need to write.  It’s a tribute of sorts and  then  the next couple of  entries will be  poetic and musical and maybe I will. Finally get to that promised video or two.  Yep 

Peace joy and writing

Over the past couple weeks this blog has changed it’s tone a bit  into a “theme of the week” format and while I like it, I’m find myself  thinking of topics that just can’t seem to wait until next  week.  For  instance, I wanted to start  writing about our society’s  use of substances both prescribed and obrained through other means as an avenue  to Peace and Joy (or not).  However, Instead I will stick  to the idea of writing  in and for a community for the next couple days and then  aove to the nexttopic which is  “what’s  this pile of drugs for anyway?  That will be next  Sunday or Monday.

So back to the topic at hand Peace and Joy flowing from the  pen (or keyboard).  Once  I startedto  find a release of a lot of internal thoghts through a blog I have discovered a pretty brilliant and supportive  #writing community and #readeing community  on twitter and a really  active bloggers community.  The blogging  for profit  community  shares techniques  fairly generously and I’ll  talk more  about that tomorrow.  For today, I’m sticking to ttransformative process of  releasing  tension through  writingsome things out .  Seeking Peace and Joy pretty  much always include  both cleaning out someclutter and creating  some beautiful spaces...and that’s  what writing helpsme (and others  do)

Since you are going to get four entries about this…. I am going to end thisone  with a little  rhyme about  what blogging  means  to my adventure of seeking   peace and joy.  Thentomorrrow I’lldescribe some more about  the process of  evolving your  writing  space and where you can get help in thinking about  how you want to do that.

However, on the #happy moghter’sday I’ll wrapthings  up with this:

Be you teachers  cops  or nerds

You may  find magic  in the  words

That  you splash on files and notebook pages

We all have wisdom  just likesages

No  matter  what you put out there 

In writing It’s a gift  you share

And it usually helps yourself and others

Moms and Dads Sisters and Brothers

Phrase after   phrase line  after line

You bring a little more sunshine

And with every letter  you employ 

You help us all seek peaceand joy

Thanks all you wonderful writiers for sharing.   More Tomorrrow 

The shoestring symphony

 Look this is not a Nike nutcracker suite it is more like a sketchy version of the sketcher skit but it was kind of fun to do and I think it has a lesson or two please take a listen and have a great weekend 

What next socks? – No shoes again

WHAT’S NEXT SOCKS?

No of course not—SHOES  AGAIN!

So taking a step back to the previous  entry (did you notice the foot/stepping reference/) .  I tried to use shoes as an analogy for trying to convince people that we can more than one attitude or we can change an attitude  if  that viewpoint no longer works for the circumstances at hand and no one should get  terribly  upset.  

It is nearly impossible to find  any sort of peace, let alone to promote  it if  we cannot  accept variations in viewpoints and changes when they happen.   It is also very difficult to find peace if we are not willing to listen to  each other’s reasons for picking a particular stance (look at that  another  foot reference-sort of).  In an effort to demonstrate  transparency … I’m a libertarian.  Now let me take a second just to make this clear.  That is not a liberal and it is not a conservative per se.  I just believe  that government serves some purposes that individuals  cannot  do by themselves, like have an army to defend a country or have a fire department etc.  On the other hand I’m not sure the government  we have  does a bang up job of keeping us healthy by not allowing us to use  plants that the universe has provided  us—but  I don’t  want to drift too far on this today.  What I wanted to say is that from my  perspective, I see no need for  the polarity  we are clinging to in the USA —we are smarter than that.  We are brave  enough to pursue multiple perspectives to find solutions to complex challenges.  I guess what I’m saying is we need to take our feet out of our mouths and talk—but not shout.  Like choosing the best shoes we can develop policies  instead of punchlines and  solutions instead of slogans.  

Now back to the shoes…. 

I’m going to use  Convers All-Stars as my  shoe  of choice because if I go back to “Red Ball Jets” not may will remember who much faster they made a kid run.  So let’s go  to the shoe with the classic  star on the side and drift back to the first time you laced up a  new pair.  For a while  you could run a little faster, jump a little higher, and walk a little taller.  Well I think it’s time we all tried  on a pair of “Peace and Joy  All Stars where we could  listen a little longer, run a few more ideas  through  our souls  before  deciding  what someone else is really all about, and worry a little less  about it when they decide to  change  one way or another.  

For unlike in the world of shoes—you don’t need the ones that everyone  else has.  You  are the only one who  has to be comfortable  with the places  you choose to make a stand.  You  can take that  pretty plain  pair of New Balance and put some neon strings in it  and no one  can really say too much.  You are the only you and you will really be okay if you  let others wear the shoes they need to wear.  

In short…I have worn out  (heels, soles, and all)  this analogy but I have a  shoe song that sums up the last couple days and that will be here  in a couple days.  

So  go ahead  choose your shoes and  start again on the journey  of seeking  peace and joy.  You will  find  a great deal of both…one step at a time.