Monday, December 15, 2008

Eliminate the conscious mind

Do that, and everything should be alright.

When we over think, over analyze, especially as we are in the midst of an activity (like life, for example) then we gum up the works. We pull ourselves rudely out of the flow.

When we disengage the conscious mind, we begin to feel the right, natural progression of events that is there, available for all of us, if only we'll simply "be", taking the ride as it was intended.

My hands shake at times. Not really advancing age, I don't think, because they've done so for years, even when I was a young boy. But now, when I focus on breathing, deep into the lungs, into the belly, breath all the way down into my toes as I was once instructed in Tae Kwon Do, then my body calms, the shakes dissipate and disappear. As I enter the flow, the battle between my conscious mind and the inevitability of life as it really is ceases, and that battle is, I believe, the source of the tension that runs riot in my nervous system, shaking my hands.

The universe is infused with energy . . . check that . . . the universe IS energy. Breath that in all the way down to your toes and I think you will like the result, brothers and sisters!

Thursday, December 11, 2008

Happy Birthday to Me!

Yeah, right! Happy? Well, I guess things could be tremendously worse (no, I don't guess, I know) but what is there to celebrate about hitting 45? Nothing in my book. The celebration shouldn't be about any one particular day, it should be about every day. Another day above ground as they say. A day to try and do a little good in the world, have a little fun, and do the best job you can (piss-poor though it may be) showing those that you love just how much you really do love them

I've been reading a little Dalai Llama of late, and he talks alot about achieving peace and harmony within oneself, hopefully to project that outward onto the world.

I'll set that aside as my birthday gift to me on this, the 45th anniversary of my birth.

Friday, December 5, 2008

Colds, and other Evil in this World

I have a cold.

Head filled. Sinuses pulsing. Eyes watering.

Down in my chest now. The wracking cough. Torso so tight it feels like it may split open at the next sneeze.

Lethargy. A generally dismal outlook.

If I could, I would wage all out war against the virus. Damnable thing, wreaking such repetitive havoc in the lives of most every creature to ever grace the face of the earth. Vile bloodsucker. Find your own way in the world, damnable (brainfart here - - insert the word for someone who lives off of, and at the expense of another).

But things could be worse. At lease I get to take Nyquil and sleep for 12 hours!

Tuesday, November 25, 2008

Where we're headed (maybe?)

I'm writing this for the express purpose of reading it in one year.

I went to college back in the day, and based on little more than a funny professor or two, I chose Economics for my degree. So I suppose I'm an amateur economist, whatever in the hell that is. Oh, and I like Walter E. Williams too!

So anyway, the US Government has announced something in excess of $7 trillion in "bailout" spending in recent weeks and months. Money to bail out greedy, arrogant, and apparently pretty dense people in the financial world who've made a gigantic mess, mostly with an overdose of debt and a miasma (sp? meaning?) of uber-complex investment securities supported by (yah . . . right!) layer upon layer of that same debt. So if Joe Lunchbox misses a payment, a whole lineup of people get screwed. It's like one of those department store mirror doohickeys, where you see yourself over and over and over again out seemingly to infinity. Every last one of those folks in the mirror is screwed by this shell game ponzi scheme cooked up by "elite" members of our society.

I remember being in High School, listening to Lynyrd Skynyrd, thinking I should get my kicks in life from nature, being outdoors, good friends and a frosty ale or two every once and again. How friggin' right I was.

So anyway, my goal here today is to prognosticate a massive bout of inflation and rising interest rates. I think our dollar is likely to be worth next to nothing one year from today. Massive disruption in our lives. Quite literally, a collapse of everything we've relied upon throughout my post-war baby boom life.

I hope to hell I'm wrong.

My kids don't deserve it. Hell, I don't deserve it . . . maybe I live a tiny bit beyond my means, but my balance sheet is still in the positive. I socked away for the future, man, and now this crap is chiseling away at that ol' nestegg. Really quite depressing!

I hope to hell I'm wrong.

But I'm afraid that I'm right. I learned in school that you can't just print money and not drum up inflation. It's simple supply and demand. Too many dollars chasing a fixed pot of goods and services means it will take more and more of those dollars to buy any particular good or service. Pretty simple really. With a little effort, a child could understand it.

But apparently, the "adults", they don't.

See ya in a year . . . if I can still afford to power up the PC, that is . . .

Monday, November 24, 2008

The 10 millionth rain poem ... (you win a prize!)

There's a rolling quality to it,
fluidity really (duh!?!)
rolling from the sky, filling a million little voids.

Eventful, this drizzle, filling the day with purpose,
not vapid like that "pretty" sunny day.

The sound of it confusing, soothing if you let it be, but . . .
Calling out to you to move, be fluid too . . .
There is a flow in life, a ride you'd best take,
if you want it all that is.

Murky, daybreak never comes,
a Welsh countryside inside my mind
deep and distant drums.

Alas, with the flow I'll go now,
with every pelting drop,
with every trickle passing,
it's life that rolls like thunder,
life that never stops.

Thursday, November 20, 2008

i.f. pretend



developed (hastily) in microsoft powerpoint...

Tuesday, November 18, 2008

Hrmph!

If you stay somewhere, anywhere, too long, your mind begins to gently sift out of your ears.

Especially if that somewhere is the office.

I was at work from 6am until 9:30 pm yesterday. I was in the office from 6am Friday 'til 7:45 pm Saturday with a brief 3 hour nap and one quick trip out to watch a hockey game.

My brain is fried. I want to be an engaging father and husband. I want to be a practicing TKD black belt, to be fit. I want to explore my creativity in writing and in visual art through I.F. But, my brain is fried.

Hrmph!

Friday, November 14, 2008

Hypersensitivity


I know someone who is hypersensitive. The tiniest little imperfection in their physical environment seems to create the most exquisite angst for this girl that I love.

The seam in a sock.

The sound of someone chewing.

A nearly imperceptible breath of air from the automobile's ventilation system.

Exquisite angst . . . really.

Once you realize that harsh treatment simply plays into the hands of hypersensitivity, you know this is one fire you can't fight with fire. It seems most natural to confront the problem head on, to get in its face, to call it out.

But this just makes her squirm all the more. A desperate downward spiral.

I'll increase my sensitivity, and thereby support my baby in her plight. Fighting hypersensitivity with sensitivity, and a gentle touch.

I was wrong. I can fight fire with fire after all . . .

Wednesday, November 12, 2008

IF/wise


Scribbled at approx. 11:30 pm, bathroom at the Hilton on Rockside Rd., Cleveland, OH.

Tuesday, November 11, 2008

Foggy / Otro dia . . .


Was it five hours? Six? Eight?

Nobody knows and nobody cares. All alone as we wake, ready to tackle what? The day? Pshaw . . .

My head is a muddle, long years taking their toll. Momma's power of positive thinking tries to roll them back. I long for her to be right (and I've not quite given up) but I am left to wonder.

Spring in my step. Summer in my manner. Autumn lingers but cold winter is my destiny, whether I like it or not.

Eyes like the cracked and muddied bottom of an old green Coke bottle, once found along the tracks. Ears like cotton candy, old steel wool. Tender touch a little dull now. Oh the miles how they do wear . . .

But as I’ve learned along the way, the path’s been trod before me, and there is comfort in that. So follow the leader young William, follow and you’ll find your way . . .

Thursday, November 6, 2008

Why dogs?


I'm quite fond of all things canine.

I've lived with dogs repeatedly throughout my life, and I find them quite engaging, really.

Perhaps the truth lies closer to "class envy". I feel somehow cheated by the universe as I watch a dog. Eat, sleep, trot about perchance to bark. Wag the tail. Have a treat. Sleep some more.

A zen existence.

One that I envy.

A thought has occurred to me from time to time, that trees and other plants are far more highly evolved than humans. They no longer need to scurry about the planet, fighting and arguing and suffering. They take sustenance from the sun, air and soil, they grow tall and strong, supporting themselves with nary an assist, and they live for literally hundreds and hundreds of years.

I think the dog is closer to the tree than me.

I hereby resolve to nap more, worry less, and to wag my tail.