Faith

People help me when I need help.

Of course, it’s helpful to ask for it.

Not everyone will know you need

help.

Not to chase after it

but if you need something

like this writing

to calm down

then do it

and let the unsure,

scary feelings pass

out of you.

They will go.

Just because there’s a little

pressure that is new

is not a reason to

cash in all your chips

and go home.

Keep going in the

direction you’re going in.

There’s no reason to

give up making

‘conscious’ forward

progress.

 

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Leave It Be

Nature calms your brain,

challenges your ingenuity

to survive physical

hardships.

She encourages.  Just

look up from your mind-

dominated mindset

and see the answers to

your dilemma.

Distracting you from

disaster which is likely

not to happen.

Gear down on the fear.

What you think will

or might happen

isn’t even close to

what normally

happens.

Projection of

“persecution” and

failure aren’t

really close to

materializing.

Yet, somehow you

want to choose (being)

the victim.

Helpless and un-

willing to move a

finger to better

things.  Nature

helps you reset

& reboot for a new

shot.

Ginko leaves with rain drops.

Photography © Dennis Frates Photography  http://www.fratesphoto.com/

 

 

 

 

 

Connection

Love carries us over

coals of pain unnoticed

because of the feelings

of another & for another

override everything else.

Even the memory or awareness

of the loved one takes away

some of the uncomfortableness

of their absence.

So, however thin and

however tenuous that

connection is strained

to, it stays intact

ready to be fortified at

any time.

What we think is not

enough, is enough.

Being in the now

is better than

wishing for a glorious

dream way off

& far away.

So much kindness

is there for the reaching

to grab ahold of

& give a share to

another.

We go through this

existence connected

no matter what

the distance or stress.

 

 

Start Now

He who hestitates…well, he’ll just

have to wait longer for a result

to happen.  You got all day?  I don’t

either.  So, unless I get started,

nothing will get finished.

Hesitation, procrastination–all

garbage can candidates.

You know what you want.  It’s

inside, sometimes buried under

heaps of non-essentials.

But go digging with whatever

clarity you can manage, and

an acceptable solution will

appear.

Sometimes you just have to

take your best guess as

to what your inner being

is wanting you to see

& do.

But if you wait & don’t

try something–like I

tell my students–I

can’t correct a blank

paper.  Write something,

anything & we’ll see

what you’ve got.

Eroded rock formations in Badlands National Park, South Dakota.

Photography © Dennis Frates Photography  http://www.fratesphoto.com/

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Not Sure What to Call This

“Do not fear mistakes,” Miles Davis told us.

“There are none.”

That (quote) helps me get started

in whatever I’m going to write.

I have a transition with the

full moon and time to “see”

what’s been happening in

my life.

With a week “off” from work

I should be able to set some

things straight.

Already, I see how having

more free time frees up

areas I could not devote

time to previously.

My body is going through

a major cleansing I feel

during this time.  More

healing foods are being

consumed and the universe

has an opportunity to

teach me some lessons–

sorely needed–to move

my life along to the next

phase.

We only go forward

when we’re ready.

So, all this thrashing

about trying to hurry

here and there, thinking

we’re going to improve our

speed of manifesting

what we want

is mostly useless.

All efforting like that

is a reversal of the river

which wants to go

toward the sea.  (I wrote

see initially–Freudian

slip but apropos).

I want to not just

sit and stare out the

window but neither

do I want to try really

hard to make my wishes

come into being quicker

than I’m ready to receive

them.

It’s kind of disheartening

to realize this and even

can lead to giving up

which may be just the

thing I need to let

my guidance carry

most of the load and

not fight it so much.

Fear and Love compete

for my attention–

only one can be center

stage at a time.

So, I’m not sure

what I love.

I love this writing.

I have a busy,

active life and if

I were to budget-cut all

the non-loving things

from it, I’m not sure

where I’d begin.  I

enjoy my life so much

with meditation driving

much of that enjoyment,

naturally.

Yet, I can stumble over

my own feet trying to get

to the love.  It always

seems just next, never

now, so much.

So maybe I can work on

that and practice will

open up my vision to just

how much what I’m

doing in the present

moment is something I

love & don’t need to

feel I’m “going

somewhere” to feel

better than I’m capable

of feeling now, in the

moment.

I’ve known all this

intellectually for eons

it seems, but emotionally

I’m beginning to be able

to live it as a reality

in my body, away from

my head.

I don’t know how much

further I want to go

with this but I

just thought I would

take time & prepare

myself for a longer

piece than I usually

write, figuring some

will take time to read

the length of it

and hopefully it won’t

be diluted by its

lengthiness.

Close up of Osteosperum margarita Pink Flare.

Photography © Dennis Frates Photography  http://www.fratesphoto.com/

Tomorrow

I don’t want to

live tomorrow

today

but that’s what

I do when I let

my anxiety

pummel me

with its “fake

news”.

No. I can wait

until tomorrow

comes & see

what it looks

like.

It will be

perfect whatever

transpires.

It always is.

Time

Sometimes the future

seems more desirable

than now.

But it isn’t.

You, I, cannot live

anywhen but now,

one now at a time.

(they seem to go in

order on this planet).

(But no skipping

ahead!)  One to a

customer “at a time”

works best.

Multi-tasking can

sometimes ‘cheat’

time, although a

lot of the quality

is lost.

Might as well

enjoy the moment.

Can’t really

squeeze anything

more into what’s

already here.

Effects

We’re so circumscribed

in the greater scheme

of things.  Our direct

influence is limited,

its effects mailed to

us in a slow system

oftentimes.

So, if we’re looking for

reward to be instant,

it’s only partially so,

paid in installments

like an investment.

Its indirect effects

are infinite and

unbounded, traveling

to & through the

source of it all

in an instant.

I can’t prove it.

I just believe it.

So, I try to keep

a good thought

& let my feelings

flow without

injury.

Like gold, there’s

a lot of good to be

found if we only

look for it, & we

get better over

time.

Fun

I want to be doing something

fun everyday.

I didn’t say it wouldn’t be hard

work.

But I didn’t say it would, either.

Little kids live every second

to the utmost fullest.

They will “make-believe” if

things they want are not there.

Their day is always fun.

They do what they enjoy.

Adults may interfere with

their playful freedom

and try to mold them

into what they’re not.

Or something more “acceptable”.

If they learn to be a good

adult, they may have a lot

of unlearning to do to be

happy.

I know.  All of the fun things

are against the “rules”,

or most of them.

Still if it’s not fun

I’m not a bit interested.

I’m willing to be creative

enough to change to

fun at a moment’s notice.

Rest

If I could sleep

that’s what

I’d be doing

right now.

It’s quiet

& peaceful

at 4 am.

The air is

still

I am still,

but awake.

My mind

needs

distraction

from my

“supposed”

problems.

When I’m

feeling

better

about myself,

they’re just

there, in the

background,

not so

front &

center

nagging,

pulling at

me, as if

I couldn’t

give

myself

a moments’

rest–first

in my mind–

and then, thank-

fully, in my body.