Presence — Page 2

FAMOUS IN YOUR U NIVERSE

October 25, 2024 By ChuckBehrens Leave a Comment

FAMOUS
Naomi Shihab Nye

The river is famous to the fish.

The loud voice is famous to silence,   
which knew it would inherit the earth   
before anybody said so.   

The cat sleeping on the fence is famous to the birds   
watching him from the birdhouse.   

The tear is famous, briefly, to the cheek.   

The idea you carry close to your bosom   
is famous to your bosom.   

The boot is famous to the earth,   
more famous than the dress shoe,   
which is famous only to floors.

The bent photograph is famous to the one who carries it   
and not at all famous to the one who is pictured.   

I want to be famous to shuffling men   
who smile while crossing streets,   
sticky children in grocery lines,   
famous as the one who smiled back.

I want to be famous in the way a pulley is famous,   
or a buttonhole, not because it did anything spectacular,   
but because it never forgot what it could do.
(My thanks to Naomi Shihab Nye, via Poetry Foundation.)
U NIVERSE

It might as well be useless

I mean

What exactly is a

NIVERSE

Nary another nothing until a

U

Is brought not just to it

but for IT

Who would think

(Not Many)

That it takes a U

your simply perfectly imperfect

You-est U

To not just complete

include

But actually create

The Universe

with the best part being

that it is evermore being

Created/Recreated because of

Oh the holiest of holies

U

JUST A MOMENT: THE NOTES OF OUR LIVES

October 23, 2024 By ChuckBehrens Leave a Comment

The notes of our lives are not played by ourselves. . .

. . .when we pause
to hear those notes
it’s just not some scale that we maybe used to know
it truly is a joy to the world
that we can’t hear at any other time. . .

Now the real question is not just will you hear that song you play. . .
Will you share that song?
In Just a moment we can all know

A BAD DAY

October 21, 2024 By ChuckBehrens Leave a Comment

BAD DAY by Daniel Potter came out well over 14 years ago and we haven’t heard much from him since but he left us with a question: WHAT QUALIFIES AS A BAD DAY? And maybe even more: WHAT DO YOU DO ABOUT IT?

Ok. You had a bad day. Seriously, not to minimize, that but exactly what does the Bad Day look like for you? No matter what your definition is, we can bet that it’s varied between each of us and all of us a bad day arrange from a wrong cup of coffee in the morning to a fender bender to the loss of a pet to the loss of a loved one to a bad bad result from a test, to any one who has had to suffer and now endure the effects of recent hurricanes and flooding or living in the Middle East.

Photo by Jan Kopřiva on Pexels.com

Whatever a bad day is, can we safely assume that somebody that doesn’t look like they’re having a bad day, just may be having one and that maybe just maybe, we can make it less bad, not better, just less bad?

Now guaranteed. . .If you do that and you consistently do that. . . bad day’s may not completely go away, but they do fade and lose some of their sting. . .
IN THE MEANTIME:

Please, try hard not to make your bad day a bad day for Another

HANGING IN THERE

October 18, 2024 By ChuckBehrens Leave a Comment

It’s a common response and answer to the question of how are you doing? And sometimes we shrug our shoulders or we raise eyebrows or we just heavy sigh, “Hanging in there.” Pretty loaded response to an even more power keg kind of a question. . .Less of one that any ears ever stay around long enough to hear the next question: “No, really how are you doing. . . ?

We are all sometimes just hanging in there and the scene itself, the image itself, is not usually one that pops in our mind is it? If it’s kind of the one that doesn’t pop in our mind, hanging, it can’t be good, even if it’s with strong fingers and hopefully not around our neck. . .But the truth of the matter is, it feels more around our necks, tightening than it does around our fingers loosening. . .

Be A Caring Catalyst enough to ask one more question beyond an answer that’s given to you because it’s the greatest way not only to show your care and to offer your compassion, but more importantly to loosen the noose, and free somebody from it. . .

HANGING IN THERE
no matter how we
Frame It
or decorate it up
or glamorize THERE
I’m still Hanging
Dangling about wildly
Oh that my tired fingers don’t weaken
My nail beds don’t rip
and hold strong
And that the Hangman’s noose
doesn’t slip from grasping hand
to tighten away all that’s left of me
around my neck

UNLOOSE THE NOOSE. . .
WE ALWAYS HAVE THAT POWER
OVER ANOTHER
UNLOOSE THE NOOSE

NOT JUST A HAT

October 14, 2024 By ChuckBehrens 2 Comments

IN A WORLD WHERE WE ARE KNOWN AND OFTEN CHAMPIONED
FOR ALL OF THE HATS WE WEAR. . .

WHO WOULD THINK
IT’S NOT THE ONE’S WE WEAR
IT’S THE ONE’S WE DON’T WEAR

THAT JUST MAY MATTER
THE MOST. . . .
(Sometimes it all comes down to a hat. . .)

(My thanks to Amina Amdeen and Joseph Weidknecht, via StoryCorps.)

WHAT GRIEF LOOKS LIKE

October 11, 2024 By ChuckBehrens 3 Comments

AND WE ARE ALL IN IT. . .
ALL OF IT
L I F E
that has this amazing coin
no bank contains
but each pocket contains:
LOVE
with the flip side of
GRIEF

This is what grief is. A hole ripped through the very fabric of your being.
The hole eventually heals along the jagged edges that remain. It may even shrink in size.
But that hole will always be there.
A piece of you always missing.
For where there is deep grief, there was great love.
Don’t be ashamed of your grief.
Don’t judge it.
Don’t suppress it.
Don’t rush it.
Rather, acknowledge it.
Lean into it.
Listen to it.
Feel it.
Sit with it.
Sit with the pain. And remember the love.
This is where the healing will begin.

[Melancolie by Albert György]
This heartbreakingly beautiful sculpture is called Melancolie. It was created by Albert György (living in Switzerland, but born in Romania) and can be found in Geneva in a small park on the promenade (Quai du Mont Blanc) along the shore of Lake Geneva

S O. . .
What does your GRIEF
really look like?
Please, tell me. . .
I’m not here to take it from you
. . .it’s not mine to have
but I’d be honored to
c o m p a n i o n
it
with you

JUST A MOMENT: IN THE FLICKER OF A FLAME

October 9, 2024 By ChuckBehrens Leave a Comment

BiGGER
BETTER
BRIGHTER
that’s what it’s all about in our world today, isn’t it. . .
and oh guess what. . .
we’ve been told countless times over
IN FACT
just watch the news
or just being in a group of people that you don’t even know
standing in line at a grocery store
or a coffee shop
S T O P
Listen to all the bad news that the world is giving us
P L A C E S
As if we don’t have those very dark places in our life
that are asking for what not a bonfire
not even a candle
or even a constant flame. . .
How about just a
F L I C K E R
just a flicker of Hope
and psssssssssssssssssssssssssst:
even if it comes from a
fake candle
that gives
it’s better than a brand new one that doesn’t. . .
so maybe the biggest question is:
ARE YOU THAT FLICKER
FROM A FLAME
AND LIGHT
A DARK SPOT
IN A DARK PLACE
TAHT NEEDS TO BE ILLUMINATED. . .
Are you?
BE THE SPARK
THE EMBER
THAT STARTS
THINGS
G L O W I N G

NEEDING TO BE MORE THAN JUST SOMETHING

October 7, 2024 By ChuckBehrens Leave a Comment

Sometimes LIFE calls for us to be more than just

S O M E T H I N G

BEING THERE

October 4, 2024 By ChuckBehrens 2 Comments

In our darkest moments, we don’t need solutions or advice. We simply crave the warmth of human connection. A gentle touch, a silent presence – these are the anchors that ground us when life’s storms rage.

Don’t try to fix me. Don’t carry my burden or chase away my shadows. Instead, be the steady hand I can hold as I navigate my inner landscape. Sit with me in the quiet, bearing witness to my struggle without trying to change it.

My pain is my own to feel, my battles my own to fight. But your presence reminds me I’m not alone in this vast, sometimes terrifying world. It whispers that I’m worthy of love, even in my brokenness.

So when the night seems endless and I lose my way, will you simply be there? Not as a savior, but as a companion. Hold my hand until dawn breaks and I find my strength again.

Your silent support is the greatest gift you can offer. It’s the love that helps me remember who I am, even when I’ve forgotten.

~ Etheric Echoes
~ Art ‘Broken’ by Karen Wilcox

BEING THERE

Being There
isn’t a far away continent
another galaxy not yet discovered
in fact, it’s not a place at all

Being There
doesn’t have a street address
where Uber Eats will deliver
what might fill your stomach
but leaves the vastness of your hurting soul wanting more

Being There
is a You that is brought to an ache
that can’t be medicated or sedated
but when simply Companioned
knows no rival

You possess a Being There
that can’t be sold or bought
but readily given
If. . .

JUST A MOMENT: REMEMBERING TO FORGET

October 2, 2024 By ChuckBehrens Leave a Comment

WELL. . .
Have you. . .
Have you ever walked into room and forgot why you walked in?
Hey, wouldn’t be great if we could forget to remember
what we really need to forget to remember. . .
The wrong somebody did us. . .
The story somebody told about us. . .
The word they used against us. . .
Hard to forget all of those THAT’S
but we have a nice saying that salt-in-the-wound-STINGS:
FORGIVE AND FORGET
or how about this one:
“I’ll forgive you, but I won’t forget it. . .”
W E L L
Maybe it’s time. . .
maybe it’s really time that we do forget to remember
Seriously, right now, right here,
what it is that YOU need to forget to remember. . .
Uhhhh, guess what. . .
I T
doesn’t take a lifetime
or ages
or conditions
I T
can happen in, in, in just a moment. . .
The question is,
WILL
I T

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