Have you ever lost your heart. . . ?
Loaded question, huh?
Well?
What makes it such a touch question
is just trying to figure out
is that a
Physical
Emotional
Psycho-Social
Spiritual
L I T E R A L Question. . .
Ohhhhhhhh how you should know by
NOW
and all nearly some 800 Blog Posts later
that I’m a Sucker for the Sap Movies
and this one,
LAST CHRISTMAS
is maybe the sappiest of all
and it’s leaked a glue over me
that I can’t wash away
(and most likely don’t want to, anyway)
Nothing seems to go right for young Kate, a frustrated Londoner who works as an elf in a year-round Christmas shop. But things soon take a turn for the better when she meets Tom — a handsome charmer who seems too good to be true. As the city transforms into the most wonderful time of the year, Tom and Kate’s growing attraction turns into the best gift of all — a Yuletide romance. . .
Sa-Sa-Saaaaaa-SAPPY, right?
ba-ba-baaa-but
it made me think
IT MADE ME FEEL
the times I’ve lost my
h e a r t
Uhhhhhhh not so much
physically
emotionally
psycho-socially
spiritually
so much as
uh-ohh. . .
dare I write:
metaphysically. . .
and I guess I’m inviting you
to ask
to reflect
a time(S)
you’ve actually lost your heart. . . ?
Can I help answer?
Are you the same you were
10
20
30+
years ago?
What changed from the time you were an infant
to the time you became a toddler
to the time you became a preschooler
to the time you were in elementary school
to the time you were in junior high
to the time you were graduating high school
to the times of different jobs
to the the times of continuing education
to the times of getting married
to the times of having children
to
N O W
. . .just how many,
HOW MANY TIMES HAVE YOU LOST YOUR HEART
and maybe better still. . .
FOUND IT?
Psssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssst:
Here’s to all of the times to come
and all the Seasons
that’ll allow
the prompting of the question:
WHO AM I?
(MAY THE ANSWER CONTINUALLY BE DIFFERENT
as it has countless times before)
MOMENTS
I
T H I N K
Christmas is so much more than lights on a tree
or a date on a calendar in the month of December
or a Season
or a Day
. . .it’s a bunch of moments
in a not so perfectly wrapped package
that when opened
you just really don’t know what
you’ve got
but
you know it’s
s p e c i a l
And what get’s me all lit up
is that it doesn’t happen all at once
. . .it comes to us in a series of
m o m e n t s
A MOMENT:
I was gifted a free Starbucks
while in the drive thru
twice during the week of Christmas
A MOMENT:
I stopped back at one of hometown favorite hole in the wall dives
And I was literally shocked that after some 45 years that I’ve been gone the place actually never changed;
as I was eating my usual,
three dogs with everything
The waitress asked me how I liked everything
and when I told her
how much I liked it
and even more
how much I had missed this
after all of these years
she smiled and said,
“Good, because it’s on the House; a Secret Santa picked up your bill.”
A MOMENT:
I was asked to give a Blessing at a Youth Community Christmas Bash
for at need kids/parents
who came to have a meal
make crafts
dance
GET GIFTED
And as I was walking around
way overdressed in
my suit and tie
because of two earlier Memorial Services I conducted
several people came up to me
thinking I was a politician
a councilman
except one little guy
who asked me if I was
Santa Claus
I and I shot back at him,
“Do you think Santa would come dressed like this?”
and I love his
little-kid-speak-the-truth-because-you-don’t-know-how-to-lie-remark:
“Hey, I know Santa don’t always come looking like Santa but that don’t mean he ain’t Santa Claus!”
A MOMENT:
The lady in front of me
pumping gas at the pump
with a cool
License Plate:
When I said,
“Great Licencse Plate!”
she walked back to me and asked,
“Do you want to know what it means?”
And when I told her, “Absolutely”
she told me that it had nothing to do with her
running marathons or half marathons or
W H A T
she ASPIRES
to be
but
“I ASPIRE
to be all I’ve been created to be
no matter how many roadblocks
or short-cuts I need to take to get me
to the
FINISH LINE”
I
T H I N K
Lifetimes
can me lived in
m o m e n t s
and that when you have that
Special Season
they not only get accentuated
but magnified
and hopefully
r e a l i z e d
n o t i c e d
r e c o g n i z e d
K N O W N
I
T H I N K
that Special Season
is a never-ending
NOW
a moment
within
THE
M O M E N T
b u t
what do
Y O U
T H I N K
The WARM Cold
C O L D
there’s only one true way to
E M B R A C E I T
. . .with W A R M T H
In the Southern Hemisphere, the night of lune 20 is the longest night of the year, marking the arrival of Winter. . .
W E L C O M I N G
The Cold
as a GIFT
is part of being ONE
with Nature
and all of it’s cycles. . .
E V E N
when
E S P E C I A L L Y
when it’s in
U S. . .
I’m one of those strange ones
that actually likes WINTER
letting everyone I know:
I CAN ALWAYS GET WARM, BUT I CAN’T ALWAYS GET OR STAY COOL
One of my most favorite authors is
John Updike
and in his essay, THE COLD
he tells us,
“COLD IS THE ABSENCE OF HEAT, AND YET IT FEELS LIKE A PRESENCE–A VIGOROUS HOSTILELY ACTIVE PRESENCE IN THE AIR…”
The ancients honored this rite of passage with ceremonies and celebrations. The Iroquois used to go to sleep early in the longest night, convinced that Mother Night reigned over the Earth and walked among people’s dreams to send them messages. At dawn, the tribe got together to exchange visions. The Incas celebrated Inti Raymi (Sun Festival): they received the first rays of the Solstice with open arms, throwing kisses at Apu Inti (Sun God). In Patagonia, the mapuche tribe still celebrate We Tripantu, or New Year, a festival of purification and gratitude for the renewal of life…
We are told
not so shyly
by Scientist and Ecologists:
We might have lost the pulse of so many vital cycles, we might have made a mess of them with our unconscious interventions, but we have never stopped being a part of them. Little by little, guided by some unerring voices, we rediscover, in Mary Oliver’s words our “place in the family of things.” Scientists speak of biophilia – the love of living things that beats even in the most relentless city-dweller, and they resort to biomimetics to learn from nature how to solve problems, even those we created by trying to thwart its plans.
C O L D and W A R M T H
The two meet in most unlikely
yet predictable ways
I N U S. . .
T H E T R U T H :
There is no BLINDNESS worse than that which keeps you from seeing THE LIGHT you Bring. . .
T H E T R U T H:
There’s always more WINTER in us than we’ll ever accept or Embrace. . .
T H E T R U T H:
There’s always more Warm Light in us than we’ll ever accept or Embrace. . .
T H E T R U T H:
T H E T R U T H:
We don’t have to be fully ILLUMINATED to SHINE. . .
T H E T R U T H:
W I N T E R
like any other season
has never lasted
for an ever
and the one that looms before us
and harshly at times
WITHIN US
won’t either. . .
The Cure for Winter
isn’t the coming of Spring
nor is it moving from one WARM location to another. . .
It’s E M B R A C I N G IT
with a Warmth you possess
and desperately needs
S H A R I N G
The Result:
W I N T E R
isn’t another Season
It’s Another REASON
to become
what we never could
WITHOUT IT:
W A R M E R. . .
B R I G H T E R. . .
and in some
beautifully
innocent
w a y
reaches within us
and takes us to
that small child
and the World of Blinkless
w o n d e r
where it’s always warmly lit
no matter what the temperature. . .
S E E
B E
F R E E
t h a t
in the Warm Cold
The Man on The Moon
https://youtu.be/wuz2ILq4UeA
Are you more of a
V E R B
o r a
N O U N ?
There are lots of Seasons
There are lots of comings and goings
There are lots of Beginnings and Endings
There are lots of Starts and Finishes
There are lots of things that none of those things can compare. . .
L O N E L I N E S S
being just one of them. . .
Loneliness is the only season that lasts all twelve months—
no vacation or holiday.
H O W E V E R
I F
Loneliness were a Disease,
YOU’D be the Cure. . .
I F
Loneliness were a Destination,
YOU’D be the Road from it. . .
I F
Loneliness were a complex Math problem,
YOU’D be the Answer. . .
I F
Loneliness were an Ocean,
YOU’D be it’s Shore. . .
I F
Loneliness were a a Sunset
YOU’D be its Sunrise. . .
I F
Loneliness were a Sentence
YOU’D be its Reprieve. . .
I F
Loneliness were a Verdict
YOU’D be its Appeal. . .
I F
Loneliness were hunger
YOU’D be its Banquet. . .
I F
Loneliness were Thirst
YOU’D be its Oasis. . .
I F
Loneliness were poison
YOU’D be its Antidote. . .
I F
Loneliness were Antarctica
YOU’D be its Equator. . .
I F
Loneliness were a man on the moon
YOU’D be his first Visitor. . .
Y O U
are the Great answer to
Loneliness in all of its forms and guises
I F
You’re more of a
V E R B
than a
N O U N
by just
s h o w i n g u p
instead of just shaking your head and
t a l k i n g i t a b o u t i t . . .
The man on the moon would really like
T H A T . . .
people much,
m u c h closer would, too;
Every Season should have an Ending
after it’s Beginning. . .
Loneliness is the one Season
you can have Effect of
not just ending. . .
but actually making it
e x t i n c t. . .
Are you more of a
V E R B
or a
N O U N ?
SOME ONE
is looking for you to
S H O W T H E M !
F O C U S
in on
t h e m . . .
Make half-way around the world
a
t o u c h
a w a y