Change of Seasons

Happy New Year

"Once you have made peace with the present moment, see what happens, what you can do or choose to do, or rather what life does through you. There are three words that convey the secret of the art of living, the secret of all success and happiness: One with Life. Being one with life is being one with Now. You then realize that you don't live your life, but life lives you. Life is the dancer and you are the dance." ~Eckhert Tolle

Just For You Ernesto Cortázar

Love's Deity

Love's Deity by John Donne

I long to talk with some old lover's ghost,
Who died before the God of Love was born:
I cannot think that he, who then loved most,
Sunk so low as to love one which did scorn.
But since this god produced a destiny,
And that vice-nature, Custom, lets it be,
I must love her that loves not me.

Sure, they which made him god meant not so much,
Nor he in his young godhead practised it;
But when an even flame two hearts did touch,
His office was indulgently to fit
Actives to passives. Correspondency
Only his subject was; it cannot be
Love, till I love her that loves me.

But every modern god will now extend
His vast prerogative as far as Jove.
To rage, to lust, to write to, to commend,
All is the purlieu of the God of Love.
Oh were we wakened by this tyranny
To ungod this child again, it could not be
I should love her who loves not me.

Rebel and atheist too, why murmur I
As though I felt the worst that love could do?
Love might make me leave loving, or might try
A deeper plague, to make her love me too,
Which, since she loves before, I'm loth to see;
Falsehood is worse than hate; and that must be,
If she whom I love should love me.

I Live One Day at a Time

Bet you're surprised to see me back at home,

You don't know how I miss you when you're gone

Don't ask how long I plan to stay

It never crossed my mind

cuz I live one day at a time.

There's a swallow flyin' across a cloudy sky

Searchin' for a patch of sun so high

Don't ask how long I have to follow him,

Perhaps I won't in time

but I live one day at a time.

Silent Night

There are peek-a-boo stars in the sky tonight

as the clouds play with a sliver of a moon

like the Dreamscape movie mogul

without the dangling being

on the make-believe swing

of the mind of wonder

they only imitate

but can never encapsulate

It’s not an unfamiliar scene

but I seldom participate in the dance

and I’m guessing you don’t either

We all have better things to do

than gaze at the night sky

do we not

Inside I’m surrounded with pottery

and portraits and paintings

carpet and crystal and candles

technology and tinsel and tedium

I’m drowning in things, thoughts, theatre

invisible constraints that choke the breath

and demand my attention or inattention

and make me irritable, irrational, inconsistent

insane

Nothing at all like the night sky

which I seldom visit

or rarely extol

or freely swig as the gods so designed

for the nutriment of mankind

and intoxication of his soul

Those wise men in the east

could not have seen

the child’s star leading

nor felt its promise

rejoiced in its nativity

marveled in its purity

worshipped its majesty

had they been held captive

to their paltry surroundings

So stop the world

I want to get off

at least for tonight

to gaze at peek-a-boo stars

and the sliver of a moon

and the glimmer of hope

that joy comes from being

and understanding comes from seeing

that which man can never portray

and words can never express

that passes through these eyes blinded by science

and silently moves my soul

into this, this singular
silent night

The Love She Found in Me

It does not bother me that the roses have thorns
It amazes me that the thorns have roses
Give her wasps and she'll find the orchid

She looked into a heart so sad
And saw what no one ever had
Beneath the snow she saw the spring
She finds good in everything

Give her thorns and she’ll find the roses
Give her sand and she’ll find the sea
Give her rain and she’ll find the rainbows
Just see the love she found in me
Just see the love she found in me

She looks beneath each tear that’s cried
And somehow sees the sunny side
Even on the darkest night
She knows where to find the light

Give her thorns and she’ll find the roses
Give her sand and she’ll find the sea
Give her rain and she’ll find the rainbows
Just see the love she found in me

When the world starts closing in
She gives me strength to smile again

Give her thorns and she’ll find the roses
Give her sand and she’ll find the sea
Give her rain and she’ll find the rainbows
Just see the love she found in me
Just see the love she found in me

A Reason For Happiness

I'm feeling inordinately festive.

I haven't celebrated the season in years, but this year is different.  I feel that familiar spirit of the Holidays that I felt in days of yore. Thanksgiving was a good gathering of family and I connected.  Christmas is not a commercial time for me but a time of reflection.  And my favorite holiday of all is New Year's Day because while I don't believe in happy endings, I do believe in a new beginning that takes the bite out of the past.   

If someone had told me two years ago that I would be happy today, I would have scoffed, but I am happy.  In fact, I've been practicing it.  I refuse to allow my feet to hit the floor in the morning until I have my morning commitment to joy.  The motivation is really pronounced since I have to pee so desperately.  So I find a reason for happiness really quickly. Doesn't have to be mountain moving, but has to be genuine and I'm amazed that since I've instigated this plan that I always do find some reason to be happy.

Got my flu and pneumonia shot yesterday and my left arm was sore so I couldn't sleep on my favorite left side last night.  So instead of bemoaning the laborious night of not being able to hit my favorite spot, I was thankful for having taken the step to ensure that I would not be staring down the barrel of that insufferable sickness.  There were a few other thoughts, one or two involving my memories of past loves, and then I had to cut it and go pee.

Point is, why not start your day off with a reason for happiness?  And when the day is done, as is it definitely is now, why not hit the pillow with a few more reasons?  That's the thing about habit.  It gets easier and easier.

This is a shot of my friend Alan and a couple of neighbors the morning after Katrina.  We were SO VERY glad to be alive!

May you find your own reason for happiness this Holiday Season and every day of your life. And here's a little tip, if you can't pee until you do, you will find a reason!