Tuesday, August 16, 2011

Ramblings on a Tuesday eve

I am interested in learning. It stimulates my senses to the point of resisting sleep and stagnation. You could say that is tied to some hormonal response in my brain, effecting my physical body with energy and activity. Question: What is it about a chance for thinking and learning that affects a person in said way?

The simple gesture of asking a question is curiosity at play. We see and interact in the physical world but often become lost. When those physical senses fail to detect what perplexes us, we turn to our minds; the think-tanks of our lives; but, should we be turning to our hearts as well? To understand what both spaces are telling, we must seek to be open, to love.

I cannot speak for others because this is my interpretation, my lens, on how I see myself and my interaction with the world around me. When I enter thinking space, it is like a departure from the here and now. I miss the opportunities for things in front of me that represent love. Love is encompassing of our lives, ever-present in many ways, to the point that we take it for granted. Question: Why is something so simple a schism between our heads and its true source, our hearts?

* * * * *

To pinpoint the indicator in time when I discovered and committed to love is exactly difficult. Partly because sometimes it found me and, exactly difficult in that I can see and feel the people that gave such. To acknowledge exactly when it has happened over the course of my lifetime is a lengthy testament to memories gone by; lost. Some of those people have given me their light, and given it freely in many different forms beyond just physically and mentally. I cannot know for whom I owe what. However, for me to repay the deed, the chance that someone else took on me, I must be open to share my light and love with others - continually throughout my time here in this plane.

So often we are presented with opportunities to love, to help another, but our own self gets in the way. We often put ourselves 1st. With too many people in the me first mode, we forgo the opportunities to help others. But, what can be said about the times when we help another and they are genuinely affected by it? This was the point that we were waiting to effect. If we were to realize that we are capable of much more than what we give ourselves credit for, we would of and could have overcame the issues of our me first society already.

Question: What is the last item of clothing you bought? Was it used or new? Honest answers may sting the skin that these items cloth but, that is the process of learning. A sting to me reminds me that I'm alive and that I have choices to make. Some of those aren't necessarily based on what my first, me first, choice would be. So, besides offering low-earning families affordable clothing options and college students fun costumes and outfits, what will happen to all those clothes that remain in thrift stores unpurchased and unloved? Will they eventually make it back into the system at large? To their original elements?

My guess is that the simple short-term answer is "no." Over thousands, perhaps millions of years, the earth will eventually reclaim what it has lost to us, and reform a new space to be occupied by someone not us; not humans. This sounds quite possibly "out there," but staying in the here and now limits us to seeing and fathoming the options ahead. By speaking in the long-term about us in the short-term, we realize that we, too, are an endangered species. We may never be on the list because we haven't learned to look past ourselves yet. Kid yourselves not though, we will be if more change and love doesn't come to occupy our lives in some way.

We can make this change. Start by simplifying. Take something that is complex, like your daily routine, and simplify it. Find how to bring back love into the solution. Seek one, permanent change to be made, and commit to it. Hopefully it will be for the benefit of another as much as it is for yourself. Seek always to elevate others along with yourself. Love more than you would want to be loved. These are things...


...we are capable of.


Ask of yourself more openness, for the benefit of others.
In Love and Thanks.

4 comments:

Mo said...

You inspire me...to write, to love others, to live simply, to think, and to grab every opportunity presented to expand my knowledge. You da bomb baby

Al Smith III said...

thanks babe! I appreciate your thoughts and feedback :)

Molly Adams said...

I'm reading...and I can't remember which post made me think to say this, so I chose this one!

Along with what you say about using your heart (emotion) to make a choice as well as your head reminded me of a podcast I recently listened to. It was talking about apples, and how there are so many kinds of apples to choose from, and really for the most part they're all the same, so by trying to be logical you often times choose the wrong apple because any of them are okay, and the decision you make isn't necessarily the one you want; but if you use your emotion it makes more sense. Just though I'd throw it in there whether it applies or not :). Your blog is good, keep going!

Al Smith III said...

thank you Molly! your perspective and viewpoint on life is very much appreciated