No Straight Lines Make Up My Life

 

“May your trails be crooked, winding, lonesome, dangerous, leading to the most amazing view.”
— Edward Abbey

 

A straight line may be the shortest way between two point yet by far the least interesting way to go especially if we’re talking about a life’s path. I have chosen to meander in my way, taking side trips in career and lifestyles. I have given up paths altogether and forged new ones when its suited me to. The road to there, wherever there may be will not be completed as quickly and I may never feel that I have arrived at all yet I feel that I will see more, clearer and deeper than I will be following the paths that many have worn before me. If I lose my way or fall into danger well that’s ok, none of us will make it out alive tho some of us may feel as if we haven’t lived. That will never be my way.
Blessings, G

 

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Warrior DaimosWarrior Daimos by G A Rosenberg

 

Mauve ZonedMauve Zoned by G A Rosenberg

 

Fortunate First Steps

 

“Fortunate are those who take the first steps.”
― Paulo Coelho

 

To change and grow takes courage. All too often we believe that we will change instantly just by wishing it to be so. That is an important step to be sure. Tho it is only the starting step. Next comes the actual doing of the change, the steps needed to make it work.
Say for instance, we want to change our habit of procrastination. We make goals for ourselves that we will see a few projects through to the end. We then have to work towards achieving the goals. Perhaps we decide that for 15 minutes a day we will do something that we have been putting off for awhile. Call and make the appointments we’ve been putting off. Research or write the next page or poem. Meditate. Baby steps are ok. If we can do just that one thing each day that brings us closer to achieving what we want and get into that habit,we will quickly find ourselves progressing. It’s those continual fortunate first steps that build the momentum to bring us success.
Blessings, G

 

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To Enter the GardenTo Enter the Garden by G A Rosenberg

 

Red StarRed Star by G A Rosenberg

Puzzling

 

“Whoever has witnessed another’s ideal becomes his inexorable judge and as it were his evil conscience.”
–Friedrich Nietzsche

 

“Could I be living better than I do and healthier? Certainly. Do I live up to my own highest ideals? No I do not. Yet hearing your judgements upon my choices makes me wonder whether you ask these questions of yourself as well.”
— Randall Wolfe

 

At times I find myself dwelling on the ways I fall short of my ideals. I have researched diet, exercise and spiritual practice and I make progress in each of these yet in the jigsaw puzzle of my complete self, I am still finishing the border and gradually moving inward attempting to place each piece. It’s not so much that I don’t know how to go about improving my being as much as I slog against a certain inertia. Plus there are those excesses and time wastings that still bring me enough pleasure that I forego the joy that will come of giving them up. I suspect many of those reading this are in the same boat.
Tonight an acquaintance on FB wrote that he found himself wishing that there were more people interested in “what was good and true and right”. I find myself wondering if it is not so much that people aren’t interested, nor even that they don’t care. Perhaps they are working on a different part of their puzzle and have yet to start on those areas which admittedly can be a bit like pieces of blue sky or forest. Such puzzles can be tricky and the only satisfaction is that of completion rather than speed.
Helping others with problem spots can be fun as almost any activity is better shared and it is even better when the help is mutual. I appreciate anyone willing to help yet I have learned that there is little more frustrating than unsolicited help. Some parts of my puzzle I prefer to at least attempt for myself first.
One day after moments or lifetimes I will find myself ready to place those last few pieces. I will have reached a new level in my togetherness and it will be bliss. Then it will be time for the pieces to go back into the box as I go in search of a puzzle with even greater complexity.
Blessings, G

 

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AUGNMN MadeAUGMN (OM) Made by G A Rosenberg

 

Reflecting BuddahReflecting Buddha by G A Rosenberg

Expression is Key

“You have a right to experiment with your life. You will make mistakes. And they are right too. No, I think there was too rigid a pattern. You came out of an education and are supposed to know your vocation. Your vocation is fixed, and maybe ten years later you find you are not a teacher anymore or you’re not a painter anymore. It may happen. It has happened. I mean Gauguin decided at a certain point he wasn’t a banker anymore; he was a painter. And so he walked away from banking. I think we have a right to change course. But society is the one that keeps demanding that we fit in and not disturb things. They would like you to fit in right away so that things work now.”
― Anaïs Nin

 

Ultimately we need to forget what they say and forget societal pressures and be who we are when we are. Luckily society as a whole has been moving well past the stage of being stuck on one career path our whole life and most people now will experience 3 or 4 (or perhaps like me several more than that) What becomes ultimately important is how well our lives reflect our being in every aspect at any given time. The more it does the more successful and happy we are. Yet it takes so long for most of us to realize this. This is the age of being and doing and exploring as many possibilities as we can. Let’s make the most of it.
Blessings, G

 

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Astral MandarinAstral Mandarin by G A Rosenberg

 

Marbled Mandala2Marbled Mandala by G A Rosenberg

Quote of the Day – March 17 2013

“I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I have ended up where I needed to be.”
― Douglas Adams

 

I like where I am now in my life tho sometimes I struggle with it. Most times I accept it and realize it is where I can both grow and help others to grow in very unique ways. I can help my family, both the one I was born into as well as my chosen one work out many of our issues. Perhaps with my art and my writing I may inspire others. That is a fervent hope.
Is this the final stage of my life, the final resting place so to speak. I heavily doubt it. I can see to the next horizon and realize it may be quite different. Yet I hope to be continually growing in terms of integrity, understanding and service to others. However, this is where I need to be right now and I find it to be a gift beyond measure.
Blessings, G

 

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All Manner of Wheels Be Things
All Manner of Things Be Wheel by G A Rosenberg

 

Solar FlareSolar Flare by G A Rosenberg

Quote of the Day – November 12 2012

“Face your life, its pain, its pleasure, leave no path untaken.”
― Neil Gaiman, The Graveyard Book

 

How far do I travel when roads diverge?
How many possibilities can I hold
before the wave collapses
and my way becomes fixed? >

 

How much of life’s poison must I swallow?
How many blessings by grace receive?
How many loves to meet and hide from?
How many times must my soul bleed?

 

In my life I feel I have had more joy than sorrow. I’m not sure how much of this is due to my outlook. I have long ago given up holding on to most of the things that most people seem to. When something hurts, I feel the pain and do my best to make it stop hurting. Looking back at past pains, replaying them in my head seems silly to me for the most part. Tho I can understand the impulse. Still while i am willing to hear the pain and sorrow that helped shape friends old and new, i want to hear some of the happy stuff as well. What flower or sunset or light in a child’s eye filled one with joy and awe? What point was the happiest and most soul fulfilling in their lives. I’ll show you mine if you show me yours 🙂

Blessings, G

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Observer by G A Rosenberg

 

Red Ripples by G A Rosenberg

Quote of the Day – April 25 2012

“Relax into the moment and let the universe do the driving. If there was a secret to happiness in life, I’d say that was it.”
–Jed McKenna

Five of us come upon a rock with that quote engraved on it in five different places. The 16 year old teenager in Connecticut, so very unsure of himself but so sure of what he knows doesn’t get it and scoffs pretending he does. Another, twenty-four and living in Boston just opening up to aspects of his personality he couldn’t before and that he still feels the need to hide nods but can’t quite figure out how to apply it. There is a thirty-four year old man in Toronto. He’s kicked the tires of life a few times, had some adventures, knows that what the rock says is true but is worried that things may get even stranger. The boy’s father laughs and laughs, thinking he gets it as he chases his son and their dog down the hill as his partner awaits them. For me now at fifty, it’s how I roll.
I’ve learned a lot from being all five. I still have many lessons from each of those younger men that I have yet to integrate tho I know that will come with time. The pieces are mainly there. Any needed I have no doubt will come my way. Tho as I type this, I feel bemused by the idea of seeing my younger selves as my teachers.
Blessings, G

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Pyramid of the Wheel by G A Rosenberg

Zev Having Fractal Dreams by G A Rosenberg