Life | Tracks In The Dust

Archive for the tag “Life”

16 Jun 2013

Turning Back to History

Often these days it seems many of us have been turning our backs on history.

The Ipswitch Milestone

Somehow it seems to me, that many of the people I know have turned their backs on history. I mean we all understand that there were many things that have happened before us. There are so many centuries before today, before this minute in modern history, and so many more thousands of years of ancient history, and before that the millions of years that make up time before it was recorded by man.

During even the most recent times, history is has influenced how things are shaped today. We don’t recognize it, but everything is linked to most everything before it. As my kids get older, I fear they may not recognize or appreciate what came before. The importance of history seems to have become lost for the most part. Other than a few movies about time travel, or an occasional documentaries or film stories that hover around history (much of it in some fictional account), I am not sure that they genuinely would know about much of history. That scares me some. History has meaning in our life, it is the essence of what we are and how we should look at the circumstances of today. .

Both of my children s grandfathers fought in World War 2. They are not alive anymore to share what they had to do, and why they had to do it (they both weren’t always interested in sharing the horror of it). It would have been great for my children to hear what the fabric of their lives were made of.

During our lifetime there are history-making events happening… how will we recognize the important milestones among them in the future? How would we see them linked to the past? – Or would anyone see the link at all?

So many significant things in history are at risk to be forgotten by most of us. Perhaps just remembered as some image on a webpage that will endlessly get lost in the mounds of URLs that make up the throw away websites on the world-wide web….

It is important that we pass on some of it if we can. Like those tribes of years ago, who spent time sharing and repeating the history of the people before them. We need to share it. To let our children know why things happened in history, and what it meant then and what it means now.

Related Posts.

From No Blog Intended.A great post about Blind Spots In History . It is inspirational that someone wants to pay attention and understand that there is so much more.

Posted in Doing Things That Will Change Your Life and tagged being remembered, choices, grandfathers, History, Life, Remembering the past, Self-Awareness, significant things, Time travel, tracks in the dust, world war 2, World War II

10 Jun 2013

All Things Must Pass

More frequently these days I recall how precious life is. It is very fragile. We have our chance to look at life from many ways. But in the end it all will pass. That’s why I share this song from the late George Harrison. It has always been one of those songs that captures the spirituality of the passing of time.

Sunrise doesn’t last all morning
A cloudburst doesn’t last all day
Seems my love is up and has left you with no warning
Its not always going to be this grey

All things must pass
All things must pass away

Sunset doesn’t last all evening
A mind can blow those clouds away
After all this, my love is up and must be leaving
Its not always going to be this grey

All things must pass
All things must pass away
All things must pass
None of lifes strings can last
So, I must be on my way
And face another day

Now the darkness only stays the night-time
In the morning it will fade away
Daylight is good at arriving at the right time
Its not always going to be this grey

All things must pass
All things must pass away
All things must pass
All things must pass away

A VIDEO FROM VH1 – George Harrison’s last live performance before his death.

Posted in Life's Sound Track (Music) and tagged Acceptance, All Things Must Pass, being remembered, Cancer, choices, George Harrison, Grace, Joy, Life, life is precious, Music, Rock music, Sprituality, tracks in the dust

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

07 Mar 2013

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Getting Stuck and UnStuck

I am not sure sometimes how I get into particular situations. There are just those times when “poof” I am there. You ever have that feeling of extreme distress? You can’t believe how you got there. It’s likely that you were thinking of something else, maybe head in the clouds.

There are plenty of times where when you are feeling stuck, it seems insurmountable Panic may ensue, or that feeling that you are never going to get out of the situation you are in. Things get blue or bleak or bad (funny how many words can describe it).

Some of my friends will surround themselves with others who are feeling the same way, so they can feel better that they are not alone in their sinking feeling. Other friends of mine will disappear off the face of the earth it seems for long periods of time. Seems like plenty of people think they have the remedy to help them get out of those feelings of being stuck in the situation they’re in.

But getting un-stuck is a challenge that has to be faced eventually. For most of us there is a time when you just have to admit that there is a way out– a solution. You have to make a decision. It’s funny sometimes that someone can “wallow’ at the bottom of a situation for so long.

We can all break-free of things if we put our minds to it. We have the ability to change things, but there are times that we just don’t. We draw out the inevitable and then later – after we finally look back – we ask ourselves “what took so long?” There has to be someway to recognize that getting un-stuck is a choice we can all make if we want without wallowing in it. Without just standing still and wondering why things don’t change.

Advice to my kids when they feel stuck: Take action and make things change. Sometimes I have to hear my own advice. Then God will provide.

Posted in Learning Lessons Along the Journey Of Life and tagged Advice, Change, Emotion, Fear, Feeling, Helplessness, Life, Postive Thinking, Reality Check, Sadness, Slow Down, tracks in the dust

28 Feb 2013

Where Do You Draw the Line?

Are you ever finished? Where do you draw the line?

Don’t you think there are times you have to just say “stop” and draw the line?

I mean there are somethings that just have to get unloaded from your life as you continue to progress though it. Friends, family, work, personal commitments to managing your day and your week. You want to “be there” for everyone you can. You want to help them, support them. You want to be able to enjoy their company. Your work may demand a lot of your energy just to stay ahead… making it all that much harder to make it all work.

I have friends who burn-the-candle at both ends. They stay up late, get up early. They spend time moving from place to place and wanting to participate in just about everything. I wonder sometimes how satisfactory that experience really is. They worry if they miss something or if they are not “there” for someone who they will have failed- they struggle to be accepted.

Eventually you see them get discouraged. It’s like the analogy “If you attach one light bulb to a battery, the battery will continue to run for a long time. If you attach a dozen light bulbs to a battery, the battery will die quickly and things will l get dark.”

When you keep adding things to your calendar, piling things on top of your life, it is fairly likely you will get run down and discouraged. You may need to un-plug from things. It can be very hard to do.

A there are so many things that can get in your way and drain the batteries Maybe it’s a relationship, the work you do, a get together with friends or sports league or tending to all of the kid’s activities. ( I have seen parents who have their kids so plugged-in that they are heading for a crash as well).

It’s not necessarily an unwanted thing, many things can be really desirable. A being involved,participating in things can be great, but if you add up all those things in your life, you’re going to collapse because for the lack of time . You may just have to say “no” to somethings.

You cannot fall prey to peer pressure or the need to please someone. But guilt is a very strong thing, especially when you create it on your own. Or perhaps you may be holding on to a happiness or hurt. The reality is that you can never live in the past or the future; you can only live for today. Looking back in the past, or always working for what might happen tomorrow can drag you down.

I have read many blogs, I have written some myself about de-cluttering junk from your life. Maybe this is part of that clean-up, if it isn’t working for you, if it’s dragging you down, perhaps you need to do the hardest thing… you need to let it go.

Negotiating With Yourself

Organization in the Clutter of Life