Tracks In The Dust

A Father's Advice About Learning the Mission of Life

Archive for the category “Doing Things That Will Change Your Life”

The end of Tracks

It is with great sadness that I must inform you that MGert123 passed away on July 1st.

Who is In Control?

It’s crazy to think that you really have control over that much. We are all trying to “stay” in control though aren’t we? In control of our family, or finances, our jobs, our own personal sanity sometimes.

Life is Very Short

So we work very hard at it. To be in control. We take it very seriously, It can mean recognition, financial gain, personal satisfaction. We would pay a lot to be in-control of some things in our lives. In other ways we “wish” we were in control…”if only we ran the government, we would show everyone how it is done!” Or “if that was my child he would know what it was to behave”.

Relish the thought that someone would claim we are “out of control”. That would be a claim that would imply we had no discipline, we were ignorant of how things are done. It would put us on some list that says we don’t care, or lack caution or consideration.

But in reality to me I see that there is little we are actually in control of in the bigger picture. We are going to pass from this earth when it is our time, and we can manage to extend it but in the end we are not in control of the outcome. We are going to have things that happen that regardless of what we do in our daily lives are going to happen anyway. We can spend a ton of energy trying to be in control of things and miss the simple fact that life will go on regardless just as God planned it.

So I am giving up that control to Him. To all things there are a purpose under heaven. I know that not everyone reading this may believe, but the reality of it all is the world turns regardless of your beliefs. Take a moment to understand that your purpose here is to live for the day, and that energy and stress for control can consume you. To those who have faith, let God worry about tomorrow.

If Your Eyes Could Speak What Would They Say?

I think we can all admit honestly that our true self, that self that is what is inside isn’t always what appears outside. We are certainly different in public than we are in private. Some more than others, “what you see is what you get” has degree’s of variations.

closed-eye

We all have degree’s of pain, suffering, sadness, in our lives. Moments ( or days) of uncertainty that can lead us down paths we may never have considered at some other time. That influences who we are, as does those times of happiness and joy, those moments to embrace what we have been given and be thankful, those times when love is so overwhelming in our lives that little else matters.  They all make up the complex person our lifetime allows us to be.

The outside self many times seems to be insulated in hiding our emotions. We will mask our thoughts because we are unsure, or lack confidence to be truthful with others about who we are inside.  There are times we don’t want to share because that may expose a part of our hearts or minds that would make us vulnerable or allow us to be cast aside or ignored.

In the end you can see it in people’s eyes. I see it when I am out in pubic, when I am at work. There are many people who speak confidently, but in their eyes they seem lost. Unable to determine what is really important in their lives, they are “in the moment”  perhaps, but there are things missing.  No spiritual center most likely, no introspective self. Maybe they just mask it so well, perhaps from years of practice.

So it can be refreshing sometimes. To meet those genuine people. You can just tell it, and they emit something that tells you that they are more than face-value. You can see it in their eyes. It is within them.

Not big on Beatles covers, but love this rendition by Patti Smith.

“We were talking about the space between us all,”  Within You and Without You

Asking Questions

I have said it before, in the world of “instant messages” it seems like we are being programmed to provide an “instant response”. That leads to us not thinking before we respond, and not often clearly understanding the meaning being conveyed. My advice to my kids: “Ask questions”.

Where is the Love Question-mark

Maybe it is just a symptom of the speed in which everything happens today, but I don’t see many people asking questions about things. Often it doesn’t even seem that they are listening, perhaps because they are working-up a response.

Recently I was speaking with my son about a great opportunity ahead of him in his life, it seems like the direction he wants to go and the “doors” are opening for him to go on the journey. For him, getting answers to the “why” were still unknown. We can always ask the hard questions, but sometimes they get missed.”Why” is one of the hardest ones to ask in my opinion.

Whether it is a life-changing event or just a simple decision, it takes little investment to just understand things more clearly. It is our right to ask questions, to better understand someone when they talk, to be sure to know where someone is “coming from” before we form an opinion, or make a call on something.

You might even learn something. Listening to what is being said and responding in a question means “dialog” – can open many more options, can make for better understanding that can lead to friendships, or more confidence or just simply a better picture of the world around us.

  • Listen. Don’t take everything at face value.
  • Ask questions. Understand the meaning of things
  • Don’t be in a hurry. It could be an investment in your life worth making.

I am sure there are plenty of times when things can move along without complicating it with questions. But there are as many times (or more I think) when a few minutes may change everything.

 

Detachment or Indifference?

No doubt there are many reasons to be concerned about the world’s issues. Throughout history there has been focused attention on the separation of cultures, religious beliefs, power and money. There are many reasons I can say I care, but overall I can say that I have become less interested.

Charting The Course

A travesty you say? How can you be so unfeeling? How can you not  personally care about the hate,greed and malice of the world around us? People insist that you HAVE to care about the political landscape – you must have an opinion and you better well be landing on the one that whomever you are talking to is passionate about. There is this sense of urgency to be “correct”.

Sorry to disappoint, but I am likely to say that the battle of with cancer has led me to be more detached more than indifferent. .
Many things don’t  take the same priority as  they it once did.
Oliver Sacks from the New York Times recently said in an article on his diagnosis of terminal cancer at aged 81:”Seeing life from a great altitude. This detachment to things that belong to the future. The future will be left in great hands in some cases.”

Honestly I have gotten much closer to God (perhaps the greater altitude) and the meaning of my future, and that future to me means eternity. But the future here on Earth is going to go on without me. And I have to accept that day will come, as it will for each and every one of us.

So am I indifferent? No. I would like to see more people have peace in their lives, to save their temper for the fight against the deterioration of the human condition. Perhaps that would be worth some passion…

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