Semisonic seeking peace and joy

Semi-Sonic Peace and Joy

Every new beginning....

In an earlier entry (yesterday if you are reading in order or if I’m putting these in order for you to read?) the topic was sort of—“the inner beginnner and the benefits of adopting that stance.  Now, I’m going to talk about  the end of the beginning.  Please note the end of the beginning is not the beginning of the end or at least it doesn’t have to be.  That friends, brings me to the title as a starting point for today’s notions.  Semi-Sonic is not half the speed of sound just like the Supreme Court is not where Diana Ross played tennis.  It’s the name of a rock group that had one hit which was “closing time and in that song there were two lyrics that really grabbed my attention.  These aren’t original sentiments, however they used them to more3 than “semi—perfection.  First is the  lyric... closing time you don’t have to go home, but you can’t stay here...”You are at the end of a beginning or the beginnning of the end when you come to that realization.  Second lyric that hit me like a ton of bricks was “closing time —every. New beginning  comes at some other beginning’s end.”  Together these lyrics serve me as a bit of  wisdom.  In my life, I have come to the point where I realized I couldn’t stay where I was physically or emotionally.  When I reached that point I have usually found relief or a bit of peace because  I didn’t have to ask” “should I come or should I go”—it was in fact “time for me  to fly,” roll with the changes,” so to speak. 

The idea that every new beginning comes  from a beginning’s end has to meanings for me.  There come’s a point where I have the opportunity to reflect and determine  whether. I stay on the course I’m on and f so to decide what I’ll need from here to  embark on the next part of the journey.  It also means that I will lay some things down at this point.  Something has to end in order for a new thing to start most times—not always—but  most times and that is okay.  

In short, you may have to leave the a building you have  built to see what’s out in the world...because if you want to walk on water you have to get out of the boat....(biblical reference and given the amount of rain some of you have had recently I figure  a boat—or an arc reference is appropriate. 

Okay I’m done with cliche for now.  Here’s  what I’m suggesting.  Seeking peace and joy means movement from where you are and exploration of new places with as little judgment as you can live with.  It’s telling your mind and your spirit that you don’t have to believe you are  heading home to move from the place you are and reminding.myself that while persistence is important, holding on to old beginnings when I’m no longer treating them like learning experiences often means that another b eginning. Has reached its end.  

Tomorrow—while I’m tempted to be stuck in the middle with you, I’m going to skip to ending places and how they  are connected with peace and joy.   Till then I’ll leave you with two “Groucho-like”  notions.  It won’t seem long  until. Tomorrow because “time flies like an arrow and fruit flies like a banana.”

ALSO I’D LIKE TO  CALL SOME ATTENTION TO MY NEWEST SPONSOR... AND A CREATIVE ARTIST (and my daughter) who has this artisan business.  she is launching her Halloween Line today with some fabulous hand crafted items—isn’t  that the kind of life we want a quality experience with people we know doing things that matter for people who care?”  

Anywaay back to Groucho—I’ve done some good writing in the past year———(pause) but this probably isn’t it.  

Keep Smiling

Peace and joy in munchkin land

PEACE, JOY & YOUR  “INNER” BEGINNER

Well... “how does your light shine?” Today?  My answer to that is we shall see how it feels in a couple hours.  No, I’m not talking about Karma or the universe, or my back that sometimes  reminds me that I abused it until I needed a significant surgery a couple years back.  I’m not talking about my spirit, well not right this second.  Mostly I’m talking about a very small spot on the tip of my left index finger and another place  on the left side  of my right thumb.  

Both of these  spots have some irritating pain this morning and I know exactly why.  a few of you out there also know why.  These spots hurt  because I was learning  a song on the guitar that has a funky but easy finger picking pattern.  I’ve known the chords to the song for a while and have wanted to. Be able to “pick it” for some time, however, something has been holding me back—until yesterday.

You see there’s this thing called the beginners mind or your inner beginnner.  The  concept. Here is that you can experience the  world in a new way—with curiousity and enthusiasm—when you channel things as if they are a brand new experience.  

So... I open up youtube anbdIstart watching as if I have never played this song before.  I didn’t feel the need to compare what I was learning with other songs or techniques I knew.  I went in believing I would learn a great deal and knowing I would need to practice this learning to master. The song.  I also knew that if Itried to bend the chords and the song into the. Patterns I typically use or have used in playing that song, I’d likely end up somewhere on the mediocre side.  

To make a long story shorter....I’ll get to the point.  seeking peace and joy almost always. Relies upon looking for new meanings in old experiences.  As the munchkins tell Dorothy when she asks where to begin?—At the beginning! If you start at the beginning with few preconceived notions you won’t  compare your learning with that of others and. You will value any step forward.  You probably won’t care too much about what other people think because, after all, you are just starting out and all you have to be is a little more skilled than you were yesterday or earlier today.  

This mindset can be incredibly powerful yet far more relaxed than the one we fill with our expectations or our assumptions about the expectations of others.  So peace comes from the practice of new ways and new patterns that refresh the world and joy comes from the hundreds of small gains made when you are a beginner at anything.  Approaching  life with a beginner’s perspective and you’ll soon be riding without training  wheels or be on the road to shambala (with a couple of sore fingers sometimes .). Practice peace and joy starting at the beginning of eac h day and remember. You don’t need that much finger pressure and that that your hand is fast  enough to use a pick :)

More on this  tomorrow after all when you are writing about the beginning  it takes a while to get towards the end. 

Dancing in the moonlight Dash peace and joy

SEEKING  PEACE AND JOY BY DANCING IN THE MOONLIGHT

Dancin’ in the Moonlight (by King Harvest)  is a bright little  tune full of peace and joy.  Year, I didn’t. Write this to highlight the song—I’m shooting for the moon instead.  

A quick browse through. My camera roll will make it  pretty  obvious that I have a think for the moon.  No, I’m not a werewolf, although in recent years I have started. Sprouting hair in some strange places.  Since that’s already Okay that’s too much information—let’s  go back to images of Earth’s only natural satellite rather than focusing of the back of my right earlobe.  

When I was young, I thought the size of the moon changed  during the course of the month.  Then I learned the shape of the moon didn’t change and, in fact, the “shape of the moon really has to do with the amount of sunlight it is reflecting.  

So the moon is “trapped” in Earth’s orbit and doesn’t have light of its own?  Why then, does it intrigue me so?  Here’s why.

This  object (so far away) influences the tide.  Now on a planet that is  about 3/4ths water that’s pretty significant.  The moon makes a the  earth rotate slower every year.  Oh you won’t really not notice it, unless you live a very,very,very, long time.  However, about 4 billion years from now we won’t need a leap year anymore because  we won’t have that extra day to contend with.  Also the moon is very slowly  moving a bit farther away from earth—like a centimeter a year or so (I think that’s what I read).  

Okay, most of you aren’t fascinated  by this, but  here are some other things I want to add right before I get to the peace and joy part.  Over the course of human history men have  claimed the moon was a big ball of fire or (perhaps promoted by the state of Wisconsin) made of cheese.  The gravity on the moon isn’t as strong as the gravity on Earth so you would weigh only about one sixth of your Earth’s weight on the moon.  There is no “wind” on the moon so the flag you see in all those photos is not “flying.”  We made it look that way for the photo.  

The Moon, Peace, and Joy

About  20 years ago a friend of mine were talking one evening and he was about 550 miles  away when he says, “if the sky is clear where you are you should check out the  moonrise tonight.  The moon is huge.”  Even though it was pretty cool out I took the phone and walked out the back door to the alley and sure enough the moon was  just becoming visib ble and it was huge.  It was at that moment. It dawned on me that my buddy would always share the impression of this  event and even more, it meant that. Anytime I wanted to remember our friendship as something  present and near I only needed to find the moon in the sky because we shared that.  Now here’s the cosmic peace  part.

Since then I have always. Felt that distance is not important in friendships when you take the time to share experiences.  The moon is just one little object. In a vast  universe and yet since anyone can look up and see it and share it, it becomes an incredibly powerful sign of togetherness and peace in the dark. Or the night.  Now I use the moon to think of friends near and far.  I stare up and think about  what everyone. Seeing  the moon has in common rather than how we all all so different. Sometimes.  I respect the fact that this Little Rock in space can influence a vast planet and that brings me joy because sometimes I needs to know that little efforts  from solitary figures can really, really, influence humanity.  The moon creates  an oppportunity for me to  believe that  the experiences we  share can be connected and powerful forces in the universe and the feeling I get inside is one of tremendous joy.  .  

So tonight when you see the  moon reach out your thoughts to someone  who needs your peace and joy—and don’t worry about that hair on your toes it’s normal LOL.

Peace joy and thinking outside the box?

PEACE, JOY, AND “THINKING OUTSIDE THE BOX?”

YouTube is fantastic for learning things—all kinds of things—especially “beginning guitar techniques.  Yesterday, I was learning the intro  to a song or two and the “teacher”  kept referring to  playing in a box.  Now he was talking about  a pentatonic scale located in a particular. Spot  along the neck (fretboard” of the guitar.  Anyway near the end of the. Video he says “you’ll be okay as long as you don’t get too far outside the box.”  A little later I  was listening to a podcast about food waste and found out that in developing countries it is estimated that 50% of the food produced by or for the people in these countries  goes to waste because”the governments and the people lack the education to ‘think outside the box’ when it comes to the many ways to prepare, use, and store, food.”  There’s that box again....

Well... because these recurring  themes  crash together in my head a lot, I started musing about the concept of this all important container otherwise known as “the box.”  I have a lot of boxes in my garage that I have moved around the country and I don’t  know what is in some of them so who knows if  the things in them would be better to be “outside the box?”  Then there is my kitchen where there is a variety of boxes.  I started to wonder. How many things in my kitchen I could identify  by their box alone or by the shape of  the box and the sound  it makes when shaken.  There’s the boxes that contain pop or soda depending  on how you  say it,—the cereal boxes, the round oatmeal box, the box with dishwasher detergent, the baking soda box the egg carton, the lactate free milk carton, and a bunch more that  are pretty easy to  identify.  So.. I have to concede boxes.have their place and yet my thinking about boxes wasn’t anywhere close to done.  

I left the kitchen and  opened up a webpage that asked me for some demographic  information.  Holy moly  there were  a bunch of boxes—-gender—race—-age—city—country etc... In order to get a “free” newsletter I was supposed to put myself in all those boxes for someone in order for them to figure out who I. Am.  Wouldn’t a small text box that said “tell us three important thins about you” be better?  If I’ve got to be in boxes, I’d rather  choose. My own.  The landline rang (so  my car warranty is  expiring or someone wants my opinion on a politician.  There’s another big box.  I took 20 seconds to explain that  I felt government. In general was merely a discussion of how we were going to choose to do things that no individual can do on their own—no more —no less—so I really couldn’t  say I’m in your party’s box or more importantly, I wasn’t going to listen to why I shouldn’t be in a different party’s box.   

So...coming around to the point...what does all this have to do with peace and joy? 

Apparently  the world requires a. Lot of boxes that are of different sizes and shapes and apparently there is some human need to sure these to sort people and things out.  On the other hand, I can’t help but wonder how much time we  spend sorting out things/people who might fit into  lots  of boxes?  How many times do we put round pegs in triangular  holes?  I bet you thought I was going to say square holes right?  What if I tried to put a rhombus shaped peg in a hexagon shaped groove?  The point is, I wonder how much of a whole person or a whole idea we shave off to make it fit in our anticipated. Meaning of who they.are or what concepts the thoughts  represent?  Not only do we lessen out experience of those people. And ideas, but how much time do we use trying to  keep the people and ideas neatly in their assigned place?  Instead of  using creativity. To resolve  problems are we busier putting people in boxes to determine  that it is someone else’s fault?  Plus how much energy does it take to judge everyone and everything?  What happens when. We finally admit something or someone doesn’t really fit in a particular box...yes a garbage bag and duct tape can be real helpful...but seriously.  Is thinking outside or without. A box more productive when you are seeking peace and joy?  Is there more. Joy in helping someone to become   The person they wish to become or do you gain satisfaction in convincing them to  be more like you?  Can you learn anything from someone who is  exactly like you or do you seek out people who have been  other places on the path that you might want to take?  

Well thathat’s about. All I can. Put into this box for now... like the boxes in my garage you might just put this on a shelf somewhere and wonder why you held on to it.  So I’ll leave you with this....If you spend a lot of time. Putting lots of things in boxes, those boxes are going to  get heavy, hard to  move, and hard to carry around so keep your back straight and bend  your knees.  Or maybe  have a lighter life by thinking without  the box.  

Peace Peace And Joy thank you Thursday is back

PEACE AND JOY—ANOTHER THANK YOU THURSDAY

Some months ago I had this bright idea that every other Thursday would be “Thank You  Thursday.”  After all, I have a lot of people and things to be thankful for and without these people and  circumstances seeking peace and joy would be more difficult if not impossible.  I think I made it  through a whole two cycles of thanks before I forgot I had made this commitment or Iforgot it was Thursday.  Either way that has to end and it has to end today.  

Or maybe it needs to begin again today depending on how much latitude you are willing to grant.  So on this thankful Thursday where would I like to direct my gratitude?  

Thank  you to the ARTISTS

That seems pretty  vague and general—I know, however clarity is coming....read on...

I am grateful for  the thousands of times you have sat alone with the pencil in your hand, or the paint brush.  Thanks for the  millions of  times  you have looked for a specific kind of light shining in a unique way and lifted your camera only to throw away  hundreds of efforts to find the one that captured a moment in time.  Thanks to the musician who plays scale after scale after scale after scale until the movement of  your hands is connected  directly to the song in your soul.  Thank you to the poet who is dedicated to saying as much as possible in as few words as I could imagine.  Thank you for the courage to share both the perfect efforts and those you have to release before they diminish your sanity.  Thank you all for spending the  first hour of practice so that the last ten minutes of performance, the last paragraph I read, and the last photo set before me let me see something new outside myself or inside myself.  

In short, I want. To thank. Everyone who takes a on the task of  giving. Me a choice of meanings to  my moments—

MEANING TO MY MOMENTS

Thank you for each line and curve that you draw for me to see

Thank you for the needed nerve to share the sketch with me

Thank you   For the lingering chord that’s in concert with your voice

For the  sweetness or the sadness in the expressions of your choice

Thanks for keeping on when the efforts felt like drudging

When you knew folks without knowledge would feel free to be quite judging

Thanks each and every one of you who take on this daunting duty

To bring meaning to  the moments of peace and. Joy and beauty

peace and joy you can’t phone it in

PEACE AND JOY—YOU CAN’T PHONE IT IN

Three rings and then “Hello...please listen carefully out options have changed”. Then it was the traditional phone tree press 1 for the things we  want—like for you to pay your bill—press 2 to hear a recording of our location and hours so that we can remind you that we don’t have to explain how to get here or we’re probably not open when you can schedule a time to come in and we don’t want to talk about it—press three to reschedule  your appointment—press 4 to talk with a representative... and so on then press star to repeat  this menu.  So 4 it is and then  “please hold while your call is connected.”  Then a few minutes of commercials and then ‘your call may be recorded for training purposes.”  Can I get a copy of that recording please?  Then  if I’m successful in  doing what I intended  I have a record of it and. Can practice for similar calls in the future.  Maybe next time I’ll speak only in movie quotes or rhymes to increase the chance my call gets used.  Maybe I’ll grab my guitar and play an original so that I might get discovered and make the big time.  well then  another click and I learn the “your call is important to us”.and I will speak with the next available  representative.  Seriously?  How do I know that two other people won’t be picked before me?  After this long maybe I. Don’t want the next available representative, maybe I want the best available representative.  After all, I have waited this  long—I want somebody good.  

That’s call one for the day.  Next, I was very. Relieved that  at least two different people are. Paying very close attention to my car warranty.  When you. Get a chance  you might want to check  yours because apparently lots of car warranties run out without warning and it’s an urgent matter.  Also this may be your last opportunity to lower your  credit card interest rates.  You know, because the companies themselves  can’t lower them all by themselves?  

 ...and you wonder why. Your kids choose to text?  Really?  

So we have rules about public service announcements on the radio and television.  There are a lot of regulations and laws about sales, sales tax, and all other types of commerce—heck there’s even a law that you can’t take. A tag off your mattress.  So given this and the number of complaints I hear about  having “to talk to a machine” why don’t we have some  innovative legislation that impacts our phone experiences.  

for example we could employ a lot of humans if human service agencies had a rule that all callers had to talk with a human within 1 minute of dialing in.  Every commercial. Enterprise that puts you on hold  for  more than a minute needs to switch from  advertising to educational content.  Maybe people. Would then learn basic multiplication facts and  perhaps even get the option of pressing 2 for algebra.  Maybe telemarketing firms. Would have to dedicate. At least 10 percent of their calls to  making calls for the school system informing parents of what their kids  are studying in the next two weeks.  If not that, maybe a recording of classic poetry or literature  could come on and folks could  learn a bit of Shakespeare  or “For Whom  the Bell Tolls?”  I don’t know...I can accept. That my call is important to you if you can accept my time is important to me—just saying!

S

Since Ipay. For my phone minutes and. My life minutes are used when waiting for people who have often created a problem in my day, I want something of value back for that.  Maybe companies that use phone trees  should have to pay a tree tax on every call that lasts more than ten minutes unless the caller waives that charge.  

Okay...thanks for reading my rant—now here’s what is has to do with peace and joy.  I often pick up the phone without taking a breath first.  I expect the first sound  I hear will be a friendly voice  saying “hello, how can I help you?” I expect the people I talk with to know how to solve my problem because they created it—or at least in my opinion they did.  JI expect...I expect...I expect...so when things don’t go as I expect?  Next, I rarely view a successful resolution on a call

As a hopeful human interchange which is exactly what happene3d.  Therefore, I don’t take a minute to celebrate that or to remember the dance that took place in order for for that to work out.  That’s where that recording would come in handy?  I don’t track all the great interactions I have on my phone with friends, family, strangers, and sometimes even  government  employees.  So I discount the  experiences that  might balance out or even overshadow the really annoying ones.  Now here’s an idea that I might  try... I just might keep a list of  people I want to talk with handy so that I can dial them up right after I’ve been on hold or have  been pressing. The keypad.  Wouldn’t it be cool to intentionally  take back the peace and joy your phone could provide?  One might. Not always be successful using that method, yet I think it would be a bit like having a cold beer after doing  a lot of yard work in the hot sun or getting dessertafter eating vegetables?  

To sum this all up.... maybe we could add a little more humanity  back into the phone system and if the phone is a public utility, maybe we could improve the public good it does.  As a user maybe  we could stay in a. More peaceful place if we planned some balancing activiytes around our phone experiences.  I know that recognizing my expectations will help me  for sure and doing some intentional behaviors couldn’t hurt—In short, seeking peace and joy is sometimes a thing to practice and I’m going to try this......I’ll report back.

Until. Then thanks for calling and have a nice day!

Managing the Monday mindset and seeking peace and joy

SEEKING PEACE AND JOY—My Messy Monday Mindset

Oh I’m a bit  anxious, I’m not going to panic

Of course it is Monday but alas I’m not manic

I’m not in  a deck chair upon the Titanic

Or searching  McDonald’s  for something organic

But I woke up this morning  with a lingering  concern

that I wasn’t  so ready for the season to turn

There’ve been so many lessons  that I’ve  still got to learn

Which bridges to build and which ones to burn?

I wonder  which dreams I dare not forget

Reminding myself I’ll only regret 

If I give up on others who cling to hope yet

and draw up a list of who owes  me debt. 

Then I breathe deeply and my mind slowly shifts

I let it relax some and it gently drifts

I sing an old song and a strong  spirit lifts

The  part of my soul that highlights my gifts 

Sometimes I’m not sure  which gifts to employ 

You see some will create while others destroy

But just then  I throw out these thoughts  that annoy

Because I have a new week to seek Peace and Joy

Peace and joy the playlist walk this way?

PEACE AND JOY — the soundtrack

This  offering is  just for pure fun.  Well...no..I suspect it’s got some hidden meaning in it, and can provides a bit of insight into  how I feed my soul through the sense of wound (or hearing if you will).  

People naturally  make sense of  experiences  by constructing  a narrative that makes sense to them whenever possible.  That being the case, I decided I would take the song titles from my “peace and joy” Spotify  playlist and form a short story...like I said...just for fun.   Will it require a stretch to include some fo these titles?  Yes, but learning as a part of. The seeking process requires some stretching from time to time.  So here. Goes:

*Note there are more songs on the list, however I went in order through the first 20. I’ll capitalize the titles and note the artist with initials  except for the first song which is by Enter the Hagas (sp).

ONE (ETH) morning in the 45 minutes prior to sunrise I set about my morning walk.  I lumbered  down the beaten path and  over the river.  It dawned on me that the lights on the huge “last billboard before you hit Canada were starting to fail on BOTH SIDES NOW (JC) but still provide enough light to highlight the west side of this BRIDGE OVER TROUBLEWD WATERS (S&G).  Since it was still pretty dark in the wesatern sky, I thought I’d look to see what stars were visible.  You know. You have to  do this from  time to time WHEN YOU SEE A CHANCE (SW).  I spotted a few stars and wondered what constellation  they were from.  Who am I kidding?  If they aren’t part of the big or Little Dipper I haven’t a clue if the stars belong to the Orion belt or maybe are shouting “hey man look at me for it is truly the dawning of the age of AQUARIUS (TFD)BEFORE I COULD GET A SECOND LOOK THE SKIES STARTED TO VEIL THE STARS AS IT WAS TURNING  FROM PRE-DAWN TO DAWN AND THE HEAVENS HAD NO CHOICE BUT TO LET THE SUNSHINE IN (TFD again).  I made a feeble attempt to remember other  cosmic signposts , but most of my solar system knowledge went out the window  when they deposed Pluto and like so much cosmic dust that knowledge is just “LOST IN MY MIND (THATH). Right then I realized the ALL I KNOW (AG) is it is a big universe out there and I have so much  to explore and learn.  I wasn’t going to be discouraged today just because I couldn’t NAME (GGD) a few stars among the billions out there.  As I reached the end of the walking path and could smell  breakfast from The Cracker Barrel, I notices a tiny pang of HUNGER.  STRIKE (TOTD) news from Detroit floated into mind as I stared in to the growing line of traffic headed out to make a buck and while their cars and headlights were SHINY, HAPPY PEOPLE (R.E.M.) these were not.  Still I mentally wished them a great day.  a few of the older drivers in rusty old trucks had the radio on and the windows rolled down and radios that  had once played that radical rock music belted out by BUDDY HOLLY (W) they now blasted out some  older white guy  spouting fear.  This D.J’s show would end soon because he had started at 3 A.M. (M20).  He would be replaced by a more popular clone and timewould stand still and go forward all at once for a person holding onto the last years of work before wandering. Into retirement.

I hit my traditional turning point and while I considered  going  on, I decided that wasn’t going to happen today.  Gone was the smell of pancakes and bacon as I walked up upon cars stopped for moments at the intersection.  Car exhaust was pretty much all I could smellMy brain wandered wondering what other  odors would be included in this walk.  But on any given day different aromas  floated  past my nose making me realize that regardless of where you stand you really can’t control the smells of things that are BLOWIN’ IN THE WIND (BD).  Now heading  into the sunrise that  was starting to light up the river, I couldn’t help but SMILE (UK) because when I hit this point there is a short downhill section and even though my legs are. A bit tired I always pick up speed.  Don’t get me  wrong no one’s going to mistake my pace with that of a RUNAWAY TRAIN (SA), but as. The last pieces of night DRIFT AWAY (DG) I know I’m going to make it back home before I have to  use a tree which is good since it’s getting  pretty darn light out. Taking the last few steps  off the bridge path I hit a sloping spot and start  looking for the walkway that will lead me back from this HIGHER   GROUND (SW) to the river banks where I live.  In a couple minutes I make the final right  turn and while I’m not. RUNNIN’ ON EMPTY (JB), I do feel the worn spots in my shoes  and think with gratitude about the number of miles these shoes have given.  I know that they have a few  hundred miles left in them as long as I DON’T STOP BELIEVIN’ (J)initial more important to have comfortable shoes rather than pretty ones.  

Well...I know I said 20... yet I think I’ve had enough and probably. You have to...Thanks for going on my “WALK OF LIFE” (DS)  or att least for one morning of this walk. Yes...I do listen to these songs. On my walk sometimes or a book and I really don’t think of much else.  I seek peace and joy by becoming a part of the sunrise and the traffic noise, and yes the smell of breakfast and car  fumes.  Now that you have walked with me, know that part of seeking peace and joy is retuning that favor by walking with some of you on good days and not so good ones too.  I hope. You get that feeling by reading these short raMBLINGS.  THANKS FOR LETTING ME WRITE THEM  FOR YOU... MORE SAOON

To everything turn turn turn the season of peace and joy

TO EVERY SEASON...TURN, TURN, TURN, AND SEEK PEACE AND JOY

Sure the Byrds made it a mildly successful folk tune in the viet Nam era.  However, just like Elvis did so often, these folks pinched the words from another source.  Now you can’t find  the “heartbreak Hotel” in Judea, but you only need take a peak at another King’s words to find Solomon cranked out this classic in Ecclesiastes.  Lo and as I recall the song mentions “gathering Stones together”.  Who knew Mick, Keith, and the lot would still be getting satisfaction after all these years?  

Okay this effort isn’t meant to be a snippet left on the cutting room floor from “The School of Rock”—it’s about being late. September (no I’m not launching into Maggie May). You see, we are rolling toward the first day of fall and the season that was summer is about to turn, turn, turn and I’m left here wondering (like many of you) what in the world happened to Summer?  Wasn’t it just the 4th of July?  I mean wasn’t it just yesterday I was watching the great hot dog eating contest sponsored by Nathan’s where this guy packed away 60+ hot dogs in 10 minutes?  

Holy  Mustard and relish Batman that’s a lot of tube steak.  Then again, Americans love their hot dogs.  In the summer, we eat an estimated 7 Billion hot dogs every year and spend 2.5 Billion dollars on hot dogs.  The unofficial  world’s record price for any given  hot dog was recorded  on the West Coast and rang up at $169.00Now, ballpark prices are out of control, but this wasn’t a Dodger dog thank goodness.  While that pushed the limits of price, the world record holder for size is a reported 668 pounder.  

Alright we’ve covered rock music and hot dogs..and they may have a lot do with summer and peace and joy, butI’ve been waiting for my internal control to come along and start writing about “seasons” because that’s the real topic here...and this is the season to make those thoughts clear.

One song lyric that emerged when  writing about the lessons Ive learned in life is that every dream has a season if you don’t let apathy win.  I believe that and yet I’m not sure I believe in the “norm” when it comes to seasons.  The norm is things are born, they experience a childhood full of growth and experimentation, they reach an adulthood where they are stable and “prosper”, and then they decline.  Another way to look at this is through the lens of  a fruit tree.  The tree grows from a seed, eventually grows into a state where  the tree produces fruit containing seeds, drops those  seeds by letting the fruit ripen and fall away to the ground and then the fruit rots away letting the seeds have a chance to start the growth of another tree.  The difference here is that the tree gives back and passes along the essence along.  Finally, I have  learned to look at seasons as not quite as inevitable  for people as they are for some other things.  If someone gets up each morning, meditate3s or prays or and  prays (or does anything that reflects  their beliefs, and then dedicates themzselves to the notion that today is a “new” day, then maybe each day becomes it’s own new season.  Each day contains a rebirth or dedication.  Each day includes experimentation and learning.  Each day. Has a part where. You pass things along or share your gifts.  At the end of the day, you lay down the remains of the day knowing that  if there is a tomorrow you will start anew.  

Yes what I’m suggesting is that every day has it’s seasons and that.every day has the potential to contain changes.  That’s what we can learn from  the actual seasons—that things will change and so will we.  as seasons pass in our lives we grow comfortable with the fact that winter will give way to spring and that summer rolls past into fall when leaves turn glorious colors and prepare to coat the ground thus producing the natural material to enrich the soil that will bring forth the next new tree.  For me, when I pay attention, andam seeking peace and joy I see a lot of new trees each day.  People get new jobs.  People move to new locatins.  People offer up artwork or things they have written.  People build things that inspire others.  You might argue that  these things are fruit not new trees and that’s just fine with me.  The point is, that if I look I see these things and that since the seasons have taught the  lessons of change, it brings a sense of peace and not fear when the changes come as they will.  

We all can see new trees every day—we can see growth in the trees—we see the fruit ripen and fall so  trees can come forth.  We experience all of. This in the  here and now and it is a full experience.  Again for me looking at daily seasons brings some peace and lessens the thoughts I havetyhat any given thing is happening out of season—for the feeling that things are.  Taking place out of season is a thief of peace and joy.  The reality is that everything happens in a season,but it is very hard to  see the whole season sometimes.  On the other hand, if I am intentional, I include elements of all the seasons in my day each day.  Then nothing seems quite as out of place.  

Wow who knew we could go from a 668 pound hot dog could find its way through to  a philosophic metaphor for living through the seasons of events in life?  Well... it happened and now it’s time to let the primary hot dog season go.  Bring on the bon fire season, the apple cider and a new school year because now and always the times they are a changin’

Yo ho ho what can we learn from a pirate about seeking peace and joy?

YO HO HOPING YOU ARE SAILING ON A VOYAGE TO PEACE AND JOY

Shiver me timbers it’s “Talk Like a Pirate Day: so thanks for  not making me walk the gang  plank just yet and putting up with  my “Black. Beard’s blusterings today.  It’s good to  know that  an old scurvy  dog can still get a little notice.  

Speaking of scurvy—it is a horrible affliction that took the lives of countless pirates and other mariners who didn’t get enough Vitamin C while at sea.  So you don’t eat oranges—will you be a noticing your gums swell so significantly that you have to cut them open to use your teeth?  Will your veins get so diseased that they eventually burst either  in your brain or your heart?  Yes my friends sorry if this ruined your breakfast, lunch, or dinner, however, you should be informed.  The good news that scurvy is incredibly treatable and avoidable.  Oranges are not the only source of Vitamin C...strangely broccoli has more  of this anti-scurvy substance than an orange.  also  tomato’s and a bunch of other fruits  can bring in the needed vitamins.  In fact, after discovering that citrus  was a cure and prevented scurvy the British war fleet would often carry a substantial quantities of limes and you guessed it—British sailors and soldiers would get the nickname “limies.”  

Okay back to our peg-legged friends...that  were also referred to as “privateers.”  These  folks made a huge difference in the American Revolution as they interrupted shipping from across the pond and prevented the resupply of British fighting  forces.  

TThe thing about being a pirate is that you weren’t working for  someone else’s treasure or country.  You were comfortable with your own journey and set your own course without an inordinate set of worries about what other ships were doing or were supposed to do.  You found yourself a small crew that was all in on your mission and didn’t worry about what the traditional sailing populous thought.  

So seeking. The spot where. X marked the spot or 

A ship carrying  gold could be like seeking. Peace. And joy in a strange sort of way.  You could make sure you had a small crew.  Do your best to share a mission with  that bunch regardless of what most of the world thought.  You could actually relax your attention to what everyone thinks as you constantly evaluate your position in order to optimize your experiences.  

I know it’s a stretch for a metaphor...but arggh— Sometimes your life needs to hold a little fearless adventure in it.  Sometimes you have to choose a small group to trust and share your treasures with.  You could also sing “yo ho blow the man down” or “yo ho ho and a bottle of rum (unless you  don’t really like rum—but singing a”a bottle of skim milk” doesn’t have the same  impact).  

In short seeking  peace and joy requires  a crew to sail with, a willingneww to share treasure, and having a good compassions to sail by isn’t a bad idea either.  

Okay ye landlovers... it’s about time to put this scrap of writing  into Davie Jone’s Locker and wish you “Bon Voyage” for now.

Holy seeking peace and joy

The Joy of Seeking  Your Super Hero

A few weeks ago I watched as some major league ball players mixed in with some Little League players at the Little League World Series.  A reporter interviewed the young players and the kids offered up a name or two indicating  that these ball players were their favorites or their  hero.  That sparked  some ancient memories for me.  When was the last time I had a hero?  I’m not sure that I don’t have some right now...I’ll get to that in a flash.  

If it’s difficult to clearly claim a “hero” now, I most certainly  have no problem recalling my childhood favorites.  

I stood there in the hallway of a tiny. Rented house in West Burlington, Iowa.  I had on my black jeans and a shirt that had small black and white checks.  I stared down the hall and counted silently back from 5 to 1.  Reaching High Noon my right hand flew up from my side,grabbed the ivory grip and with a flash of gleaming chrome, I pulled the trigger and another would-be scoundrel hit the pretend dust on Main Street.  

You see, just like my hero Roy Rodgers, (he had a shirt like that and while mostly he ended up fist fighting, he left plenty of bad guys pushing up daisies and then rode off with Dale Evans singing a triumphant “happy Trails until we meet again.”

Roy was my hero for sure and I suspected he always would be—well at least for a couple years and then.......then like a siren in the night I heard the  sound that spellled out goes a little like this... Bubba, bubba, bubba, bubba, bubba, bubba,bubba, bubba, bubba, bubba, bubba,bubba, bubba, BATMAN!—and a new super hero was born.  Well a lot of actors have played  that role over  the 80 years—yes holy major flame on a cake (as this weekend marks  the caped crusader’s 80th birthday).  Of course my favorite will always be Adam West from the TV series.  

Why Batman?  After all, there was  a bunch of options?  Clearly Batman himself didn’t have any super powers unless you counted all those cool gadgets and vehicles and of course  he kept them all in his private cave.  Didn’t everyone have a private cave in the late 60’s?  Superman could run faster than a speeding bullet and was more powerful than a locomotive.  However in reflection, Batman was the man because he would bravely run into trouble and of course get himself caught ina mess by some evil criminal.  The show would end with my hero in dire straits but the announcer would give that promise that Batman would still be around for at least one more day because we had to “tune in tomorrow—same Bat time, Same Bat channel.”  So it happened over and over.  Batman and Robin would think their way out of the jam and vanquish the devious villains. Batman had a cool red phone and thissecret compartment with a fire pole or a “bat ole” if you will.  He could slide down it and be dressed in his secret identity  garb by the time  he reached the cave.  I wished I had one of those poles, but I’d probably jump onto it with my PJs. On and wind up at the bottom dressed in a Catholic schools prescribed outfit and there would be no car that could shoot flames out the back waiting—though the 56 Crown Vic with a load of chrome had plenty of pep.  

Anyway I imagine I’ve always liked Batman because he was  good at solving riddles and uncovering clues.  Now, Sister Gregory my high school Math teacher could have come up with a story problem or two that he would have had to feed into the bat computer to solve, but your  average foe didn’t stand a chance against the wits of  my main man.  Also he had this utility belt.   This had everything on it romsleeping gas to shark repellant.All I had was a plain black belt, not counting the cap gun belt and holster that was somewhere  in the toy box because Batman didn’t engage in idle gun play.  

To sum it up Batman was kind of like a regular person except.  A bit or a lot, cooler.  That’s what I wanted to. Be.  

Over time I have pretty much given up on becoming a rich single millionaire with.a kick-ass car, yet I still hold on to being able to figure out  things that  are puzzling.  I still work for  peace , justice,and the American   Way”—I know that’s Superman.  I do work for justice and fairness like my masked friend.  I’m not afraid to work with others although I don’t have a butler or except  my younger  brother a “boy wonder” to hang with.  

So what’s all this add up to?  It is important to have. Kindred spirits and if they come in the form of a hero it’s okay.  There are plenty of people in the world who live their values. And share them with you.  These are “hero material” and seeking  them out and connecting will often bring about peace and joy.  Hero’s also avoid some troubles, but not all of them...and keep right on trying until their journey (or the  half hour) is at an end.  We all can get help and persist and that is an element  in. Finding the peaceful spots where you can rest and plan  how you are going to use your gifts.  Mostly, we worship super hero’s because they have some unusual physical or mental skill.  well...so does each one of us and exploring our lives we will find those skills.  If we pay attention we will grow those skills, and most important we will use themm.  

So when it’s all said and done, go out and find a hero and then look within and find one too.  Becoming. Your own hero or being a temporary mild mannered  hero for someone, will indeed help you create some peace and joy.....

That’s all for now—but “tune in tomorrow same Bat Time....”