INDECISION

My hand doesn’t know what it wants to do. Does it want to hold a pen or a paint brush? Or maybe it want to pluck a guitar string. My hand doesn’t know what it wants to do.

My heart doesn’t know how to feel. Where, other than my Lord, does my love go? Reaching out — is it enough? Worry that places I reach are prone to dryness. No nourishment in return. My heart doesn’t know how to feel.

My head is tired. Where is the spark? Where is the critically needed attitude adjustment? Will I be able to find it? My head is tired.

TIME TO PAUSE

PENTAX Image

Who among us has not taken a step away from our distress, if just for a moment?  Perhaps the moment taken arises out of being faced with an untenable situation where our senses are utterly and adversely confronted by the magnitude of what is happening.  Whatever triggers taking a moment away to pause, purposely accept the invitation.

For me, I take time out to look at the nearby evergreen trees – now standing stately and calm.  If viewed from a distance, they melt together, softening my view and create a magical screen.  And, without prompting, I take a deep breath.   Up close, I can see each tree differs one from another as we do.  Each has its own pattern of bark, limb structure and greenery – a living and growing entity.  The strong trunks remind me that standing up to adversity fosters resilience.  The fact that trees serve as a homes for birds, animals and bugs, reminds me of the interconnection, including acceptance of and reliance on others, which is ingrained in nature.

The pressures of events, situations, harsh circumstances – whatever they are – are put aside when I take the moment to really contemplate what I am seeing.  The urgency or distress I may have felt evaporates and all that is left, for that moment, is a sense of calm and peace.  Such a feeling is to be closely guarded.

 

Single Moment

mjw232 says: “Down in the dark, dank cellar/ Stood a mouse on the edge of the floor/Quietly waiting/Anticipating/Waiting to see just one more.

Oh, here it is – come prancing/On quiet cat feet – all four/Tail stretched on high/Emerald almond shaped eyes/Stopping to peer in the door.

Sniffing the air in a hurry/Running right into the room./Mouse hunkers down/Not making a sound/Cat notices only the broom.”

Don’t You Just Love It – Spring

Who does not recall the feeling of a warm spring day, the kind that arrives a few days before summer.  Just think of the warmth drenching into your tee shirt, with a hint of a cool breeze.  What a feeling.  The plants around are all stretching their branches, growing leaves and preparing the flowers – giving back to the earth, what it has given them.   Water, nutrients in the soil and a secure place to grow.

When you think of Spring, what comes to mind?  For you, is this is the time to go outside and listen to the birds sing?  To watch them built nests here and there?  The air is filled with them, the smell of flowers and nature’s sweet songs.  Is this is the time to sit and let your thoughts wander as aimlessly as the rambling puffs of clouds in the sky.  See the wind playing with the tall grass, which bends and twists in a rhythmic pattern?  Is it a time for taking in the gentleness of the season?

Or, is it the time to open the windows, get the cobwebs down, wash the curtains, clean the windows, air out the blankets, clear out the file cabinet, throw away all of the old magazines, trim out the deadwood, or ready the garden patch?  Hustle, bustle, get everything organized?  Busy, busy – almost to the Eveready bunny level.

When you think about it, Spring arrives with a sense of renewed optimism and a belief that things will come to fruition.  Past errors or wrongs can be packed away, like one does to winter clothes.  This time you can get it right, or this time things will be better.  Who knows where the feelings come from?  You simply know that you are more hopeful and more ready for a sense of adventure, projects to tackle and new things to try.

I guess that’s what Spring’s about.  We each have the opportunity to grow, stretch and give back to the world something that reflects what the world has given us.  We hope we get it right, or at minimum, give it our best shot.  It is a time to re-think issues, make plans, get ready and go.

First Blog Post

Here is my first step to share opinions, thoughts and opinions that arise in the course of living.  A new leaf on the branch of life’s tree.

We come into this world with the capacity to view life around us, draw our own conclusions and develop a life philosophy.  Granted, each of us is subject to different environments and events – some of our choosing, some of the effects of the actions of others and some just of the luck of the draw.

I was born in a time when television and computers were not yet available for public use and Face Book, Twitter, and other social media were clearly not even a glint in someone’s eye.  Rather, kids’ imagination were spurred by the use of household items that would double for a horse (broomstick), a tent (table cloth draped over whatever), or whatever was found to fit the  need.  Was it a better time than now?  I cannot say.

Now that I’m now on the other side of seventy at the end of my professional work career (25 years as an attorney, and prior to that, 20 years as a registered nurse), I can’t help but see every day, significant lessons to be taken from the most common of human experiences.   You are welcome and invited to participate in my wandering thoughts about these more common life details.