Musings

I was struck today by the realization that we are so completely and utterly dependent on time to provide us with a sense of who we are and our place in this Universe.  More than space, time provides the frame of reference for us to judge all things (past) and the means to perpetually expect fulfillment at some other juncture (future).  The present suffers from our neglect.  

I committed a sin against a friend today by placing her within the context of time.  I did the same exact thing not too long after with another friend by placing him within the context of time.  Later, as I drove home, I felt a pang of guilt.  I turned both of them into things to be categorized and sorted.  In doing so, I momentarily let go of the special place they hold in my life and the place I hold in theirs.  They honor me with their trust and with the gift of their candid exchange of thoughts, feelings, and ideas.  I felt like I dishonored them.  A bit much, I know, but my need to bring time into the picture startled me.

The lesson, I discerned is this: as Eckhart would tell us, time serves the ego.  The ego serves only itself.  It serves to distract us from the true nature of all things.  Beware of time when it acts in unison with the ego!

The right words from the right person can elicit a tectonic shift in our lives. We are blessed when we have opportunities to touch and be touched by others.

Nothing but gratitude…to you and to The Universe for placing us in each other’s paths.

How do you organize thoughts?  They are slippery little rascals.  Ephemeral.  Hard to understand.  Impossible to track.  They are like cognitive flies, always sensing your intended movements nanoseconds before you make them.  

You organize them by putting them on paper, virtual or otherwise.

And I’ve done that.  Now that I am able to organize them (and I have the hundreds of posts in this consolidated blog to use as proof), I am faced with having to organize them.  

As one would with a vast net in free-fall, I just have to grab hold somewhere and simply start.  Start the daunting task of organizing.

Oprah Winfrey says that the Universe first whispers in our ears, then taps us on the shoulder. If we don’t listen, it might give us a shove, then a push. Finally, we get the smack upside the head.

Smack acknowledged, Universe. I’ve heard you.

So long, Posterous. You’ve been gone a few months now. Your demise locked in my excuse-making capability. Unfortunately, a nudge from one party and a desire to share with another sort of forced my hand.

Posterous, you live on in WordPress. And, with that, my excuses are effectively and greatly diminished. I suppose that means it’s just time to jump back in it.

Hello, 2013. It is a pleasure to greet you. You are new today. I am old. I am not as old as some, but I am older than others. Regardless, I am happy to make your acquaintance.

Today is our first day together. I believe we will do many excellent things together. I welcome the opportunity with arms opened wide.

I think new beginnings to old stories are needed. They help people keep track of progress and the passage of time. Today is one of those new beginnings. It is as good a day as any for renewal and reaffirmation. It is also a good day to go in search of things that are new.

Hello, 2013. Let us see what kind of mischief we can manage…

I’m not a huge Joel Osteen fan.  I don’t have anything against him.  He’s just a little too “showy” for my taste.  That said, the man can also be exceptionally…profound.  I find myself listening whenever I happen across one of his talks or one of his sermons.  

 

A few weeks ago, he caught my attention again while I was flipping through some channels.  These three ideas were so compelling to me that I wrote them down:

 

You haven’t lived your best day.

You haven’t done your best work.

You haven’t reached the highest height yet.

 

For context, he was talking about ego and how we can be really, really hard on ourselves, allowing hardship to drag is into a self-defeating cycle.  I dunno…this just moved me.  You could argue that this applies when you are riding high on the proverbial hog, too. 

 

 Maybe, if we knew the plan for our lives, we could argue.  Otherwise…well…we really can’t, can we?

Not wanting the world to change will not keep the world from changing.

You cannot just will facts out of existence. Even if the facts are debatable, the debate is happening because something is shifting, something is changing. So, closing your mind to the ideas assaulting you won’t make the ideas go away. You just won’t know about them. Your loss.

The world will change whether you resist or not. Better to not resist and spend your energy observing where the change is taking us.

We don’t ever stray from our path in life. We only ever lose sight. We lose sight of our goals or our values or our priorities. Our path, though…? No, we don’t stray as much as we fail to be present. When we have enough presence with the moment at hand, it is possible to realize that we are precisely where we are supposed to be.

One of the beautiful things about the simplicity of life is that whenever we despair, all we have to do is look down at our feet. This is where we can again find our path. When found again, all that remains is to simply acknowledge and follow the path.

This morning, someone shared a bit of wisdom that they got from Katie Couric.  In essence, the idea is simply this: life is a series of reboots.  So, hold the power button down for a couple of seconds, let the screen go blank, hit the power again to turn everything back on, and wait for the Blue Screen of Death.  Kidding.  It’s a metaphor; you get the drift.

 

We are continually presented with opportunities to reframe our thinking and approach life as if it were all new again.

 

This past weekend marked a significant anniversary in my life.  It was the 1-year anniversary of my family’s return from our adventure living in Europe.  A year ago this weekend, we found ourselves back where we started, unexpectedly rebooting in ways we hadn’t anticipated.  Blue Screen of Death?  Not really, but it wasn’t quite the immediate success we’d hoped for.  After all, who hopes for anything other than immediate and total success?  I don’t know many people who do, and those who do are just not that fun to be around.  Regardless, I found myself looking back 365 days and acknowledging that life had become an interlude.  The past year has been a transitional period somewhere in the space between the unlimited possibilities of life before our adventure and the uncertainty of life after.  I can’t say we put life on hold.  We simply allowed the current to take hold of the journey.

 

But those 365 days have passed.  So much is now new again.  It’s time to gracefully power down and elect to reboot.  I’ve been working towards this goal for a few months now, and, once again, I find myself successful in the endeavor.  It’s not that the future is once again filled with unlimited possibilities.  I can simply see them again because I choose to do so.

 

I choose to see the unlimited possibilities that await as a result of the reboot.