Do you hear the knocking? That’s opportunity and it is there every morning. It rises before you do.
So…, get off your duff, walk to the door and open it. It’s there waiting for you. You just have to meet it halfway and grab a hold. There may be work involved. Are you up for it? Are you chicken? Decide for yourself.
But…, you better answer or it may stop knocking.
And then, it may skip your door tomorrow. Trust me, you don’t want that.
by rayannethorn
When my great-grandmother was in her 9o’s, I always thought her days must have gone soooo slow. She couldn’t care for herself any longer, she couldn’t really do anything except sit in a chair and look out the window. Did her latter years go by quickly because they only represented 1/90th of her life or because her activity was so little, did the speed of time return to the perception she had in her youth and moved incredibly slow?
It seems like these days, in my own life, I blink and my children have grown or an event I had been anticipating has come and gone quicker than I had a chance to relish it. Or worse, a loved one passes before you have a chance to tell them of your love and are thankful for their presence in your life.
Embrace the brief moments we are given, enjoy being with the ones you love, and take pictures.
And every once and a while, pause to look out the window because the view will be much different when you are 90.
Narrow views of life become like a prison, not allowing one to experience as much as possible. Welcoming new people and new ideas in to your realm and learning to understand and accept that we are all different will shape your future and allow for a lifetime of generative learning.
Recognizing that one does, indeed, have narrow views is only half the battle. Pledge to open your eyes and heart and learn as much as possible, keeping an open mind to alternative beliefs and ways in which to live. This simple approach will allow love and peace into your life, more than could possibly imagined.
Life moves on and we learn to deal with changes and differences or… we don’t.
Nobody put it better than Dylan…
“Come gather ’round people
Wherever you roam
And admit that the waters
Around you have grown
And accept it that soon
You’ll be drenched to the bone.
If your time to you
Is worth savin’
Then you better start swimmin’
Or you’ll sink like a stone
For the times they are a-changin’…”
by rayannethonr
Life reveals many surprises along the way. Every day should serve as a reminder of just how precious this life is and how we should do better. After all, with no quest for improvement, we would stagnate or be so full of ourselves that no one could stand us…, except for ourselves, of course. A man wrapped up in himself makes a very small package, indeed.
One is the loneliest number that you’ll ever know…
No man is an island…
Man cannot live by bread alone…
and, The wise man built his house upon the rock.
What is the rock? It has been interpreted many different ways. Think of that “one thing” that Curly (Jack Palance) alludes to in City Slickers. It is your “one thing” that your house should be built upon, that gives you strength, that gets you up in the morning, that gets you through your day, that helps you make it through the night, that is or becomes your driving force. You have to decide what that is…
Is it your God?
Is it your family?
Is it your work?
Is it your friends?
Is it you, yourself?
No one person or thing can make you happy. Only you can make you happy…
My mother has said often, “You are about as happy as you make your mind up to be.” Our happiness comes from within, it cannot come from an outside source or from being loved.
However, if you love, if you give…, well now, that’s a different story, isn’t it?
That is one true thing.
I think the Great and Powerful Oz had it wrong. A heart isn’t judged by how much you are loved by others BUT by how much you love. And forgiveness? That’s the hard part.
For as impractical as a breakable heart is, how can one possibly know true joy without also knowing pain…
by rayannethorn
Is it when your day goes perfect? Is it when a family consists of a mom, dad, 2.5 kids and a dog? Is it when you order a hamburger and fries? Or maybe a hot dog with ketchup and mustard? Maybe it’s when you are always the perfect weight. Or you never get fired. Or perhaps it is when you live to be 79.2 years old.
Is it when you like coffee with one sugar and one creamer? Or you like Seinfeld but not Friends… or when you get your license on your sixteenth birthday or you have a new job every six years… Or your first job, fresh out of college, you made $30K annually. Or you drive a five-year old car and you’ll keep driving it for two more years because now it is paid for. Or you like to go to the movies on Friday night…, or you prefer butter on your popcorn.
Maybe it’s when your son gets three A’s and three B’s and your daughter gets four A’s and two B’s? Or you pull weeds once a month… or you prefer 75 degrees to 85 degrees… Maybe you go to get a physical exam and everything checks out, you are perfect. Could it be when you make the perfect meal and there are no leftovers OR there are leftovers but they get eaten the next day and they taste just as good or even better?
Maybe normal is when you prefer to stay home instead of going out or there are never dirty dishes in the sink or your favorite movie is Shawshank Redemption – like 10 million other people (except they don’t really mean it because they don’t really get it)… Maybe normal is when no one ever complains about you or remembers you…
You like your steak medium, not rare or well-done. Your hair looks perfect everyday and you get a trim every six weeks like clock work. Your dog doesn’t eat your shoes OR pees in the house.
It must be when your flight departs and arrives on time, with absolutely no complications or when the drive-thru never forgets that extra order of fries. You are never late and there is never traffic… No one is ever offended by what you said or did. You are understood, at all times and in all things…, that’s good one, huh?
If there is such a thing as normal, I have never seen it and probably never will. Therefore, we must learn to live with our idiosyncrasies and with those around us who believe THEY are the normal ones.
So, unless you are talking about the city in Illinois (Normal, IL: population 50,000)…, I, personally, don’t believe it exists.
Knowing when to ask for help is probably one of the most difficult abilities to master. It is never easy to say, “I need help.” For most people it is easier to say, “Can I help you?” We live in a society where we are told that we can have it all, but in order to have it all…, you have to be able to do it all. Not easy when time is divided between work, family, friends, school, church, activism, volunteering, promoting, blogging, commuting, birthday parties, baseball practice and games, rehearsals and performances, doctor’s visits for both family members and pets, yard work, laundry, paying bills, running errands…, the list is endless. really.
It helps to just know you need help. What is it? Admitting there is a problem is the first step to curing the problem. Yeah, right. Expectations are where the problem really lies. When you expect something of yourself or of someone else, there is great risk at being let down. So…, is the right avenue to lower our expectations? Or would it be better to learn acceptance and understand that everyone is fighting some kind of personal battle, everyone. No one is perfect, no one has it all under control, no one.
So, put on your armor daily, sharpen your sword, and face your jabberwocky with courage and the distinction that only you can.
Remember: failure can be valuable… If you do not risk failure, you risk growing and learning. The education of life is more costly and dear than a PhD.
So say “Ha!” to your greatest adversary: time. Take risks and find comfort knowing you don’t have to fight anyone else’s battle… just your own.
by rayannethorn
Much has been written about ethics, lying, morals codes, legalities, etc…
When it comes down to it, we all have a personal code that we live by….
Yes, I understand the teachings regarding a Universal Moral Law or the Universal Code of Ethics presumed and shared by individuals like C.S. Lewis – and I appreciate those teachings…
I also know that I cannot sit in judgment of someone else and their behaviors as I understand them. Life is not that simple, my relationship with a greater being is not that simple. I try to live by the “Judge not, lest ye be judged…” sentiment. Not an easy task as I find myself in a scary place where the threat of depression, economical and psychological, loom overhead consuming free time and open thoughts.
If I live my life the best way that I know how – how can anyone expect different from me? It is the best I know how. Recognizing that we all got here on a different path is necessary and universally “right.”
Recognize humanity – it only costs me if I don’t.
by rayannethorn
One of the most recognizable facets of American architecture from the eighteenth century through the 1940s was “the front porch.” A nice place to sit on a cool evening following a warm summer day seems logical and well-thought out. America was once a wild, earthy place where individuals yearned for freedoms and ached to break away from repression. Perhaps the front porch served as a transition zone…, attached to a civilized home was an outdoor extension that reached out toward earth and sky and a world that was once untouched by man, greed, or hate.
Folks out on their evening walks might stop and chat to catch up on the happenings in your world and share what had transpired in theirs. The front porch: a place to be free, to gather information, and let go of a little steam.
Sadly, the front porch has been successfully disappearing over the last seventy years. I recently stopped by a new housing development near my home that was getting ready to open the next phase. The home prices had dropped about $400,000 over the last two years and I thought I would take a look. One of the models had a wannabe porch; a poor attempt at trying to recapture the feel and look of its much earlier predecessor. It was a nice sentiment and I really wanted it to work, but it just didn’t.
We gather here to meet and greet, to learn from like-minded individuals, to trade tricks, and to further connect with other humans in a world that, due to advancing technology, gets smaller and smaller…, That same technology drives us further away from human contact – who needs it, right?
I have contended and will continue to do so, that this, social media, is the new front porch. So stop by and chat awhile, learn a bit about the neighbors, and maybe even offer to help mend a fence or two. Take a load off. The breeze is cool, the bugs are few, and the conversation is great.
“Nobody thought much about the front porch when most Americans had them. The great American porch was just there, open and sociable, an unassigned part of the house that belonged to everyone and no one, a place for family and friends to pass the time.” ~Davida Rochlin in HOME SWEET HOME
Sit for a spell, won’t ya?
by rayannethorn
The New Front Porch 