Sweet Silence, Solitude

Today, I felt a deep sense of being alone and it felt badly. It just seems that the last 24 hours, or so, I've been posting, what seems to me quite significant quotations, not only here, but on Facebook, and Google Plus. Without any feedback, even a 'like' on these posts, I've been left with a feeling of isolation and invisibility. So, instead of shutting down my Facebook and Google accounts, I did something radical. I decided to go deeper into that feeling of aloneness and when my wife went to run errands and visit with a friend, I decided to go deeper into that feeling. I sat still, alone on this bench, in our yard for near an hour.

As I sat in silence, and although there were sounds of our busy street on the other side of our house, I heard only my own heart beat and the song and rustling of birds and I no longer felt badly. In place I found contentment that I don't feel when being bombarded by the constant barrage of noise of everyday life. No TV commercials telling me that I don't have enough. No authors pointing out how discontented I feel and then offering, if I buy his book, how to overcome that discontent. In that silence, I felt that I am, and I have, enough without the feedback that I thought I needed from social networks.

So now, I can do the next thing that needs to get done, content in the experiential body felt knowledge, that peace and contentment is only a heartbeat away and it doesn't rely on waiting for someone to 'like' it.

Love's Great Power to Transform!

"Love is the only way to grasp another human being in the innermost core of his personality. No one can become fully aware of the very essence of another human being unless he loves him. By his love he is enabled to see the essential traits and features in the beloved person; and even more, he sees that which is potential in him, which is not yet actualized but yet ought to be actualized. Furthermore, by his love, the loving person enables the beloved person to actualize these potentialities. By making him aware of what he can be and of what he should become, he makes these potentialities come true."
— Viktor Emil Frankl (Man's Search for Meaning)

Antique (?) Steamer Trunk ~ What to do with it?

Requesting ideas for what to do with an old steamer trunk. It's been painted so I don't think it has any value as an antique. What do you think?

Find ways to be creative - with your Hands

Facebook is really ticking me off. The upload to this blog worked after years of inactivity. Facebook may or may not upload on any particular day.




My wife has lived in this house 34 years and we've been married 13 years and these are the first steps to our hillside.
Both of us have been amazed at how much I've been doing in our little domain. I can only explain how much more satisfying digging a notch for a step or painting lawn furniture is than sitting, waiting for responses from Facebook. And now I find it is easier to post a picture to Facebook via Networked Blogs than it is posting directly from my phone.

Maybe I'm telling my Grandkids that I value working with my hands, creating. Just don't wait until you're 71 years of age to discover real satisfaction in life.

Awakening to a New Beginning ...

Every day life offers us opportunities to awaken from our sleep of unconscious living. But, that awakening doesn't have to be illness or some tragedy. It can be a 'happy' awakening. Like this!

My son and daughter-in-law announced that they will be having a new Grandchild for me, somewhere around March 12. I'm so excited. They have been trying for 5 years and all their patience and 'hard work' paid off.

So for me, a new reason to stay as fit as I can be in order to play with my Grandchild. A new reason to find ways to make sure our society and this planet is a fit place for growing up. And if this space hasn't been so in the past, it could be a space to share my 'Values Will.' A place where I can share the values that I find important for my kids and Grandkids to see.

Nothing like being hit by a 2 x 4 to awakened! But O so sweet!

The Beginning ...

For those who don't follow me on Facebook, you need to know that after watching a spot on Zen Gardens on the CBS Sunday Morning show, a space in our yard cried out 'Empty me'.
So below is the space that called to me.

... and below is the few free rocks that I found in the vicinity.

I may not continue to show intermediate photos, but if I do I'll try a view that covers this same initial image.

Thomas Moore writes about how the Irish, drink Scotch Whiskey after talking about 'soul'. I find that after I work on something for my soul, like this garden is a reason to drink Scotch. Up to now I've saved my drinking for when I run the vacuum for my wife. I only have to be careful when I do the stairs.

Everyone Should have a Santuary in their own Backyard

Took a trip to Plumline Nursery, here in the environs of Pittsburgh, Pa. My wife promised me an experience that I would like. More than 'like', I was enchanted.

Oh! and one helpful hint from your friends at 'Live Better On Less', If you can't afford the admission to Phipps Conservatory in the Oakland neighborhood of Pittsburgh, you can visit Plumline for free.

I 'had' to STOP. And Contemplate!

Contributing to Humanity Gives Us a Sense of Purpose

@thomasmooreSoul: We can all focus our work so that it makes at least a small contribution to humanity and in turn gives us a satisfying sense of purpose.

‎Thomas Moore's Twitter feed can be seen at: http://twitter.com/#!/thom​asmooreSoul

Nourishing Our Souls, by Thomas Moore: from Daily Word

Our Choice in every Moment, to Live Mechanically, or to Live with Soul. - "The approach which brings out our humanity is one which calls on us to be compassionate and empathetic toward other people. Our lives are shaped by that empathy and by that compassion, and we then become people who live with others—not as machines, but as loving, caring humans in a family, in a marriage, and in a community."

Nourishing Our Souls, by Thomas Moore: from Daily Word

Best of Boy's Life

Remember Boy's Life?

Saw this in a Masts General Store on main street, Greenville, SC. Any ex-Boy Scouts watching?

Enough!

Don't get me wrong, I still love words, their magical ability to hurt or heal, to discourage or inspire, ... But when I try to read a book, one that I would normally want to add to my library, something is missing. I believe that when the author tries to set a feeling of dissatisfaction, that he will remedy, I don't feel dissatisfaction with my life. This! This moment is! Enough for me. ♥

Thoughts Prelude to a Retirement.

On Facebook I've been posting some very personal feeling that are sweeping in as I approach retirement from my 7 year messenger service, reception job. Just thought I'd make them a little more public posting them here.

‎"Now the average man, looking at himself ... Doesn't feel there is anything much wrong with him. But some men develop a curious inner dissatisfaction ..." - Colin Wilson

Colin Wilson describes the robot as the part of the mind that handles our habitual activities... We use less and less of our consciousness, and live more and more out of routine.

The question becomes 'How do we wake ourself from the robot, mechanical living to full consciousness?

.. man shall not live by one metaphor alone. In fact, one author, says we use "one metaphor for every 10 to 25 words, or about six metaphors a minute." The metaphor in the forefront of my life today is how habitual living gradually takes over my consciousness leaving me "asleep". As Colin Wilson describes, "If I am preoccupied, he eats my dinner for me. He may even make love to my wife. I miss a great deal of interesting and fresh experience because I have become too dependent on the robot."

... is it inevitable that in becoming who I am to become, the now me, that so many have to be affected negatively? I am happy with who I have become after two divorces and a bout in a fundamentalist church. But so much "collateral damage". Could I have become me, without it? I'm sorry!

.. as I prepare to leave my reception job, and all I tried to bring to it, things will go on as if I had never been there at all. I will have never left any lasting legacy. Is that how the end of my life will feel?

St. Valentine's Day - Reminder to have an Erotic Life?

I've been aware that we should approach all of life as an Erotic Activity. But, everywhere I looked for a poetic description of that kind of life, it seemed to always focus on sex. Yesterday, while exploring a new book by Wayne Muller, "A Life of Being, Having, and Doing Enough." Here, on page 42, Muller says,

"... Vital relationships are, by nature, erotic. They are sensual, in that they are informed by all our senses, our openness to see, taste, touch, smell everything with a willingness to be taken, to be surprised, swept off our feet. We participate in an erotic relationship whenever we engage the world with full sensual awareness - for example, whenever we bite into an apple. By itself, an apple has no taste, no piquant flavor of late summer. Our mouth, lips, and tongue, our taste buds by themselves have no taste of apple. The magnificent flavor of a crisp apple freshly picked by hand comes alive the instant the apple enter our mouth. One small bite, and a sudden eruption of juices, tongue, saliva, taste buds, and apple flesh create the necessary erotic intercourse that sets free the awesome taste, the flavorful wonder of apple."

I urge you to read the excerpt available on Amazon Here:

In addition, I found his observations about how difficult it is nowadays, to feel like we have enough, so very powerful.

"We have forgotten what enough feels like.

... we feel powerless; no matter how strong our hearts, or how good or kind our intentions, each day the finish line seems farther away, the bar keeps rising, nothing is ever finished, nothing ever good enough."

Happy Valentine's Day, Everyone!

Mo Anamcara - "my soul friend"

I posted this next paragraph as my Facebook status, and I considered it important enough to post it here, as my first post of the New Year of 2011.

Often, I feel invisible and unheard, by the rest of the world. I'm coming to realize I've had the remedy, very near. When I turn to my wife, say what is on my mind, I feel heard, and understood. She may not agree with me, but she understands. I truly have Mo Anamcara, "my soul friend". Although all Six of These Characteristics are her's, this sentence is truly Her -"They 'do' life as love in action, which comes through the flow of their essential self." ♥ ♥ you Donna.