do…or do not
yoda utters these words to luke skywalker when he was attempting to raise his x-wing fighter out of the swamp. (there is the final part of the line i cut out, “there is no try.” for the purpose of this post, it is not necessary.) yoda spoke to luke about taking action or staying on the sidelines. the in between leads too much struggle and loss of energy. maybe yoda was wise beyond his 900 years. Continue reading
what if you could be like george bailey
a chance to see what the world would be like without you
have to ever been tempted
tempted by magic or witchcraft to find out
to find how the world would change without you?
for george
the town’s a wreck
the town’s name has been changed to not protect the guilty
a druggist a town bum
the friends he came to rely on…changed or gone
his wife how an old maid
a brother lost as a child in an icy pool
a transport of soldiers destroyed
many soldiers die
clarence the angel speaks his worlds of wisdom
each man touches so many other lives
george’s saving grace…zuzu’s petals
finally one up the crotchety mrs. potter
sam wainwright not such a pita after all…more of a savior
long live the bailey savings and loan
a gorgeous wife
three loving kid
one who plays a mean piano one with petals another who spells as well as i
a toast to my big brother, george
the richest man in town
what would clarence show to you?what lives have you touched?
the quarter you lent to the man to fill a meter
though running late the woman you let pass in the crosswalk
your best friend from elementary
your biggest nemesis from elementary
your high school math teacher with mutual bouts of torture
your mother – your father
your true love
i’m sure the list is endless
maybe you are the richest man or woman in town
what did clarence say to turn you around?
what do auto accidents, breaking up with a girlfriend/boyfriend, feelings of frustration, loss of a job, loss of a bet, dealing with a fire, depression, medical conditions, breaking and arm, spraining an ankle and the list goes on and on all have in common? at some level, they all to some degree represent a loss of control.
on an editorial note, this marks my 200 quote. make sure to congradulated me on persiverence.
…she never had dreams
so they never came true…j. geils band
i’ve heard these words hundreds of time before, since the release of freeze frame in 1981. frees frame, by j giels band was one of the few albums (albums, remember those? you know: vinyl) i had in high school. today, the words took on new meaning.
when depression gets deep and the suckitude increases to level too often seen, depression becomes like a thief in the night, clearing out a room in my mind or stealing other even more precious items, like the ability to dream. dreams become a memory of the way things use to be. as hard as i try, the ability to imagine a dream becomes an impossible task.
with dreams gone, how can they come true? they can’t. life becomes like a prison whose has no idea of release. no wonder so many like me in the depth depression struggle with despair.
for the most part, thankfully the story does not end there. somehow a crack appears in the seemingly impermeable wall. somehow a thought of how life might look like after depression somehow implants itself in the mind. that implanted seed makes things that like a seemed impossiblity just a month ago now seems like them might be doable. with that, hope returns.
the leap from hope to dream seems less undaunting. i allow my mind to wander to how things might be outside this room of darkness. the room becomes just a little less dark and those very hopes slowly get converted into dreams. with that, as life becomes a little less dark, the lights of hopes and dreams, the absence of despair, begin to make life feel kind of normal again, and that is a good thing. here’s to good things.
i wrote this in a previous cycle of depression. it is an exercise to create a symbol of depression and its conquest. i thought that it would be a good thing to look at again and to add it to my blog.
once upon a time there was a young man. like many other people of his time, he went on with his life seemingly making ends meet in winning the constant struggle between good and evil, managing to maintain a balance.
it’s been quite a journey.
i continue to sing the praises of the pixar movie, inside out. i have made so many fruitful discoveries since i saw the movie. it has been a powerful and learning process for me since seeing the movie.
for those of you who don’t know, inside out is about the emotions living inside the head of an eleven year old and how those responses color her world. i still shake my head in amazement that a supposed “kids” movie could do such and excellent treatment of emotions and emotional responses.
a number of weeks back, screwed up and kitt introduced me to a kelly mongolical tedtalk on making stress your friend. someone makes stress their friend by accepting they are stressed, recognizing what is going on in their body and moving on. when done correctly, stress, the freight train that often times runs me over, woshes by. I talked about making stress your friend here and here.
i read and article in the daily mail recently and new research shows a strong correlation between depression and big brains. pretty interesting if you ask me.
i am fascinated with the research of kelly mcgonical, that people who use stress as an indicator live longer and I can only assume better lives. heck, who wouldn’t mind if stress had a slightly looser grasp on their life? You can put me in that category.
since i’ve heard about her work, i have been trying to use the stress as an indicator model. my first attempt worked swimmingly and since then, i have met with a more limited success.
facing off with the big d 