AUDIBLE CARESSES

As you all know, if there's one thing we've learned throughout history it's that we don't learn from history. The same old trials and tribulations are encountered over and over like a blinking neon sign in the middle of the desert. We want to change the world but make very little effort to change ourselves. We crave peace, love and understanding yet those concepts seem to lie dormant somewhere within us. It's time to invest in a flashlight and revive what many have written about. If they were still with us, this is the pudding some of my favorite people would serve.

Papa, also known as Ernest Hemingway, would tell us to forget our personal tragedies and start living!! Life is not a dress rehearsal and even though the play is badly cast take pride in knowing that there will be some applause at the end, if any. Even if it's only measly clap from a drunk one armed man in the back, take solace in knowing that you are at least seen and admired by one. Be proud of who you are and declare yourself the best at what you do and demand respect, even if a few egos have to get trampled upon along the way to Babylon. Start listening more...open your ears and stop obeying that little raspy voice inside your head which will usually point you in the wrong direction. Little voices have nothing to do with your gut. Little voices make you mistake movement with action. Breathing is not enough, even the Pope can breathe. Don't be afraid to get broken and scarred up. It means you've lived and survived. What will you have fought for when you're shuffling around your house looking for the remote or some Jello? Hopefully, it'll be worth a damn and others will remember your panache and persistence instead of your cowardly lion attributes. Get your hands dirty and play ball. Remember, "there's no crying in baseball"!!

Paulo Coehlo once wrote that "the greatest lie in the world is that at some point we lose the ability to control our lives, and become the pawns of fate." People with a "laissez-faire" attitude should be shipped to a deserted island. This type of thinking doesn't get you anywhere. Do you really believe that the universe has you on its People to Please List? I don't think so. You are in control. Idle hands, idle minds and idle hearts should really have gone out of style a long time ago. No war was won by being emotionally lazy, a favorite pastime of most I might add. Fear of failure seems to be the greatest obstacle to happiness. There are people being massacred in African villages, children dying of hunger and poverty and women being burned at the stake in one organized religion I shall not mention. And you're going to complain that "you don't want to get hurt" or "they may not like me"? Man up and start acting like a warrior, well, try not to kill anyone, but like i've always said "navel gazing" is about as interesting as golf or late night infomercials. The drama of mankind is when we sacrifice fulfillment to conformity, when we know we can achieve greatness but deny to do so, and end up living a life of void. An empty house is not a home. An empty mind is worth a bag of bones. An empty heart will sink and be neighbors with Titanic.

As Haruki Murakami so brilliantly put it: “Don't feel sorry for yourself. Only assholes do that.” Just remember that
once the storm is over you won't remember how you made it through, how you managed to survive. You won't even be sure, in fact, whether the storm is really over. But one thing is certain. When you come out of the storm you won't be the same person who walked in. That's what this storm's all about. Take it from me, the hustle is worth it, this dance will awaken you and before you know it "Papa" may be writing a tale about you.
Till next time...

ENOUGH ALREADY!!!

I'm always fascinated at how much we end up despising one another, as well as ourselves, simply because somewhere in that tortured mind of ours simplicity and logic seem to have gone to the pub indefinitely. Here is my humble opinion on things we need to stop doing to ourselves. Easier said than done but then again so is everything else in life, except eating chocolate, drinking fine wine and sleeping with arousing people. Anyways, I'm in a generous mood so away we go...

1. Stop spending time with the wrong people.
Why do we surround ourselves with people we don't even like? Do their opinions really matter? We tend to do this because they're attractive, they have money or you need them now or somewhere in the future. Remember that all the people we have admired throughout history couldn't have cared less what others thought of them. Winston Churchill had it right when he said, "You have enemies ? Good. That means you’ve stood up for something, sometime in your life." The right people will want to see you succeed and prosper as a person. They won't drain you like a dishrag leaving you void of anything useful at the end of the day, except zoning out in front of reality shows. If you have the slightest doubt about someone...move on and stop wasting your time. If they're overlooking your worth then do yourself a favor and run for the hills.

2. Stop trying to buy happiness.
Aaaah, an old classic that always seems to pop up since we started deteriorating as a species, probably when power and money became daily staples. There's no mystery to this golden oldie and it'll probably never go out of style, unless aliens take over and turn us into nutcrackers. You can't go chasing happiness...this isn't a fox hunt. It's plain and simple: find someone to love, something to hope for and something to do, preferably something you don't loathe. You won't find it in a Beverly Hills mansion, or at a bar surrounded by supermodels or in a treasure chest. No matter what they're force feeding us you cannot buy happiness. Happiness is stumbled upon not chased.

3.Stop trying to be everything to everyone.
We can't please the entire world. We never will. First, we have to love ourselves, which is something some never accomplish because their vision is clouded by false hopes and dreams. Accept who you are and don't apologize for who you're not. You're not trying to sell yourself to the masses. You're not a shampoo or a mattress. Start acting like you are different and bathe in what makes you unique until your fingers get all pruny. But being something to someone, whether it's a lover, a friend or family, is a wondrous feat. If one person thinks you're as glorious as the Sistine Chapel then screw the lot of them because there's one you, one Sistine Chapel and one Michelangelo...catch my drift?

It's rainy and cold here today and I'm not trying to appeal to your intellect or wit. I'm just trying to be a friend to someone, somewhere, somehow. Don't take life for granted and every once in a while just be yourself. Forget your flaws, forget society, forget money, forget pain. Tell someone you love them, crave the beautiful and as I always say..."feed your head."
Till next time...