Tracks In The Dust

24 Sep 2012

Another Change of Season

Its time again for a season change. Here in the US it is time for autumn. Fall. The time of harvest. In days gone by, it would have been the time to store up for the cold winter ahead. Celebrate the Thanksgiving day in America. But sincerely thankful for the great harvest that summer has brought. To bring the family together to share in the grateful bounty.

But these days it seems like it is more about reminding us that the holidays are upon us. We try to capture the “picture” of what it means. Autumn and Halloween decor is stacked on the shelves. There are a variety of gold,red, brown and orange objects filling the displays. Costumes and goolies all over the aisles for that all-saints night at the end of October.

Right around the corner are the Christmas lights and tinsel, perhaps dusted off from last year. A variety of Santa Claus figures and holly and ivy. Even artificial Christmas trees are lining the seasonal aisles of the big warehouse sized stores.

But what are we really wanting? That feeling of those colder evenings and crisp days. The fall colors of trees signalling the end of summer. That time to remember family and friends with a cheerful time that should be what we celebrate all year, but choose to find a holiday reason to make contact again.

I still remember the magic of those days when I was a child. Knowing that the holidays were coming and would mean a feast at Thanksgiving and songs and lights for the Christmas season. Going to pick that live Christmas tree with my dad that would smell so good when it got tied to the top of the car and later set in the stand in the house.

Autumn brings a lot of memories for the time and remember to be of thankfulness and good cheer. It would be great to have that all year around ( the spirit of God can do that if we want). We settle for less, we could do much more. But it is good to have the season don’t you think. It marks time and allows us to appreciate what the world has provided to us. Even in the midst of all of the world’s strife and conflict- we have each other- we have the seasons.

The Seasons and the Hot Summer Day

Posted in Learning Lessons Along the Journey Of Life and tagged Autumn, being remembered, Change, Christmas lights, Happiness, Joy, Memories, moments, Seasons, Sprituality

20 Sep 2012

What Other People Think Of You

I have always struggled thinking about with what other people thought of me. Acceptance was so often a guideposts for things I would do, for the plans I would make. There was a time when I turned a corner. Maybe it was part of my Lutheran upbringing or later on in life my cancer diagnosis, but I finally realised it had to change.

When you worry about what other people think, you let them control who you are. You waste a lot of time and energy trying to figure out what other people want you to be. Maybe they want it selfishly, maybe innocently they want you reflect themselves on you? You don’t even realise it – but all of a sudden you find yourself wasting a lot of time and energy trying to become like something you believe people want you to be, rather than just being what God made you to be.

Worrying about what other people think is dangerous because it leaves us extra sensitive to criticism. It means we may not do the right thing for ourselves but instead, we do the things that other people want us to do. And what everybody wants to do is often the opposite of the compass inside of us. Then when we feel that friction we are even more irritated with our life around us.

You cannot please everybody. There are so many opinions about so many things today, no one is going to always be pleased with you. People pray for things – some for one thing, some for another. Only a fool would try to do what even God can’t do. You can’t please everybody.

You don’t have to please everybody. So many people try to believe that in order to be happy you must be loved and gain approval by every one else. You know that deep in your heart you don’t have to, but somehow there is always that chance that it seeps back in.

Rejection will not ruin your life. It can be painful, you may even remember it and feel its imprint on you later. But it is not the end of things. In fact later it may look like the beginning of something else.

So I quit trying to please everybody years ago. It became obvious that no one can make me feel inferior unless I let them… It starts by beginning to understand that it can be your choice.

Posted in Doing Things That Will Change Your Life, Learning Lessons Along the Journey Of Life and tagged Acceptance, God, Grace, Happiness, Joy, moments, Opinion, Postive Thinking, Self-Awareness, Sprituality, What Other People Think, Who Are You

17 Sep 2012

5 Comments

Life Can Be Like A Wheel

“Some people say life’s like a merry-go-round
I think it’s more like a ferris wheel
‘Cause sometimes you’re up, sometimes you’re down
Sometimes you just don’t know what to feel” (Todd Rundgren)

It is just the way it seem to be. When you ride life’s wheel you have to be ready for the motions that make up the turns. You have to be prepared to know that there will be downs before ups, and know that the ups may not just be the opposite of the downward ride. It may be a whole new place to rise the height of the wheel.

Part of the trip ahead is the anticipation as things start to change. Not worth resistance it is the place you should enjoy as the wheel turns. When you see it heading down you can do things to help turn it faster the other way. On the other hand, when it is turning up you may not be able to slow it down, or it may take more time to get to the top.

“We are either progressing or retrograding all the while; there is no such thing as remaining stationary in this life.”
– James Freeman Clarke

Sometimes hearing the expression “just roll with it” reminds me of that. Making sure to roll with the changes, move with the day as God provided to us. Do the most with it, because how we spend each day is how we spend our lives.

Posted in Life's Sound Track (Music) and tagged Advice, cherish, Ferris wheel, Grace, Life changes, life is precious, moments, Self-Awareness, Slow Down, Todd Rundgren, ups and downs

10 Sep 2012

1 Comment

Reliving the Past

Our pasts are so precious. After all every moment we have lived up to this second is what makes us who we are right now. We have our memories to cherish, we have our experiences to formulate our opinions and shape are personalities. There are plenty of minutes in our lives where not a thing has happened except that we have taken another breath, which we can certainly be thankful for.

We should be proud of who we are- if we can count our accomplishments in a way that has helped others, or we have helped to make shape so many people around us by simple things we may have said or done. In other cases we may have profoundly changed so many lives of those who have since moved on to other circles of friends. But we left our mark on them, we may have ever so slightly changed their course, or perhaps made great changes. But there we were in that past.

But there is one thing that seems to be very true about our pasts, yet so many try to defy it. We cannot relive our past. We can recall it, we may even be able to reenact it in some way. But the ever-changing world does not allow us to go back and relive it just the way it was. Even though some of those moments were profound for you. The birth of your children, the first meeting of a love of your life, the simple victories and celebrations of life, sharing thoughts and philosophies with friends that ultimately indelibly put a new spin on your existence. Or perhaps just that simple clear day where the sky is blue, the sun is shining and you can take a deep breath… Or that day that you made a regrettable mistake that you would rather have not, and would do anything to change it now.

But you cannot go back, just like you cannot predict the future an( see my previous blog). You have to appreciate it, but cannot wallow in it. There is really only the here and now. You have to appreciate the here and now. The moment. And every one after it for as long as you are allowed. A while back I had posted “No Day But Today”. There is only that- only this moment until the next.

So don’t spend your time wishing the past back, it cannot be done. You should not forget it. You should not dismiss it. You cannot relive it.

So now what? What can you do?…. Be the person you have become… through this journey, take the next steps in whatever adventure life allows you ( and then more) and make the day count for something positive, in your life it could be the most significant day ever- but then in some ways they all are.

RELATED POSTS

Predicting the Future

No Day But Today

Posted in Learning Lessons Along the Journey Of Life and tagged being remembered, choices, Faith, life is precious, Memories, moments, Postive Thinking, Sprituality, the future, the past, Who Are You

04 Sep 2012

5 Comments

Predicting the Future

There are some days that I think how great it would be to predict the future. You would be able to know where things would be going. You could be confident that each day would be set. There would be no guessing about the challenges ahead. There would be less fear of the unknown. No worries about tomorrow. You could help so many others and yourself in so many ways.

Knowing the future would mean you could win the lottery or buy the next big stock (if I had only bought Apple stock when my friends told me). You could stop bad things from happening, and be present for the exciting things. Yes I know all the complicated science around changing events on the space-time continuum – they have made movies and books about that and site all of what Einstein was theorizing (even though many more have gone further in this whole thing). Even Dr. Brown explained it well ( for you Back to the Future fans). Still it might be cool to know. Maybe.

Then I realize that there’d be little to desire, not much to dream for. It would constantly be sad for the surprise and the adventure of our God-given life on Earth would be gone. We would know things we don’t want to know, and see things we could not change even as we knew they were coming. Even our own fateful demise would be waiting off in the predictable future. Our sense of self-value would be distorted. If we are all going to die eventually, does it benefit us to know when? Or should we instead be spending every day as the precious thing it is.

No.. Not really a good thing to know the future. All of the negatives would far outweigh the positives. Time is forever marching forward and we are moving ahead as it unfolds (okay there are scientists that will argue that one too). We are in Gods hands and our own path is ours to choose. Not really in the here and now though as much as in the choice for eternity after this life.

We can take each day as it comes and make it work for us. When so many people in this world cannot predict where their next morsel of food or drink will come;we should consider that “fortunate” predictability in our futures, and be thankful. Take consideration for the unknown. Realize that life is there to be cherished, and worry will not overcome you. Even as we know life will end, we can take this next moment in the future of our lives to be grateful for e opportunity to be here, to have known each other.