being remembered | Tracks In The Dust

Archive for the tag “being remembered”

10 Sep 2012

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

21 Aug 2012

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Dreaming of Magic Again

Some times it seems almost hard to believe. I am not really good at remembering dreams. I wake up and I can recall a dream for about 5 seconds, and then it starts to fade. But there are a few that keep coming back, like a late nite movie that keeps showing up every week and you can’t stop watching it.

There are a few things that are in black and white, and a few that are in color. I noticed that they seem to incorporate a lot of things in “real” life, but things that are not really connected that way. They are associated somehow in my sub conscious I guess, and so they get thrown into the soup of the dream.

What dreams do you have that keep coming back?

Okay so there is a huge psychological process to interpreting them and having them end up determining what kind of person you are. Not so into that, I think there is some merit to it, but really. Some of my dreams just come up because I have weird food before I go to sleep (like Frito-Lay products with spicy flavors-can you say “Doritos”?) or because I saw a strange movie (anything by Stanley Kubrick) or listened to some music (like Explosions In The Skyincredible music). Some are just there for whatever reason. But like I said they disappear in the morning fog of the first cup of coffee.

So this one dream. It has a soundtrack and a mysterious lady. The song (perhaps the inspiration after all) is Magic by Ben Folds Five written by Darren Jessee [see below]. It seems like a mysterious song on its own, perhaps about someone who has passed on, or who has lost their life or perhaps their life’s memory (through Alzheimer’s perhaps)… but it is always the sound track. I am watching it from above and it plays out with a lady dancing by the light of this huge moon (some times it looks like it is my wife, sometimes someone I don’t actually know). Along the way I the whole thing becomes distant, and then again really close. I am sad but happy at the same time. In the end it makes me calm that the world will continue and this person is in it somehow.

That’s it. All you dream interpreters can have a hey day on what that all means, and I guess I could spend a lot of time in analysis to discover my mom or something was at the root of all of it. But no matter what I do, it just pops up.

What dreams do you have that keep coming back? How do you deal with them? Where do they take you?

Magic by Ben Folds Five

From the back of your big brown eyes
I knew you’d be gone as soon as you could
And I hoped you would
We could see that you weren’t yourself
And the lines on your face did tell
It’s just as well
You’d never be yourself again

Saw you last night
Dance by the light of the moon
Stars in your eyes
Free from the life that you knew

You’re the magic that holds the sky up from the ground
You’re the breath that blows these cool winds ’round
Trading places with an angel now
Saw you last night
Dance by the light of the moon
Stars in your eyes
Free from the life that you knew
Saw you last night
Stars in your eyes
Smiled in my room

Posted in Life's Sound Track (Music) and tagged being remembered, Ben Folds, Change, Dreams, Explosions In The Sky, Faith, life is precious, Music, Psychology, Social Sciences, Sprituality, Who Are You

17 Jul 2012

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What Do You Do With It?

There is something about being told by a doctor how you might leave this Earth that is kind of creepy. I mean we are all going to go someday. Like my previous post “time waits for no one”, it moves on and there is no way to halt it or turn it around. There is not a way to stop the end. People search for the fountain of youth, do as many things possible in some cases to make themselves look young. They take miracle drugs and infomercial remedies that are supposed to make the look and feel younger. But in the end we are all headed for the mortal end.

No matter what the future looks like , there are many times we don’t see it coming. I had a niece who was a wonderful girl with a hopeful future who wanted to see what life would bring, but in the process she took too many chances with her life and lost it at an age before she experienced her 24th year. In other cases we may be able to wait for age to catch up and maybe somewhere along the way we physically wear out, or a disease or other plights gets the better of us. When cancer is a reality, there are so many other realities you may not be thikning about- like that inevitable sudden step off the curb, or the last adventure to take-on the mountain or obstacle worth tackling that brings the end.

So I am really sure that it will end for all of us. I think you probably believe that too. What we do with the time we have here on Earth is the way to put value on our life while we have it. God tells us that we are going to have a place here in the world, and after we leave it. Surely goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever.

But some how, for some of us, we find our ways to cycle through the hours, days and weeks and wonder how they often get past us with little difference. We get frustrated because we havent felt we have been significant, we aren’t very sure if we have made the time between those major events in our lives worth it when they are just “living”. But we can make it worth it every day, by being there for the people around us, living with the spirit of goodness and all its attributes always.

So we cannot fool ourselves into thinking that life goes on forever here on Earth. That our tracks in the dust will last forever here. We have to wake up each day and cherish it for what it is and what we can make of it. Enjoy the simple pleasures, celebrate the victories however small or large they are. Be thankful for the people around you and the people you have known over your lifetime. When the time is over, be confident that because you believe, you will have another place to be for eternity.

Posted in Before and After Things Change, Doing Things That Will Change Your Life and tagged being remembered, cherish, Eternity, fountain of youth, life is precious, Love, miracle drugs, moments, Sprituality

11 Jul 2012

The Everyday Miracles

Do miracles exist?

They are there in your life. There every day when you step from the curb, say hello to the check out clerk, take the hand of your child, smile at your coworker, so many things that we do each day involve the simple greatness of life. Each action and reaction can cause a chain reaction that you may more than likely never know. Like waves in the ocean, or the wind across the field of grass. We are so unconscious in our simple actions, that we are not paying attention to the motions around us. Do you see such miracles as they happen as we live our lives?

Take a deep breath in, take another one out. Enjoy the fact that you are living on the Earth and are fortunate to be here online in the world-wide web…communicating with each other in such a way that we can share ideas, share the amazement of life, reach across oceans and continents to communicate about all the world has to offer. And when we do, there is an opportunity for confirmation of what being a human-being on this Earth means.

It amazes me everyday how similar so many people are across the globe. Feeling the emotions of sadness, elation, anger and relief, love and kindness, compassion and understanding. It truly is the miracle that we have to experience every day.

We are not alone, we have each other. So much more can be done, and every movement can be a miracle. We are so fortunate that we can decide, when so many others in the world cannot. We can influence simple miracles that will make a difference for someone we have never met, or may never meet. Just like we can influence our neighbours, our family, or friends or the person passing us on the street. We can reach out beyond that and follow our mission while we are here on Earth. Putting our tracks in the dust will eventually blow away with time, but the next persons tracks will take over. And the line can go for eternity with just a simple choice.

There are miracles happening everyday. We all can participate in making them happen. Have faith, be aware of what you can do to affect human change, it seems like it is infinitely more than you are aware of.

Posted in Before and After Things Change, Learning Lessons Along the Journey Of Life and tagged Acceptance, being remembered, Eternity, Faith, God, Grace, life is precious, living on the earth, Miracle, moments, Religion and Spirituality, tracks in the dust

13 Jun 2012

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Save It For Later?

I noticed that throughout my life, I have had a tendency to save things and collect things. A good friend and fellow blogger recently discussed this on his site, and it just reminded me of how good I had gotten. Perhaps too good.

Do you put aside things in places like drawers,closets,garages, trunks or other places in your life? You move them to a place that you can remember, and “save it for later”. Silly things like papers, clippings, pens, pictures, along with collectables like magazines or CD’s ( I have way too much old vinyl records by the way still in storage).

What do you save? What do you find yourself putting aside for safe keeping?

Today I have to give my kids credit, they don’t save nearly as much. So much more mobile than the past generation. That can be good I no doubt, but once again my pack-rat mentality says “what if you need it later?” or “you are such a disposable generation” – like they don’t appreciate the value of their “stuff”. Just accumulating stuff though is not an accomplishment.

Collecting and saving money or valuable things or family mementos isn’t a bad thing necessarily…cherishing history is essential to understanding why you are where you are today. It keeps you from making the same mistakes as your ancestors and appreciating the ways in which they survived to get you where you are in life’s timeline. But there are more important collections. Collecting friends and people around you that you can share in God’s grace and enjoy your time while here on Earth. Not putting aside God in your life. Those are the most valuable things I think. They don’t need to be locked up, they are in your heart and in your mind as those you need and want most.

So for some of us I guess we need to find ways to shake the habit, or make sure we understand that eventually we will run out of room or places for our possessions. For others traveling light and having the fundamental things is all that matters. Either way cherish the people and the spirit of the Word in your life, and things can be good. Real good.