Diamonds are a girls best friend but are they your best friend? The mystery continues

 MID WINTER  MYSTERY PART IV  ANOTHER CHOICE

Well we have explored the possible  outcomes of choosing  the map and the water.  There were of course some advantages and in the end some drawbacks.  So let’s see what happens next...

CHOICE III 

You have lived a tough  life and really never had any breaks.  You work hard yet any time  you seem to get your head above water something comes along to beat you down again.  On this table there is a glistening diamond that  would change your lot in life forever.  You have dreamed of a get-rich-quick  option since you were in your youth and here it sits.... 

surely this is a reward that you deserve and the great. Spirit/ universe put this here for you.  This would be the only fair  thing, the only reason chance brought you here.  You know you have been out in the desert a couple days, but since your fortunes have changed the risk of your body shutting down doesn’t really seem that high.  So you snatch the magnificent  diamond from the table  and head forward in the sand.  Now as it happens  about eight hours later a gaunt prince comes lumbering up behind you on a camel.  The prince wears a suit  made of diamonds and other jewels and you wonder if this is one of his.  You keep moving until the prince pulls the camel in front of you.  Out of  self-defense you say, “I’m sorry if this. Is your diamond, however, having so many diamonds would it hurt to let me go forth with just this one?   The prince  laughs with a weak and weary laugh...”Truly that is a beautiful. Diamond and a person who has  a stone like this belongs  in the company of the rich like me...Please climb aboard my camel and we shall  find our way to a better land.  

Now you are so grateful to. Be riding the camel and  to have been accepted by the wealthy  that you just don’t  think about mentioning. You need water soon.  In fact between your glee and your shame you sort of forgot and then feel a bit of shame.  After all you don’t want to be laughed out of the rich man’s club because you weren’t smart enough to keep yourself alive with out help.  So you ride along till the next day and the sun is now  really scalding the sand, the prince, and the camel...and of course. You.   The prince suggests. You all stop and take a rest.   After sitting an hour or so the prince raises his head and says “ You know this is a bit embarrassing, however, my camel and I have been out in  the desert for quite a while.... and well. You know my friend...it’s diamonds I have but  water I need —and the camel  is dried out too... may we borrow but a sip of yours?—

Well.... it goes without saying—-yet you say it.... “how can someone with your fortunes...your riches...your wealth not have enough water?  The Prince  cries a tear and says...”you see when we come across people in. This land we ask just for a bit of water and give them  a beautiful diamond... and well maybe some other prince gave you a diamond in exchange for  the water- hmmm?   

You look at the camel who is taking  his last breath.  You look at the prince  who puts his head down and takes his last breath and you hold the diamond tight as you take your last breath.   

Maybe seeking what others have and thinking so much about. What you lack will drive you to get something and yet... maybe we can learn from others who have things and yet don’t seem quite whole?   

Choice IV 

Well this leaves the mirror.  It could be  the right choice—- or—this could be one of those  strange twilight  zone mysteries... after all I never promised a happy ending because life isn’t that way—

I’ll sleep on it and give you an answer in the morning ....wait am I quoting  a Meatloaf song?   

How about I add a few lines from a Todd Snyder  song as well..

Life’s too short to worry—life’s to long. To wait

Life’s too short. Not to love. One another —Life’s too long  to hate

I know some people who haggle for a nickel and try to save a dime

But no  sir—eee  that’s not for me... I don’t have the time.

More tomorrow.  

The mystery continues have you chosen wisely?

 MID-WINTER III

THE CHOICE—THE OUTCOME (S)

Well here you stand knowing the water gives you life for a day or three and surely enough to  get you out of the desert unless  you get lost and aren’t found.  Now there is a map and as long as you can follow it, it is right, and the path doesn’t take too long to travel you will reach safety.  The Mirror let’s you communicate over a great distance and may get you  out of the mess in moments or get you assistance, and yes there is that diamond.  If you could make it on your own and hadn’t you made it on your own this far?  If you could do this then you would have a great reward.  

so  before the big reveal... here’s  how a few of the choices in alternate  realities turn out.  

What happened— choice one.  

You make your choice and head out with confidence towards the  promised land.  You are pretty certain you are on the right path because you can read Spanish and the map is showing you  small but clear landmarks along the way.  sure  you are thirsty, however with this level of enthusiasm  and confidence you are moving fast and within  six or seven hours you can see the edge of the desert on the horizon.  Clearly the map was indeed the right choice.  You see  a clear plan. Will almost always get you to a good destination.  Except....

 

As you reach the edge of the barren sandy desolate landscape you come to a huge wall that. Has but one gate.  That gate is  guarded by a ruthless guard who says “Halt!”  “You cannot  enter this new paradise  unless you pay the entry fee.”  You  really don’t have much of any value but you ask anyway...”What is the fee for my salvation?”  One diamond,” says the guard.  So you take the map and start back to the shack.  Unfortunately, your body fails.  You start walking in circles.  You eventually fall into the sand and all life passes  from your body.

Choice Two:  So you make your choice and head out.   You line yourself  up with a corner of the shack and start walking  as straight as you can toward what you are  really certain will be the place where  salvation is.   You walk at a steady pace  in order to make the liquid in the water bottle last hoping that  it will give you enough health to reach your goal.  As you walk along  for a day or so you know you are going slowly and yet you have survived so you put one foot in front of the other and finally reach the edge of the sandy landscape....except —-no not the huge wall with one gate and a guard—You are  met by a small group of castle guards who shackle. You and say “You may enter the  promised land  if you can help us find the Queen’s. Magic  Mirror—and the whimsical leader whispers...”oh young  one any mirror will do as the Queen just talks to hersaelf these days.”  You explain that there is a mirror on a table  where you came from and  you will be glad to take the queen’s  soldiers to find it if it means getting out of the desert.  The troopers  confer and say we don’t trust you to return with this valuable  object on your own and so we will come with you to get the mirror.  Well...you say “I will need. Some water.  the guards realize that one of them would have to give up their valuable water and  trust the other guards to do what is needed and  while this seems simple the queen has chosen her guards in manner such that they don’t trust each other.  If the guards don’t trust each other. They won’t join together to overthrow the kingdom.   So on of the guards has a solution.  “Let’s put this b all and chain around. Your leg and then when you come back with the mirror we will take it off.”  We will fill your  water bottle and you may be on your way.  .   well this seemed like a plan so you set off back for the3 shack with  enough water to get you as far as you came.  Unfortunately as one might imagine it’s hard to walk a straight line  with an iron ball on one leg.  You  have enough water for a day, however as you see the shack  off in the distance on the3 second day your water runs out.  You spin around and notice that you have walked in a series of circles for the last  few hours.  So while you see one of the goals of your trip...you just give  out still shackled by  another  group’s mistrust.  

Choice III —-Oh not till tomorrow my friends...

No come now

The mystery continues

 MIDWINTER MINI-MYSTERY PART TWO

Clearly the diamond is the most valuable object on the table....right?  (See the link below)

Except ....the table is in an abandoned shack in part of a desert  where you have been stranded and wandering for days.  Your food and wate supply ran completely out sometime over two days ago or at least you think it was a couple days  as things are  getting a little fuzzy from what you imagine. To be heat stroke or maybe just plain dehydration.   And Except...

You are pretty sure that earlier today you heard the distant hum of a plane motor and you wished desperately you hadn’t wasted your signal flares  trying to get the attention of a nomad on a camel that turned out  just to be a misshapen cactus with a tumbleweed clinging to it. So ,,, that mirror  could come in handy as  it reflects sunlight and lord knows you have plenty of that and that shining mirror can be seen from the sky or for miles in the fairly flat desert.   Now the water or the mirror seem like fairly wise choices...except

The piece of paper seems to have something written on it  in Spanish that you can roughly  translate as “map  out of desert on other side... Now you can’t read Spanish but you can read a map and know that the place you stand  can’t be more than a day or so from the edge of the desert because the desert isn’t more than four walking days  in area from the center in any direction and you have been walking  for  at least two days without seeing  anything that you have seen before.   

So there you have it.   

Water will keep you alive and give you a couple more days to go on.  You. Could take the diamond and your chances of making it out of the sand  before you die of thirst and be a rich traveler.  The map could provide  you the right path out and if you make it couldn’t you follow the map back for the diamond?  Oh and  the mirror  could get you rescued and flown to safety in a matter of minutes.   

So which of these is most valuable;e now?  Before you knew the circumstances was. The diamond clearly the most valuable and could it become the most valuable again?   Now you can only take one  object and use it, however, which of the objects would be your second choice and which do you think you might regret not taking the most or the fastest?   

What is the lesson to be learned so fat?  

More tomorrow

https://www.brilliantearth.com/news/15-amazing-facts-about-diamonds/amp/

A midwinter mini mystery?

 THE DIEAMOND PARADOX?—OR MAYBE NOT

So we walk up to a table and upon this table there are four items.  The items are a  sheet of paper, a mirror that. Is about 1 foot square, a bottle of water, and a beautiful diamond.  The two of us are given instructions that we can only take  one item to share and then we must  continue on with our lives.  Which item should we choose?  Which item would only one of the two of us take?  

In seeking peace and joy we make choices all the time and uncertainty is part of the fabric of  this tapestry  we call a lifetime and so is patience so see you tomorrow.   

Time to go solar?

 CAPTURING  YOUR SUNSHINE

The sunlight was almost annoying as it streamed through the kitchen window.  Thoughts drifted to the new solar-powered flashlight/phone charger I received as a holiday gift.  Should I. Clip it on tho my belt or coat and get out and walk around/. Well, I didn’t and today I feel a bit sad about that.  It was an opportunity missed.  

on the other hand—which is the “other” hand?  My thoughts  about solar power swerved directly into the path of seeking peace and joy...so let’s shine a little light on that path today.

How often do I appreciate the sun?  Most days I think and yet  whoa Nelly let’s humble up a bit.  

For instance, I didn’t realize just how little  I really know/knew about solar power and its potential.  Let’s start with the big truth that needs to get out.

Enough energy from the sun hits the earth in one hour to power the planet for an entire year.  Wait a second...read that again...enough energy from the sun  hits the earth in an hour to power the Earth for a year.  We fight wars over fuel in the ground.  We argue about  how to move this fuel—who has the right to discover it—sell it—and what the impact of the wars and jobs  might have here and around the globe.  We wait millions of years before the fuel is ready and we have based  a person-centered transportation and status system around the use of this fuel and sunlight takes about 10 minutes to get here.  We hear about how solar power is not efficient because we don’t know how to collect and store it?  Well ... solar cells and battery systems  are improving dramatically  and we can now capture about  22% of the sunlight that hits a lot of the most  modern solar cells.  So it would take a whole five hours to power the planet  for a year....damn.  Even with today’s technology with its inefficient nature the number of people using solar power has just about doubled in the last three years and the more people who have “seen the light” our use must  get better and cheaper.  The  break even point for investing ion solar has dropped to under  a decade in almost all instances and that means its becoming a short term investment with a long term  gain. 

There’s a link at the bottom of this entry that gives some more fun facts and  is well worth the read.  

So...what’s the link  to seeking peace and joy?  

the sun is a positive  gift.  How many positive  gifts are we exposed to each day and yet  we just let them stream though and sometimes even ldefine as annoying?  How  many times do we  try to hold our sunlight back to keep the energy for ourselves when these gifts could be the driving force for others who seek peace and joy or are trying to grow their gifts?  Do we build communities built to receive. Positive behaviors and enhance their impact or do we focus of the fuel that  can be controlled, bought and sold, and treated as a finite possession?  Do we tell the stories that could continue to lift each other up and therefore build the “batteries” of culture needed to maximize everyone’s positive gifts?  Do we understand that the sun doesn’t. Always shine where you are, yet if we build. A sharing network it is always shining somewhere?  In seeking peace and joy do we understand that someone somewhere in hour network has sunshine to share or needs some we have to share?  With a solar cell  we can bring the. Light of day into the dark of night.  How much do we try to be a solar cell?  The thing about solar cells is that they need to be open and receptive....can we be open and receptive?  

Well it looks as if there might be enough sun to charge my device again today...so maybe  I could capture some sun to share when someone needs the light that my solar phone charger and flashlight. Can use.... 

To those who have shared their  sunshine...thank you and to those who feel the darkness... reach out...there is enough sunshine  for all of us.  https://chariotenergy.com/chariot-university/solar-energy-solar-panels-facts/

On this day

 ON THIS DAY

ON THIS DAY...

There’s a quote I’m  pondering.   I don’t know who said it or if I am stating. It correctly, however it goes something like this....

“Starting where we are, we can’t change  the beginning  from here but using  what we have learned we sure can change the ending.”  

ON THIS DAY..

We have a new chance to “start where we are, use what. We have, and do what we can.”

ON THIS DAY ...

We can realized that the space  in our hearts we give to fear could be the place where we grow our dreams.  ON THIS DAY

We could take the time to  understand that the best way to predict the future is to take an active role in creating it.  

ON THIS DAY...

We could start to measure  our lives —not by how many people or nations we have risen above, but on how many people  or communities we have  raised up with us—We could measure our strength not by  the force of our hammer, but the strength of our ladders.  

ON THIS DAY... We can stop pointing fionguers and start using  our whole hands to build new roads to new places and to plant new seeds so that others will have the fruit it will take to fix our mistakes and build their own new roads.

SO IF WE CAN DO ALL THIS ON THIS DAY IT MUST BE A SPECIAL DAY... AND IT IS....

WEDNESDAY

Maybe 30% off is too much

 DID YOU HEAR ABOUT. THIS ??? 30% OFF EVERY DAY!!

Well.. I’ve heard some great audio books lately.  Jeff Tweedy’s book on songwriting (and more). Seinfeld’s book, and Greenlights by Matthew McConaughey  are a couple of nonfiction gems.  Ready Player One was a good listen and if I were  writing book reviews  I would mention about 25 more good things  I’ve listened to in the last  couple months.  However, this entry isn’t about books so much as it is about listening.  Along with  this blog there is a podcast about seeking peace and joy  which has had an increased  listenership over the past few months.  I sometimes rpeat material and sometimes not, and was wondering if repeating things was a bad idea so I looked some information about listening itself as an activity and  found out some interesating things that may impact a search for  peace and joy.  

I’ll leave a link below for further reference.

Ok listen up.... read this out loud for maximum effect as people learn about 85% of what they know by listening.  So listening sounds good right?  Well maybe...maybe not.  It seems that right after hearing things most people can only remember about half of what they hear and within  a few hours that rate is discounted by 30%.  Yes...a few hours after hearing something most people only retain about 20%.  Most people talk at about 130-150 words a minute, however  your brain has the capacity to hear about 450 words a minute at the maximum.  What does this meaN?  When you are locked in and listening  your brain has a lot of time on its hands to get distracted by  all kinds of things including noise other than what is being said.  

Women apparently process what they hear with both sides of their brain  while men tend only to be listening on the right side so there’s some chance we may say what we mean and mean what  we say but we’re not creating the  same meanings and storing the info in the same ways.  

Most adults  spend  a solid four hours a day listening to  things intentionally such as radio, stereo, computer streaming media, etc and youth are not far behind.  

Listening to music  (especially calmer music) does seem to improve performance  in a wide variety  of tasks including  doing math and driving.  I’m not sure where these studies were done and I’m pretty sure Sister Gregory didn’t have Black Sabath or Led Zep blasting at the convent while she was preparing  lesson plans for Algebra II.  

Anyway.. what’s listening have to do with peace and joy?  

Well for one it seems as if meditation is listening. To one’s soul.  For another  it seems like we make more. Meaningful connections by listening and asking questions than we do by making sure  we are being heard all the time.  In fact, it seems that  a person who refuses to listen will often  wind up in a place full of people. Who have nothing interesting to say.  

So I guess my question... the question I am asking myself... is... can I pick out the 20% of what I heart that is important?  Will I have the patience. To have things repeated until  I feel certain enough to change my notions about the world knowing I’m using a lot of time I effectively?  I fancy myself a pretty good listener as do many of you, however, how often do we practice listening skills with anyone awareness we are doing so and how would that change our connections with others?  I don’t know the answers to these questions but I’d love to hear your thoughts and If unpunished ask “Can you hear me now?” I’ll say yes and that I’m listening!https://www.creditdonkey.com/listening-statistics.html

Will it all come out in the wash

 PEACE AND JOY—DOES IT ALL COME OUT IN THE WASH?

It’s early morning and the dryer just stopped spinning.  Now due to some lovely architecture and the fact that we dropped our full sized dryer in the move last spring, we have a mini-dryer.  It, of course, is not called a mini-dryer it’s a “space saver, it’s economy-sized, it’s “apartment friendly—it’s “great for young professionals on the go.”  In short it holds a towel, three shirts, and 9 socks which  may have been 10 but one always goes missing.  Now they should have called. It the slot machine dryer because most of the time. You can sit and wash it spin but nothing  of value is going to  happen and you almost never get  a good return for your time or money.   Okay...enough complaining about that let’s get  down to  the river and beat this entry on a rock.  

Sometimes seeking peace and joy requires a bit of musing and today I started musing about how many terms we use that are  laundry related.  For example I’m not sure  recent events will all come out  in the wash and  I am feeling like  we have all been put through the wringer over the past year.  for certain our attention is taxed by a mind-numbing  flood of information that lasts only as long as the global-political spin cycle.   Sometimes it seems that the average  person gets  reamed, steamed, or dry cleaned and some people  get just plain hung out to dry.   Tempers run hot and cold and while many folks just hope for a  normal day or two we all only have time to spin and rinse away yesterday before setting out for another heavy duty day.  Just to maintain our current status, many folks are turned inside out, lain flat, or treated very delicately so to speak.  

On the other hand the washer and dryer doesn’t have to be all doom and gloom.  Sure it suggests we separate things, however, most the time. You can throw a lot of things in together and  things turn out  as good as new and maybe in life we can put together a lot of different things and things will come out  better than when they went in—with the possible  exception of “new” red stuff and white  stuff.  Even then you might come out with something that makes it seem like you are viewing the world through rose-colored glasses and that wouldn’t be all that bad  would it?  These machines give us lots of choices.  there isn’t just scalding hot or freezing cold water.  There is hot, warm, normal, cool, and cold.  There is heavy duty, normal perma-press, and delicate.  There is rinse and spin only.  The dryer offers  low and high heat and no heat along with “fluff only which could be labeled  “the news cycle because  there’s a lot of spin but no outcome that I have noticed.  Anyway the point is..there are choices which means no matter what you want to bring to  the situation with your baskets, tubs, and hampers...you are going to have options and in seeking peace and joy —-and in most of life—options are good.  

Oh and let’s not forget fabric softeners we can add things that make our clothes feel and smell better.   Maybe once a week each of us should try to be a cultural fabric  softener and make the world. A little softer and smell a little better or stink a little less so to speak.   

Well... the dryer is  done and unlike. Me  I can control the wrinkles if I do what is needed so I’d better get to it.  So... let’s all toss a bit of our outer shell in... add a little  liquid  that may make us bubbly, and take  life for a spin cycle or two... 

More  soon.  

The king is born?

 

HEY SIRI —-SHUFFLE ALL SONGS

Elvis , Steven, and You

Well when days run together it’s difficult to  recall if it were yesterday or the day before (yes I know that’s why  they made google and Siri)... well anyway one of the last few days marked the birthday off  the King ....you know the King who moved like no other. And expressed his soul in a voice that the world  came to know.... Why of course I’m referring to 

Dr. Hawking the king of modern astrophysics.   What? You thought I  was referring. To the Tupelo  tornado  who made his first splash at the Alabama/Mississippi Fair winning about 10 dollars worth of ride tickets  —worth approximately 4.2 million dollars today—have you been to a carnival lately?— 

Elvis the other king played  a guitar he had received for a birthday gift from his parents although he really wanted a bicycle.  So this $12.95 his folks spent was five bucks more than I spent on the first used bike that I bought with some birthday money which leads me to wonder why the heck I didn’t go for the guitar?  Oh.. oh well... so let’s get to the moral of the story.  

Is it possible  that something good can come from  not getting what we might want?   

Now I’m going to dip my foot in the political  realm which I generally categorically  avoid.  These days and in lots of days before now  al lot of people  don’t get what they want.  Yet is that the tragedy  we seem to want to adopt?  Well let’s look at Elvis as the Guru for  our political  wisdom.  

You see he took some good music from people he had little or no contact with and instead of dismissing. It out of hand he learned its rhythms and enhanced  them with his subtle abilities and bang!  The world opened up their ears and heard  a new message a new kind of music  that rock and roll stuff.  Oh and those four lads from Liverpool Richard James John and George and some dudes like Mick and Keith, heard this disappointed bicycle and some might say the rest is history.  So maybe we can’t always get what we want but we might find sometimes we get what we need?   Oh and if we  can’t see the  path from our disapppointment to  our desire then maybe we can  twist and shout a bit so that somebody will hold. Your hand as we all find the long and winding  road that leads to your door or at the very least we can all  let it be for a while because even though you say you want a revolution maybe it’s time to come together.  

Maybe if we don’t try to find a macho man who tells us how we are barely stayin’ alive we won’t  feel like we have to burn that mother down and instead we might see it is okay if we learn to listen to the sounds  of silence long enough to imagine we will survive before  we’re burnin’ down the house.  

Further. If we follow Elvis maybe we can have the patience to take a serious look in the looking glass and someone like Brandy can reach our and teach your children  to ask themselves “who are you and to understand that life has a lot of buzzers, bells and bumpers so one might best be takin’ care of business  becoming a pinball wizard.  

Oh you think this has gone too far?  Well maybe so and yet these days it seems we are looking out at the road  rushing  under our wheels and under a bad moon risin’(and maybe there’s never been any reason) but a lot of folks seem to be running. On empty and don’t even know what they’re hopin’ to find.  

So.... sing, sing a song and don’t worry if it’s not a bicycle or good enough and teach the world to sing too... Perfrect harmony might not be  on the road to Shambala, or even at the top of a stairway to heaven yet if we are seeking peace and joy it’s probably  better than spitting  into the wind or living in a powder keg  and giving off sparks.  

In the end be curious. And generous and believe that you’ve got a little star and  you’re gonna let it shine.

Poets and protesters

 POETS AND PROTESTERS PROMOTE PEACE AND JOY

Now together we must  calmly mend what most folks feel is broken

are words that poets and protesters have very rarely spoken

Yet that will never make these words shine less or be less true

Like please do unto  others as you’d have them do to you

Today let’s share some daily bread and gently raise a drink

Fight to understand  another’s heart to know what they may think

Meet to draw some wisdom from the data we devour

Ask why we leave out empathy as we learn to worship power?

Remember there are neighbors in every. Neighborhood 

New ideas have rarely grown from shattered glass or burning wood

When we seek out common purposes and suggest options and choices

Then those  we sigh to sway  will more likely hear our voices

scream ‘I’m here to share my gifts” Scream it loud and clear 

Expand  to use the power of love and dismiss the power of fear

Expect each other to create more than we can destroy 

Reach  out and walkwith others  as we all seek peace and joy

Get Out The Creative Cookbook

 A SPACE FOR CREATING

So... many people who  play a big role in my universe—-“my” univers?  Really?  That’s probably  overstating my cosmic powers a bit.... Okay let’s just  say a lot of the people I strive to stay connected with  have creative  tendencies.  Understanding the richness this brings. To my experiences, it seems reasonable to connect creative experimentation to seeking peace and joy.  Therefore, it shouldn’t come as a shock that my reading list includes  a fair share of works offered by artists, actors, musicians, and writers willing to take a stab at expressing  the processes and practices they have semi-adopated and adapted.  Having gone down the on-ramp this far you may not be mildly befuddled  by the fact that this post connects to one of these recent offerings.  In this case it’s  the book about writing one song by Jeff Tweedy the driving force within  WILCO.  (I’m not as impressed with WILCO as some, however, I once owned ABBA’s disco-oriented  album 

Okay if you create things, especially those things including words...I highly recommend  his short book and for my money his explanation of a songwriting  processes is fruitful.  Therefore  I’m going. To use it  for a few posts to fill up some creative space.  

One facet of the process  outlined in the book is  a word connection exercise.  Tweedy gives an example of how some words get tied to some others and  those connections need to be broken so that the words involved  can become more dynamic.  He essentially asks  if there is a “smattering” of anything other than  applause?  So...I’m sure many of you thought sure there’s a smattering of penguins right?  Ok..moving on he suggests that one might take  an occupation and writing down ten verbs related to what tat person might do and then picking out  ten or so nouns  by looking around in  your  current  space.  

I won’t offer my full lists here, yet I will  say the rest of this effort has to do with the occupations of cook and priest and the objects  were  drawn from my living room and  my office/studio.  

Verbs related to the cook

Frying broiling slicing

Frosting stirring scooping

Tasting boiling

Nouns  linked to my living room

Light switch thermostat snow globe

Remote control foot stool sweat shirt phone charger shot glasses

Cast iron toy car

Now  one can use these words  by connecting them in  various ways to form a poem of sorts and  here’s mine. 

As I activate the light switch with some degree of hesitance 

It shows the snow globe’s boing and we’re all unwitting residence

We stand upon the foot stool on life’s cake we are the frosting

While  our souls  may be emerging we have no idea what  it’s costing

There is sufficient. Evidence we know. Not what to do

With this abandoned phone charger dangling just outside the stew

So we maximize the headphones  to cover up the crying

As we slowly  realize our remote control is frying

The cosmic  thermostat indicates that cold hearts may need scooping

So let’s raise our spiritual shot glasses and get to the regrouping

Verbs. Linked to a priest 

 Preaches kneeling or kneels pray

Blessed or blessing anoint sprinkle

Gather forgive comfort

Nouns in my office/studio

IPad/tablet/keyboard ink pen junk mail

Vinyl  records guitar weed eater  battery

Attic door

Microphone neon  sign plastic flowers

curtains bunny chord stapler

Okay here we go again...

As the cleric  tried to bless  the fool

Who plays guitar in the vestibule 

The microphone  takes the stand 

To testify this all was planned 

By the peddler  selling plastic  flowers

And claims that they  have mystic powers

To forgive those who abuse the pen 

Or the tablet keyboard now and then

Outside  we gather  kneel and pray

Till the sprinkler send a stream our way 

And the neighbor’s pet baboon  breaks loose

And our weed eater runs out of juice

But the jester preached It will all  be fine  

Because it says so on his neon  sign

That rests  beneath the attic door

that’s held by bunny chords galore

But some of us are not so certain 

For we’ve seen the man behind the curtain 

And since we’ve  heard the vinyl  records play

We’ll seek peace and joy come what may

What do these  rhymes mean?  Who knows... but they are seeds and if  you expect shade  you might want to teach. Someone. How to plant trees and thank those who taught you.  so thanks. To all you creative soldiers out there.  

Do over part one better than before

 *** Don’t forget to check out the BONUS  LINK at the end of this “Do-over Post. ****

(This post conjures up this musical connection for me... for you?). 

WHO WANTS A DO-OVER? 

WELL ..WE MADE IT

`!!! Just like 

Bo (or 

Beaukx—never play the French version of hangman or scrabble) and Luke 

Duke we have jumped  our temporal version of the General Lee over the creek even though the bridge  is definitely out and left 2020  in the dust landing in2021.  Maybe we should  just roll on and let the past be, however, it’s hard not to take  a look back to confirm  the Rosco-like  2020 isn’t  still on our tail.... so... in order that we honor this possibility I’ve decided to look into the rear view mirror  at a few posts—about one per month... dust them off—edit —and enhance them a bit to see if we can’t squeeze some lemonade  our of the lemons that  last year  provided in great numbers.  This is the first of these entries.  ...and welcome to a new year’s do over 

Last year...

MAKING SURE YOUR. NEW YEAR’S RESOLUTIONS DON’T FALL SHORT IN 2020

We are about 54,000 seconds into the new year...more or less so if you haven’t made any resolutions that’s cool or if you haven’t started executing them that’s cool too.  The really nice thing is you haven’t had the chance to sabotage them yet and you still have time to remove many Of the barriers that You may run into.  In short, it’s the perfect time to enhance your chances of gaining peace and joy in relation to your New Year’s commitments to make proactive change.  

Nobody reading this just dropped onto the planet so let’s start with the assumption that it is a new year, however, we are carrying over some old crap. — — New for 2021–

Holy  Moses we will be carrying  residue  from last year around a long while until we decide to wipe it off our neighbors’ feet or from our own sandals  as we leave  some very unwelcoming villages. 

 

.

The first key to creating the map to proactively engaging in new things is to make yourself a little “working room.”.  No I’m not talking about. Cleaning out the  basement or garage—all that stuff. There if REALLY. GOOD. Even if you have no idea what you have and why—-oh wait that’s me.  I’m talking about making  the mental space needed.  If you are making a resolution  to change something that your past has created—too much weight...not enough  sleep...too much debt etc... then you have already set up a barrier to  peace and joy by assuming somehow that you have been and are at present a failure in those areas.  If you are  starting with the idea that you have failed before, you reduce your positive energy around that resolution.   So, for example,  maybe you want to weigh 20 pounds less.  Why? Is this because you don’t want someone else. To think you are too heavy?  Is it because you have an idea in your head about what “Normal” people look like?  In short, if your resolution is about something from the past it is critical to understand the root origin of that resolution because working on the branches won’t chop down that tree. 

— — New for 2021 — — Seeking  changes from your past is tricky because  we often bring  the barriers to change along with the challenges so here’s a possibly helpful mantra to tell yourself and others...

Don’t judge  me (or my ideas for change) on my past because. I don’t live there any more.”

 You might discover you want to lose weight. Because  you want to feel younger.  Well spoiler  alert you might have the equation  backwards.  It could be that  looking at a bicycle. In the same way. You did at age 10 might get you closer to getting in shape than  riding that bike in order to regain the energy of a 10-year-old.  You want to be able to dance like you did when you were 20?  Then start dancing ... like you were 20.  Yes, you may fall short, however, also remember that when you were 20 you had to learn how to dance too.  In fact, it might have taken you 20 years to learn how to dance like a 20 year-old and your memory might have fooled you into thinking you used to be better than you actually were.  In short, don’t have targets built on memories and especially those you’ve already declared yourself a failure at right now.  For me.. I do want to lose. Weight because I want. To live longer.  I want to live longer because I have  some experiences out there that I still  feel like I’d  learn from and enjoy.  I want to do a better job at respecting this tool called my body as it is what carries a my spirit around.  Therefore, I have a choice to make right now.  I. Can choose to say to myself, “hey you fat loser you’d better quit eating so much and exercise more”, or I can say, “here are some tools that you have that will help you breathe. Better, smile more, share laughter with others more, and do that for a few more years—why don’t you try a few and see how. That feels?”  There is far more peace and joy in the  second way of thinking and feeling....this is a new year I’d rather  not build it on old feelings of failure.

— 

So lessons learned in 2020 with regard to losing weight and getting fit—LOL.

Don’t get hit by a car.. Losing  muscle  weight  is a suboptimal  approach to shedding  pounds in the long run...I’m still looking for new experiences though — —

Second, build a resolution team for each of your resolutions.  Find a friend, family member (not always the same thing), writer, poet, singer, etc. or two or three that  is into the same. Thing you are walking. Toward and walk along, sing  along, play along, read along—you get the picture.  People will do this with you, however, you have to let them know you want their help or that you will work on things together .  Human beings are great at assuming that everyone thinks like them (oh wait that’s me again) however it just might be from time to time a few people  have different ideas than I do and so it wouldn’t hurt to  put them in the loop and get their. Thoughts a and help or in the same  manner of thought it wouldn’t hurt. Me to help them out either.  Two  heads are always better than one (unless you only have one hat).  As a friend of mine often reminds me.... “no one can do everything...but everyone can do something.”

 

Remember that life is complicated.  That’s the third key to  engaging in  new experiences a in the new year.  Therefore, when you  do A and expect B, don’t be extremely shocked if C happens.  If C happens work from C and if that means detouring through Q back to B, then enjoy Q while you are passing through.  

Thoughts like “when I do “this”—“that” will happen” are tricky because there may be some connection between  the two and yet   it might Not be that This causes that just because that often follows this.  My favorite example of that is  the relationship. Between. Marriage and divorce.  You see there can be a lot of things that create conditions for divorce, however if you  look at  the conditions that come before. Divorce, marriage will always show up  on the list.  Everyone who has ever been divorced has been married...but does marriage lead to divorce or cause it?  Before being. Married...you are single so being single leads  to married that then leads. To divorce... so what the heck are you supposed to do?  The point is...be ready to adapt and adjust your pathways to your wanted experiences.  In fact, it might be a  wise idea to make some of your resolutions apply to the processes you use to do things and thus. You are recognizing that  you can’t control everything and that life gets messy.  Or as John said “life is what happens while. You make your plans.”

— —  New for 2021– or as another quote informs us—“People plan and God/ the Universe  laughs”

 

Key number Four?  Big Shocker—Work in the spirit of peace and joy...Enjoy the  idea that you have chosen to try something. New and are willing to experience and experiment.  Know that everything you do creates a tool for doing something that  will or at least could  happen in a later present.  Celebrate your work as growth toward many  outcomes and  be  joyful about.that.  Have you ever played a  video game and at the end when you’ve won the game so to speak the  “celebration”  sequence was disappointing?  Have you ever. Read a book where you  were  wanting the crime to be solved, however when all the answers were in the last chapter you were disappointed in how things  worked out?  Well try to avoid that with your resolutions....

Okay let’s sum up this first entry on resolutions for now and. The next post will be the  unveiling of my personal resolutions for 2020.  

To summarize, even if you are working on things from your past...don’t start from the  failure so far launch point.  This is sometimes made easier if  you look. For the root of this  resolution and in some cases you will find you don’t really  even need that  fruit and so you  don’t need to  pay attention to that tree.

Next, Each one of you is special, however, one of the things  that makes many special is their ability to work with others on common goals and dreams.  In order to. Do this it is helpful to form a “resolution team.”  It is also important to know that. Your team will not be the same for all your resolutions.  

Next recognize that life is not a linear experience and. That relationships between people, places, things, and actions are woven. Together in  wonderful and complicated  tapestries of experiences.  Stay aware of this and relax your estimates of  causal control...In short, know that sometimes you’ll row.  Sometimes you’ll swim.  Sometimes you’ll sail.  Heck sometime as you’ll even  surf, however these might. Not be in the order you thought they would happen.

Finally... celebrate your work...celebrate and  respect your  experiments and experiences as you are having them.  In that way  you might not. Spend as much time. Worrying about the celebration at the end.  for, as. We all know, worrying is the worst possible way to use one’s imagination.

Okay welcome to 2020 More tomorrow.

  —— Well make that  do over. 1... 2021 style—- Here’s our bonus link!!!!

https://youtu.be/iUbxtaEFGJ0