choices | Tracks In The Dust

Archive for the tag “choices”

01 Mar 2013

Freedom from Fear and Guilt

Can you let go of your fears and guilt?

If you asked your friends or family how they defined “freedom” what would they say? Maybe something like…

“I can do anything I want,say whatever I want to say and no one can tell me what to do.”

Sounds selfish, even if you took it to mean that you would do things that wouldn’t harm or hurt you or other people, there would still be a lot of things that would be difficult to accomplish in reality.

Fear and guilt get in the way of freedom.

We may have guilt about the things we hadn’t done in our lives, or haven’t attended to and should. We can feel guilty about not spending more time with our family, or ourselves. We can feel guilty about what we said to someone, what we meant to say. It could be that the specter of guilt is there about severe things like cheating on your spouse, or short cutting things at work, or thousands of other things that accumulate over time.

Our fears get in the way of freedom. We have so many unspoken ones. Surely we may state that we are fearful of spiders or snakes or bears or sharks or something. We may have a fear of heights or flying. We could fear the dark or the unknown minute yet to come. There are the unspoken fears of emotion and weakness. Those fears that can stop us cold from “getting involved” with a someone, or getting involved with a situation. And then the compound as fears layer on top of fears. And the ultimate fear of death will play its own role.

Fear and guilt are real, and they stop us from that “freedom” we all wish for in many ways.

Can you imagine your life with no guilt, no fear? What would it be like? How would you find it?

Let me end with something that keeps me going; something in the face my life with cancer helps to calm my fears. “…there is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear” (1 John 4:18) “If the Son sets you free, then you will be really free” (John 8:36)

Posted in Doing Things That Will Change Your Life and tagged Acceptance, choices, Doubt, Faith, Fear, God, Grace, Guilt, Recreation, Self-Awareness, spirituality, Sprituality

25 Feb 2013

2 Comments

Something Left To Give

As we grow older it seems, priorities change don’t they? When I was younger getting through each day meant something quite different from what it does now. In some ways I was always wishing hard for the weekend, where I could more intensely enjoy the company of my friends. Raise the roof and party. I was in a rock band in my early days and there was always something about the weekend. Gigs at local schools and pubs, party’s with long nights of drinking beer and smoking and pretending to be so worldly about our observations of love and the world around us.

But as I grew older giving was more significant than receiving. It became more important to be part of something that would last. It’s not that everything has to be “important”- but somehow I guess having kids will put a whole new perspective on that. As I had written in a previous post a while back, my father-in-law lived to the ripe old age of 90. And though all of his years fortunately old age did not shake is memory or faculties. He was a vibrant person pretty much till the end. One of the most important thing he wanted from life was to “be remembered”.

So now as I gain years and hopefully get wiser with age, I hope that I can have “something left to give” and that all of my children (even the lost one I haven’t seen in 10 years) can gain from the insight of the world around them. They won’t let the world pass by them and not notice the greatness of life, the wonder, grace and compassion. They will find ways to give to life the blessings God has provided, they will be conscious of the opportunity and it will become the reason that generations ahead will benefit from the wisdom they leave behind.

This is a song that always reminds me of that idea. One my children introduced it to me. From The Starting Line. It’s several years old, but I have frequently came back to this song and its words. ♥

Posted in Life's Sound Track (Music) and tagged being remembered, choices, Compassion, Faith, Grace, Joy, life is precious, Music, Reality Check, Sprituality, Who Are You

17 Feb 2013

2 Comments

Go Ahead Take The Leap

What are you waiting for? There has to be those times when you make “the leap”.

A leap of faith perhaps or just a leap from one place to another. Getting out the routine, moving to another place, taking a chance when you haven’t in the past.

There is that inner-voice that can tell you to wait…. something else will come along. But then when do you listen and when don’t you? Can you catch the meaning of it? Sure, it is easy to review all of life’s missed opportunities and regrets. Sigh… There are times that I know I wallow in them.

After all, standing still can feel comfortable. Its familiar. It allows you to maintain control. But really it could mean that you aren’t in control. That comfortable spot you are in could be controlling you. Keeping you from making the leap you need to make…embracing the change. It could be that you remember the failure or the hurt. You find yourself playing-back “old tapes” (as it used to be called before the digital age). Those old things can be like an anchor. You have to learn your lesson, you don’t want to repeat things that are destined to happen again. But you have to recognize your opportunity too.

So those times will come… it is important to recognize then – then it’s time to say “go ahead and take a leap”. Make a move and see where goes next. See what happens.

TAKE THE LEAP!

Posted in Learning Lessons Along the Journey Of Life and tagged Advice, Chances, Change, choices, Faith, mental-health, moments, Moving, Opportunity, Postive Thinking, Reality Check, Regrets, Taking Chances, Trust

11 Feb 2013

7 Comments

Cleaning Out Junk In Your Life

DO you think it may be time to clean up the “junk” in your life? Over time it seems to pile up and get in your way. It can obstruct your vision. Make you see things that aren’t there, make you stay where you are at when you really should be moving forward.

The stuff that becomes more like “junk” gets so high that it seems insurmountable Old memories, old books and music, old letters and remembrances from another time. They hide in the attics, under things in drawers. They could be hanging in your closets, or even just electronically as part of your email contacts and messages.

They are not meaningless. They make up every bit of who you are. They may be significant in the course of time in your life, but they are behind you. You may think that at sometime holding on to them will be valuable, they will be worthy of a return somehow. They could be beneficial in some way in the future because they are going to assist you in moving even farther forward. That can be sometimes true, but more often they can be equally weighing down the opportunity for real progress.

They can be valuable. Okay. By now some may even be collectibles (cant say antiques -gulp) or something. Maybe you have a thought that you could share them with your children. Show them some of those things that mean so much in your timeline of life. But actually they will nod, say that they understand (although they can’t imagine you being younger than when they were alive). Only they nearly won’t ever cherish them the way you do. In fact when you ask them what they remember about their childhood, it is those things that aren’t often part of the “stuff” you’ve saved. It is more about the moments and places where they enjoyed being a family.

So now its time to hold up the junk to the microscope of today. What will it mean in another 10 years? What will it mean to you? To others around you then? Like cleaning up the clutter, cleaning up the stuff- the junk that memories are made of can be so hard to do. It is like taking pieces of what you once cherished and putting it on the curb. But it can be refreshing and feel like some weight has lifted.

Find what is really important. Search for what it really is.

Like the picture above. Clutter and junk pile up till you are hard-pressed to find the important things in your life…. Can you find the black and white cat in the picture?

One Year Later, Thank You Followers

So here it is exactly one year later since last February when I started Tracksinthedust.

Like so many others bloggers I have read it was not my intention to collect 1000’s of followers.

Yet it has been fantastic that some of you fellow WordPress bloggers are visiting from time to time, and for my Facebook friends to drop by- it’s always wonderful to get a comment now and then as well.

My hope is that in the course of things my kids catch some of it. They mean the world to me and my wife. Even for my oldest son who left home at 18 and has never looked back.

I will continue to share some of my journey on my fight with cancer on the Cancer Letters – I pray that isn’t a turn off but I wanted to get that down in writing. Probably more therapeutic for me than for those who would read it I guess.

It’s been fun touching on music, and lyrics and poems ( on my new page) Songs and Poems from Another Time

It has been great to make some bloggy friends along the way as well!

Most of all I have learned that no matter where people live in the world there are so many similarities. Worries and loves, hates and frustrations, wonders and kindness, spiritual needs and wanting to know how we all fit in.

They are all there in everyone.

Hope that some of you will continue to drop by and leave a comment when it moves you.

Here’s to another year for all of us!

Mark (Mgert)

Special shout to some of WordPress bloggers from around the world and right here in Texas who have dropped by for comments.

♥ Hope the Happy Hugger for all your wonderful comments and inspriation

Istopforsuffering for your spiritual vision

NoBlogintended for your views on life

Mari for your such beautiful prose

Aix for your insight on living

InWonderland (Audrey) for being such a genuine person