Change | Tracks In The Dust

Archive for the tag “Change”

27 Jun 2013

Letting Go

Let go!

There is a lot of comfort in “status-quo”. There are reasons that you like “the way things are”. Being firmly entrenched in the pattern you are in can sometimes feel good.

A lot of people thrive on change. In fact for me when things DON’T change it kind of makes me think that something might be wrong. I know that sounds like I am always waiting for the “other shoe” to drop… which is sort of sad I guess. But change is okay too, it has its ability to provide the kind of variety that keeps life interesting, and makes one be more aware of things along the way.

But for others I guess there is that comfort of keeping things the way they are.

As my kids got older I think my wife and struggled for a long time understanding that our children were looking outward on their lives and not focused on the “family” that made up our history. We realized we could not center everything on them, as we had in their younger days growing up. Not that they didn’t want to be part of our family, just that they were looking for the next-thing and needed to work it on their own. After all that is part of growing up, and although the flexibility to change is more difficult later in life due to so many of the anchors and roots we put on ourselves. There is likely always the “next-thing” around the corner – if we were looking for it.

But those others who are comfortable, they aren’t always looking for the next thing. The needs of the next thing may not be evident, and they may be frightening or mysterious. But that comfort can be constricting. The next-thing may very well come without warning.

A job goes away, health, finances, catastrophe, or just a change in the simple pattern of daily life can be devastating and make that comfortable life seem to slip away so quickly it leaves no time to pause. That alone can be constricting. It can stall out what will need to happen next, it can lead to depression and denial.

So it is important (I think) to get accustomed to “letting go” things and taking courses in life that could be risky or unfamiliar. Letting go can lead to changes that you don’t expect, that you can’t even imagine.

Letting go is hard. No promises, but lots of promising prospects. Is it time to let go of something?

Posted in Learning Lessons Along the Journey Of Life and tagged Behavior, Change, choices, denial, Depression, Doubt, Faith, Letting Go, Memories, mental-health, Postive Thinking, Reality Check, Self-Awareness, Something New, The next thing, waiting for the other shoe to drop

20 Jun 2013

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Summer Solstice

It’s that time of year where summer is “official” on the calendar.

Here in the US it is that time again to think seriously about summer. For many of us that happened back at the end of May when America celebrates Memorial Day. But for the science of it all, summer begins now.

It sill churns up all the great memories of what summer meant when I was a kid: hot summer days at the beach, baseball season starts to really take shape, get ready for Independence Day celebrations and barb-e-ques ahead, hop on the bike and ride to places to enjoy the out-of-doors (does anyone really call it that anymore?). There was kind of a feeling of anticipation of what the adventure of summer would bring.

Anticipation for the “lazy days“: Like my mom and dad planning a family vacation. Even the summer songs on the radio would be upbeat, softball leagues would be gathering at the neighborhood park, the dog-days of August were lurking in the post July heat ahead-. The world seemed brighter– may be because the days were longer and the nights seemed more available to extend the day’s activities.

As I have gotten older, some of that still remains. I think I worked hard to make sure my kids could feel those same remembrances, but now they are older now and creating their own. I asked my teenage daughter (who is days away from NOT being called a “teenager”) – where would you like to live as you continue your journey into adulthood? Her answer: “somewhere where there are seasons”. Her younger years were in the mid-west US, but these past many years we have lived in Texas where those season changes are so much harder to recognize.

Summer solstice is here. To everything there is a season. Time to capture this one and enjoy it.

Photo credit: artsboston.org

Posted in Learning Lessons Along the Journey Of Life and tagged Change, choices, great memories, Independence Day, life is precious, moments, neighborhood park, Remembering Summer, Seasons, Sostice, Summer, Summer solstice, Summertime

07 Jun 2013

Bearing The Wait

The longest day must have its end

Every man must lose a friend

Time won’t wait for any hater

Dying can’t be done any later

So mourn the sick, bury the dead, and let the words flow free

The only answers to love gone bad will never come to me

It seems like today will never end, tomorrow isn’t coming

A crowd of people stare at you; they’re so cold its numbing

[Bridge]

If love is timid, it’s not true

Life is what you make it do

Love the truth, pardon error

Ask the mirror who’s the fairer

Fight for your wants, build your wills, and be satisfied you’re living

It may only be a silent love, but love is for the giving

Ask the questions in your mind, hope is right for now

A time will come when you will know, you’ll do it anyhow

[Chorus]

The longest day must have its end

Every man must lose a friend

Time won’t wait for any hater

Dying can’t be done any later

This is from a song I wrote in January 1974. It really didn’t mean anything in particular if I recall (it has been a while) but I was just breaking up with a girlfriend at the time and I am sure I was heart-struck some how. I will have to get these songs documented somehow. It is funny how even all these years later I remember the melody of it. From “Love Songs for a Lonely Night” © MGert 1974

Posted in Poems, Prayers and Promises and tagged Acceptance, Change, Love Songs, Lyrics, Memories, Music, Online Writing, Poems, Poetry, Self-Awareness, Verse

29 May 2013

Looking for the Big Finish

You know those movies where there is the big “reveal” – the ultimate secret that no one in the movie knew?

Lately I have been having those kind of dreams. Like some long story with a lot of mystery and conflict. Then it comes time for the answer and bam! … I wake up.

Answers like that seem to become elusive. I am sure some dream analysis person could tell me all about why I dream that way, or why I wake up before someone reveals the “big finish” to the dream.

But then for many of us life can also seem that way. Always waiting in anticipation for the revealing secret that is going to make everything fit together so well. That “ah-ha” moment. It is going to provide that release for the tension and un-sureness that life brings and let us ride off into the sunset with our heads held high.

From my perspective I guess, seems like that will be an elusive thing for all our lives if we let our subconscious keep gnawing away at our fears, chipping away at our confidence and providing fuel for the worry of not knowing where the plot will end things.

However, there seem to be chapters in life where things will come to a place where there are moments of clarity. Loss of loved ones, gaining new friends or lovers, celebrating the personal and emotional milestones …. things like that will jar things loose for a bit. They can make the story of living so clear as something that has purpose or doesn’t have… but as the page turns the new plot begins and its time to continue life’s story.

To me there is only one way to settle this. It is to trust in your spiritual being. To give to Him. To make adjustments that allow you to have faith in something bigger than you. It can put a lot in perspective and allow for a different look at how the “final” end to the story will look. It can be the ultimate “ah-ha” moment. The big finish will be the last day of your life, when all is certain ( as that day is certain to come) – you will be able to enjoy the ultimate secret.

That will be when the life/movie credits roll and the screen will show thanks to all who contributed, “The End” – or will it be the beginning? It’s all on how you live it now I guess.

Posted in Before and After Things Change and tagged Acceptance, anticipation, Cencer, Change, choices, Dream interpretation, Dying, Eternity, Faith, Interpretation, Life, moments of clarity, Postive Thinking, Reality Check, Sprituality, subconscious

01 May 2013

The Trust May Be Gone, But Keep the Faith

Recalling a “time of trust” in our world, things have seemed to change.

In the old days we would believe sales people at our local stores, we would rely on news from the network TV newscaster to see a window to the world from a trusted person we let into our living room. Even more so , in the days gone by we would believe our politicians.

Were we naive in the old days? Very likely we were not worldly enough because our perspective was contained inside a smaller circle – local stores, one newspaper, 3 TV stations to choose from. Perhaps we were stronger by faith itself.

It seems like that has changed. Have we just learned our lessons over time and got smarter? Or likely we have gotten just more jaded?

We have lost faith in our politicians – ( in the US that really happened in the early 70’s with the Watergate scandal I think) I know many of us couldn’t imagine some of our past US Presidents being under the scrutiny they are today and coming out as unscathed as they had in the past. These days the news media, the social media has started with the premise of dis-trust. And in a matter of seconds the trust (or lack of it) shoots into the ether-web and becomes someone else’s truth.

Today I couldn’t imagine taking an order to buy a high tech device or an appliance simply on the recommendation of the 20 yr old in the big-box store. That itself as led to the demise of so many of the retailers this past decade.

Today I couldn’t imagine just believing everything you read just because it was in-print or accept the news – like back in the days when the US landed on the moon… Walter Cronkite said “that’s the way it is”. Yet it seems in some ways people still do believe way too much of what they read on Internet- listening to extremes from so many talking heads who have no perspective on facts or truth- then they even write books about it.

Then roll all of this up this with our society’s ever decreasing attention span, and layer in the endless amount of choices we are exposed to – and throw that into the sea of anonymity. For many… top it off with the lack of spiritual faith- in-something- bigger leaves so many with no trust, faith or foundation in the Truth. It has left way too many people as distrusting skeptics; with each other, with our leaders, with the information we are presented every day we seem to view the world as hopeless. It is truly not, we need to keep the faith!