Maybe it's much more important that I understand other people
Than other people understanding me...

My Work is not to Pull In
Or Push Out...
My Work is to Keep the Door Open...
To Remain Inviting...

To Grow Flowers from it...
To Fling it...
Or To Wallow in it...

Related to earlier post...
Compassion Not Punishment...

If I were raised in someone else's situation,
How do I know if I myself would be better or worse?

A mirror-lined carapace is where I often hide...
Not realizing how much real life
Is actually passing by...

Hidden Punishment Hidden Death

Indeed there is karma
Indeed there is justice
Hidden beneath unseen
To those ignorant and not knowing
To those choosing to live in ignorance
Justice swings its hammer
Premature declining health
Alzheimer's, cancer, heart disease, stroke, diabetes
Impotence of body, heart, mind, and spirit
The oppressed animals have their voices heard
But with insidious silence
The animals continue to live on inside of us,
Creating an internal wake of destruction
Damaged inflamed tissues
Mutated virulent cells
Hardened ticking plaques
And hardened hearts and minds

Our bodies truly become graves of dark hidden death
Patiently the reaper awaits...
But just long enough to let us linger in our cesspool of self-created suffering
To dodge its blow is to be quite lucky

Have courage and go towards the light...
Die and be reborn anew

First Step

In what ways can we rise above
The senseless doings that are not our love
To go beyond reason and into our fear
In hopes one day it'll soon be clear
The heart implores what's best for the soul
To ignore too long too heavy a toll
So look to the light and acknowledge our dark
With courage with strength One Step to Start...

Responsibility of those oppressed?

Those who belong to oppressed groups,
Should they fight for all oppressed beings?

Do work from your brokenness...
And soon you'll find yourself whole...

My speaking apparatus fails the voices inside of my head...
Thank goodness for my hands...

What if Going Home involved a willingess to suffer...

Everyone has something valuable and different to contribute because of their own unique experience.

Am I contributing???

I often ask myself "How can I contribute to this world?"
Only to find out that I've been contributing by just being...
I've influenced others without trying to influence...

And it always surprises me when I find this is so...
The ego wants to kick in and take credit but it never can...
Because much of what seems to happen is an unfolding on its own.
As if done by effortless effort...

Instead of destroying the house...
Create and build and new one...

Somehow I'm very forgetful if I don't write things down...
I've been trying to motivate myself to be more consistent with exercise again but have failed...
I've failed to figure out the best way to motivate myself...

Then I remember something I'd tell others trying to be healthy...
Being healthy is a means of self-love...
And we can all use a little more self-love,
A little more self-care...

I get emo when my thinking is backwards
Always thinking "O-me!"

From my brokenness...
I am able to connect.
From my feelings of "being misunderstood"...
I am able to understand.

Your voice cuts me like a knife...
Down to the quick...
The tenderness and softness that resides within...
The rawest parts...  The best parts...

Ripples...

As we paddle through The River of Life...
We create ripples...
Touching others in ways...
Often unseen...

Let snowflakes fall where they may...
For any attempts to catch might destroy the beauty that is...

Are Habits just a reflection of Holding On to The Past?
What if we had no memory of the past?
Would it be possible to start fresh each day?

To Love is a choice...
But to Fall In Love is not...

Despite any of our desires for freedom, there are powers beyond our own control...

My "Hate" was my Love in Denial...

It's funny when we see something as "forever,"
Then suddenly we start to say "never."

Both imply absolutes, though a more absolute truth is impermanence.

Evolved?  I think not...  We're still Savages in the process of evolving...  We still cause much unneeded harm and suffering...  Various forms of slavery still exists in the world...

The benefit of feeling excessively crappy???
Increased ability to empathize!  Increased compassion! LOL

Lately I've been feeling awful, but today I feel awesome...
And I'm thankful for the swings...
In ways I feel it deepens my experience...
It deepens my appreciation of "the good times."

Never say never?

I recall a time not long ago...
I said, "There's no way I'm getting into photography!  I can't see myself doing it, and it seems way too expensive!  I'll stick to playing guitar."
Lo and behold I was struck by the shutterbug about a year and half ago...
I am completely enamored with film photography...  There's something about it that moves me deeply...

The photography gods must be laughing now!  "We certainly showed him!!!  Mere mortals thinking they can defy us! Ha!"  *Lightning bolts, arrows, creating openings of eyes, minds, and hearts!*

The road of life is funny in its many twists and turns...  Never say never...

It's so Easy to take the Little Things for Granted...

The everyday, the mundane...  A general feeling of peace...
Cool wind on face...  Clean breaths of fresh air...

I watch the chickens in the yard resting in quiet repose...
I'm reminded of a time when it wasn't so...
I'm reminded when the chickens feared for their lives on an hourly basis...
The time they were methodically being hunted down one by one by a wily bobcat...
Always on edge and always alert...  The stress and the fear of not knowing when it's time...

I remember during those times, even the chickens found fleeting moments of rest and repose...
Those chickens looked so peaceful, as if time slowed down temporarily to really savor those rare moments of peace...

I hope to become better and to remember to continue to savor the precious little moments that I often take for granted...

Fishing dreams

On occasion I have dreams of fishing, something I used to love dearly throughout my life...
I gave up fishing a little after going vegetarian...  Funny thing is, it was way more difficult to give up fishing than giving up eating meat.  Perhaps because with giving up eating meat, there's a selfish benefit.  The benefit of better physical health.  Giving up fishing meant giving up a lifelong passion...

So in my latest dream I was fishing without a license in an area where it might have been prohibited to fish.  My cousins girlfriend was with me...  Some guy who lived at the beach muttered some spiritual sounding words that somehow comforted me into being okay with fishing in the area...

I found a little shallow area... I spotted my prey, gently lobbing my lure towards a large looking eel-like fish...  A smaller crayfish like thing grabbed my lure instead.  I reeled it in then started putting it in front of my cousin's girlfriend's face, teasing her and scaring her.  As I was about to return the little lobster-like creature to the water, it turned into a mini human doll that was alive.  Suddenly it expired, the life fading away.  The area I was supposed to return it to said "Scientists Here!"  I felt so incredibly guilty...  What had I done?  *Poof I wake up*

I had sudden thoughts and wishes to be more "monk-like" upon waking. LOL.  I wondered what it would be like to truly renounce worldly pleasures.  How does one live like that?

The Battles Within...

It seems living in a time of relative peace...
There are still battles to be fought...
The battles that exists within us...
From our Inner Demons...
To our addictions...
To our desire for comfort and stability...
The desire for stable ground shackles us to that which becomes unstable...
The lingering discontent to somehow be different...

I feel like I'm losing the battle within the hallowed ground of the soul...
I have delusions of spiritual quests...
I have delusions of self-control...
I have delusions of conquering the physical body...
I have delusions of being beyond my emotions...

Lately I feel like I keep losing the battles...
How do I forge on with courage and strength?
How do I gain confidence in myself?
How do I shed my personal fetters so that I can be of benefit to others?