This Moment Is a Gift

Life is about loving and letting go. Of these things, I am most certain. The longer my life becomes... the more certain of these things, than any other things, I am sure.

Perhaps it is because the longer you live, the more death you encounter. Perhaps because, if you are lucky- the longer you live, the more aware you become of the fragility, the impermanence of life.

Nothing as poignant as death can bring this realization clearer in one's mind.

Death will come, for certain. Yet when, we do not know.

Loving, connecting, understanding are the only true gifts along the way. And even these things, like all things in life, have impermanence. But, discovering them, embracing them are integral pieces to life's precious puzzle.

Learn to know yourself. Learn to love yourself. Learn to connect and understand and love one another. Tomorrow is not a guarantee. Live this moment now, before it is too late.

For Little Mikey and his loving family

12 July, 2009

Peaking outside the box

I've been thinking about demons and fear and battles and the nonsense that keeps us from ourselves. I've been thinking about how we keep ourselves from being real. How we create facades to hide behind, identify with and cling to in order to mask our fear.

There is a real part inside of us, sometimes the gooshy bits we don't like to face, that long to be brought into the light. But it hurts, so it is easier to deny it, than to face and embrace it. Oftentimes something terrible happens in our lives, often there is suffering and pain and loneliness which opens a window. But rationalization, the great art of this human condition, allows us to recoil and become once again, what we were before.

It is important in that time, when a window does appear, that we push ourselves through it. I fear, after too many chances, the windows appear farther and farther apart, making the journey through much more difficult. I see many people whose lives are almost done, without joy, without light, without even the motivation or curiosity for something more.

The emptiness, the suffering, the ignorance all around us- it makes it difficult not to become part of it. But we keep people around us who will perpetuate this end. We do things in the same ways, to perpetuate this end. And we keep ourselves away from words, feelings, people and places that would perpetuate otherwise. Why? Because there is no true joy, because no one is truly happy, or truly real. There is no creator, there is no light. Just the absence of darkness. These are the rationalizations we use. We trick ourselves, for others trick us. We fool ourselves, for others fool us. We lie to ourselves, for others lie to us.

But the truth is there. We must be dynamic enough to realize the possibility of looking at something in a completely different way. We put ourselves into boxes, ones not created by others. But, a box none-the-less. And we keep ourselves unfulfilled. We keep ourselves joy-less. On purpose. How insane are we?

We see what we wish to be there. Nothing more. Until we have no other choice but to see what is really there.

Look around you today. There is much to realize. There is much more than you allow yourself to see.