today’s Musing written and published from
Morning walk: -19C/-2F, calm cold empty sky, horizon bathed in soft pre-dawn pinks and blue-gray; Gusta more interested in the Scottie on the other side of the street than hordes of kids mounting school buses . . proves dogs too can change priorities on the fly.
Beyond imagining if a hobby or pastime was something you could do all the time without restriction or constraint – what would you do if you had the freedom to do it? Write or paint, or whittle? Or walk the earth? Would you do things of ‘value’ or simply please yourself with things you love?
When I started this column (nearly 7 yrs. ago), I wondered if I would make time for it, but more so, whether I could generate worthy content each day. Morning begins with blank page and pot of coffee; some days it flows with ease, some not so much. Some, it seems, make me bleed through my forehead first … today’s been one of that kind.
Before I write for you, I write for me. Before reader is invited to grasp something, I have to get meaning from it. To get that, I have to put meaning into it. Before that, I must think something. Thinking; that’s the hard part. I think, maybe, planting seeds is what I do best.
Some seeds;
If I could just ‘do whatever I want’. Future; now, that’s the place, where I’ll spend the rest of my life; where the action is. Thee is no ‘because’ to it, no thing in it (hence, nothing) before the empty jar or the blank page - surely there was something? Every day there is an empty jar, a blank page, urging us – begging us – to fill it up. Until I write the first word, there it is – nothing. Nothing like it. To start, at the beginning, when there was nothing.
We need things to start us, like priming gets an engine ready; consider this:
If we realize the most important part of the tree is neither lumber or fruit, but the seed, there is a calm realization that the greatest value in things (and people too) is not in what we first see, or that which is most obvious. The greater value, perhaps, always lurks out of view, not because it doesn’t want to be seen, but because we are not tuned right to see it.
Or move around, letting life impress you? If we were not dependant on income, or to convince anyone other than ourselves what we were doing was justifiable – what then, would we do? If we got up every morning, and it didn’t matter, what would we do?
Or, how about this one:
In the middle of the daily battle, in this struggle – who are we fighting, who is the enemy, what describes that foe? If we can call it by a name, give it dimension, wrap it in color and characteristics, maybe we can make it human, make it real, make it something we can reach out to touch – or to hit – we can begin to wage a battle against it.
To close;
To get up, anywhere, to walk around, to see things as we are supposed to see them – to affirm our need and right to see things as they truly are, from where we sit – is, without doubt, the best therapy. To wake in the morning, no clues how the day will unfold; to wake to a blank page, to wake to the sounds we hear.
I get an impression some people feel little or nothing, or maybe it’s easier for them to keep it inside where no one sees it. But, how can we know life, unless we feel something? Some live in denial; fail to realize, there is nothing going on in the past; over, dead, done. The future; today and the many days beyond, that’s where the action is, that’s where joy and pleasure are kept.
When I truly connect with someone – it needs to be more than a simple act of pleasure; to feel close, connected, comfortable, to point where breathtaking, just that – is having your breath taken away – and, in those moments, we are part of someone, and they, part of us.
Go plant some seeds . . .
Mark Kolke
324,988
194.8
RESPONSES/COMMENTS ALWAYS WELCOME; send to musing@maxcomm.ca
January 26 Responses
January 26 – IF NOTHING ELSE, THEN THAT – Life is so sweet and short, your choice to choose feeling good, makes this day the gift it is. I’ve considered ‘do-overs’ often in life. Sometimes to the point of torment, but in moments of calm I am convinced that the purpose, the only good purpose, of looking back on regrets is to not repeat the mistake going forward. With that in mind, I a now wonder, ‘who will you want to be?’, FO,
January 26 – IF NOTHING ELSE, THEN THAT - I wanted to let you how that I enjoy your column and I too will be embarking on a new adventure. Not of the same nature as yours though. I will be moving on from this place to another as of today so I wanted to change my email address to ensure that I can continue to receive your column. My email address is XXXXXX. Thank you and have a great day. Please keep writing and I will keep on reading. LS,
January 26 – IF NOTHING ELSE, THEN THAT - I don’t think forgiveness is all, I think an understanding that staying in a relationship that you know is over, doesn’t do either person any favors, it only prolongs the inevitable. The other person isn’t free to “move on” if you are not being honest with yourself. I am going through this right now, I know my current thing is not working, and I’m trying to break it off gently. But is there such thing as that? What I know is that he deserves someone with fire for him, and it’s just not me. The sooner I end things, the sooner we can both work on getting through it. Lingering won’t help in any case. But I don’t want to hurt him, even though I know that is the end result. Am I being selfish?, KH, Stuart, FL
January 26 – IF NOTHING ELSE, THEN THAT - No, you are not who you used to be; but the you that ‘used to be’ is a part of who you are now. JW – Cochrane/Calgary, AB
Comments