Friday, July 27, 2007
for BS - Friday, July 27, 2007
today’s Musing written and published from south Calgary, near Fish Creek Park
14C/57F (high 31C), windy, clear, hot, dry weekend begins; walk through the neighbourhood took Gusta down a fresh street, fresh smells delight her . .
I don’t need a fresh path, a new street – but an ineffable curiosity takes me down many
my simplest needs are met by me, my greatest needs - like most people I expect - are to be relevant - to someone, to matter to someone, to be of service to my world in a manner that someone appreciates; in so doing I get (if I choose) to be self indulgent or not, brave or not, bold or not, happy or not, satisfied or not, goofy or not - choices I make drive it all, just as it can for anyone; having a simple dinner - company, conversation, a few minutes 'at the end of the day' to spend with someone who cares to talk, cares to listen, cares to touch, cares to be touched; these simple elements, often overlooked or given short shrift are as important a part of our life as any deep thoughts we might ever construct or any deep feeling we might develop
few things focus attention like these moments – meeting someone unforgettable (BS, this day’s for you!) who impacts our life in ways we would never have imagined, stubbing 4 toes of one foot simultaneously (and hard) as we move about groggily early in the morning in the dark, the moment a child is born (our own child when we are in the room watching the miracle), THE moment immediately after the pinnacle of joy, THE moment immediately before someone smiles at us, the moment our well planned golf shot actually goes where it was intended and almost goes in the hole, and the element of surprise/shock/disbelief when we get incredibly good or incredibly bad news, or the clear voice of reason when it rises simply out of the din
is there value in anything any of us does – what’s the relevance when at any moment the most worthy of us might be plucked to be the next cancer statistic? OK, pick any malady, but I’ll pick this one – not because this is the big fundraising walkathon to raise money for breast cancer research and not just because a friend’s life is being profoundly affected by that – but simply as an example of how swiftly the greatest bravado can be reduced to such simple human terms; satisfying our needs is our individual personal responsibilities – the world owes you nothing, you (me, we, all of us) owe the world 24 hrs. of energetic life every day – if you are not, then you are NOT TRYING HARD ENOUGH
I’ve been experimenting – interesting results; my lab is the internet, my ingredients are spontaneity; my subjects friends, foes, strangers, colleagues, clients, loves and lovers past and present; what I’ve been doing lately is twofold – living large and free, doing the outrageous, being a mood-driven brand of unpredictable, setting aside expectations of people’s behaviour – well, that’s four .. not two .. but you catch my drift; if we don’t respond to our impulses, does our flexible tree of life not bend over under its own weight . . not from bearing fruit but from bearing a burden of all our unmet expectations, our baggage from every hurt or horror, our shackles from a strict religious upbringing or our world (in our minds) telling us all the things we should not do because of someone’s perceptions of what is not good, not right, not tasteful, not . . whatever . . not supposed to do it in any case - but, when we try undoing something outside everyone else’s comfort zone . . anything; it cannot be done
the joke . . the learning . . the apology; if you gasped try to put that back, if you laughed wildly, try to stuff that back where it came from – be careful, there are prudes with very tight rectal muscles in our midst; it was neither great humour or great writing . . but my impulse was to stick it under some minds . . just to be curious about reactions; juvenile perhaps (I circulated to my joke-mail list a very bad taste ‘tongue in cheek’ item yesterday set up with a very ‘tongue in cheek’ preamble), produced a range of reactions, laughter and anger has me shaking my head while I laugh uncontrollably; I can only wonder what Orsen Wells must have felt like when the phones started ringing off the hook); we all have impulses every hour of every day; asking for what we want is OK, wanting what we ask for is OK, not knowing what we want is OK, testing ourselves to see into who we really are is OK too - not an ounce of regret – just be a living Nike commercial, just do it! [sorry . . if I hurt anyone's feelings or damaged irreparably your view of me I'm sorry - now, build a bridge and get over it]
I don’t try too hard . . as someone commented, I KNOW ABSOLUTELY FOR CERTAIN, I don’t try nearly hard enough; someone I met recently challenged me – their premise that I lack impulse control, it is a problem, I ought to do something about it and curtailing my impulses would be a good thing; not sure I agree but worth thinking about - the thought remains, should I stifle impulse, or harness it; which has more power, the water held back by the dam or the wave rolling to shore, which is better, which is best for me?
Mark Kolke
223,200
201.8
What do you think? Join the discussion - your comments are welcomed - please write.
To subscribe to Mark's Musings daily email distribution, write to musing@maxcomm.ca
©2007 MaxComm Communications, all rights reserved.
14C/57F (high 31C), windy, clear, hot, dry weekend begins; walk through the neighbourhood took Gusta down a fresh street, fresh smells delight her . .
I don’t need a fresh path, a new street – but an ineffable curiosity takes me down many
my simplest needs are met by me, my greatest needs - like most people I expect - are to be relevant - to someone, to matter to someone, to be of service to my world in a manner that someone appreciates; in so doing I get (if I choose) to be self indulgent or not, brave or not, bold or not, happy or not, satisfied or not, goofy or not - choices I make drive it all, just as it can for anyone; having a simple dinner - company, conversation, a few minutes 'at the end of the day' to spend with someone who cares to talk, cares to listen, cares to touch, cares to be touched; these simple elements, often overlooked or given short shrift are as important a part of our life as any deep thoughts we might ever construct or any deep feeling we might develop
few things focus attention like these moments – meeting someone unforgettable (BS, this day’s for you!) who impacts our life in ways we would never have imagined, stubbing 4 toes of one foot simultaneously (and hard) as we move about groggily early in the morning in the dark, the moment a child is born (our own child when we are in the room watching the miracle), THE moment immediately after the pinnacle of joy, THE moment immediately before someone smiles at us, the moment our well planned golf shot actually goes where it was intended and almost goes in the hole, and the element of surprise/shock/disbelief when we get incredibly good or incredibly bad news, or the clear voice of reason when it rises simply out of the din
is there value in anything any of us does – what’s the relevance when at any moment the most worthy of us might be plucked to be the next cancer statistic? OK, pick any malady, but I’ll pick this one – not because this is the big fundraising walkathon to raise money for breast cancer research and not just because a friend’s life is being profoundly affected by that – but simply as an example of how swiftly the greatest bravado can be reduced to such simple human terms; satisfying our needs is our individual personal responsibilities – the world owes you nothing, you (me, we, all of us) owe the world 24 hrs. of energetic life every day – if you are not, then you are NOT TRYING HARD ENOUGH
I’ve been experimenting – interesting results; my lab is the internet, my ingredients are spontaneity; my subjects friends, foes, strangers, colleagues, clients, loves and lovers past and present; what I’ve been doing lately is twofold – living large and free, doing the outrageous, being a mood-driven brand of unpredictable, setting aside expectations of people’s behaviour – well, that’s four .. not two .. but you catch my drift; if we don’t respond to our impulses, does our flexible tree of life not bend over under its own weight . . not from bearing fruit but from bearing a burden of all our unmet expectations, our baggage from every hurt or horror, our shackles from a strict religious upbringing or our world (in our minds) telling us all the things we should not do because of someone’s perceptions of what is not good, not right, not tasteful, not . . whatever . . not supposed to do it in any case - but, when we try undoing something outside everyone else’s comfort zone . . anything; it cannot be done
the joke . . the learning . . the apology; if you gasped try to put that back, if you laughed wildly, try to stuff that back where it came from – be careful, there are prudes with very tight rectal muscles in our midst; it was neither great humour or great writing . . but my impulse was to stick it under some minds . . just to be curious about reactions; juvenile perhaps (I circulated to my joke-mail list a very bad taste ‘tongue in cheek’ item yesterday set up with a very ‘tongue in cheek’ preamble), produced a range of reactions, laughter and anger has me shaking my head while I laugh uncontrollably; I can only wonder what Orsen Wells must have felt like when the phones started ringing off the hook); we all have impulses every hour of every day; asking for what we want is OK, wanting what we ask for is OK, not knowing what we want is OK, testing ourselves to see into who we really are is OK too - not an ounce of regret – just be a living Nike commercial, just do it! [sorry . . if I hurt anyone's feelings or damaged irreparably your view of me I'm sorry - now, build a bridge and get over it]
I don’t try too hard . . as someone commented, I KNOW ABSOLUTELY FOR CERTAIN, I don’t try nearly hard enough; someone I met recently challenged me – their premise that I lack impulse control, it is a problem, I ought to do something about it and curtailing my impulses would be a good thing; not sure I agree but worth thinking about - the thought remains, should I stifle impulse, or harness it; which has more power, the water held back by the dam or the wave rolling to shore, which is better, which is best for me?
Mark Kolke
223,200
201.8
What do you think? Join the discussion - your comments are welcomed - please write.
To subscribe to Mark's Musings daily email distribution, write to musing@maxcomm.ca
©2007 MaxComm Communications, all rights reserved.
