Recognize.....

Good morning!  It's another day in paradise...as my day starts out much like it does every day...my kitty (Hester) wakes me up in the morning with a claw to the face....oh, but it's not what you think...she is very "demure" about it really.  She extends her little soft paw out to gently touch my face to show her love and "good morning greetings" and then very slowly yet deliberately, extends the claws out to pierce my cheek to let me know "it's time to get up"...yeah....gotta give her this..it is EFFECTIVE...and there is no snooze, I've tried it..doesn't work UNLESS you have some masochistic thing goin' on cuz she is relentless.  So I am, once again, strategically positioned in "my spot" at the island in the kitchen at this machine trying to type away the sleeps.

I gotta say that it was brought to my attention yesterday by an old friend of mine from the "hood" in a very nondiscript way by means of her encouraging words that the title of my blog and the content within it denote  a "life alone" or being single.  Hmmmm...although that was not the intent, I have to say that it was very observant of her...and that was supposed to be my secret...damn it!   So the cat's outta the bag I guess (sorry Hester, excuse the pun).  But that "fun little fact" is not the focus really, although it is the struggle that ensues from all life-altering happenstance that forces us to look within, tweek, surmise, and re-emerge stronger, more resilient, and more importantly WISER.  Once we can stand face-to-face with our own truth, and ACCEPT it,  it becomes much easier to see it in others...even if they don't and/or refuse to see it in themselves...It is like an "order of protection" written by your conscience and becomes like an embedded "code" that you begin to recognize in others...the similarities and differences in thought process, word, deed, and the like become screamingly obvious, which then allows us to read intent very clearly.  Although my posts may be "read" as someone trying to "find" herself after a split with her man..I assure you that although the content may be a "refresher" for me, it is nonetheless a culmination of all that I have "allowed" myself to learn throughout my entire life...and as I said in my introductory "Hello" post, everything is relevant and more importantly, RELATIVE. 

If life is a track traveled full-circle, then what goes around, comes around and  wisdom the conductor of this train.  You dig??  And it appears time after time in the same form...it doesn't change..it stays the same, the CIRCUMSTANCE changes...and I prefer NOT to be defined by my circumstances, but who I am and where/how I stand in them---which is the same.  With all that being said "We are ONE first" applies to who we are ALL THE TIME, in every circumstance...be it partnerships, relationships, a mother/father, employee, and society as a whole.  There are things that one must learn as an individual before that individual can become a "meaningful" part of any group..or society...and let us not forget...everything starts with ONE.  Personal responsibility is what lacks and is probably the biggest societal problem today.  We live in an age of scapegoats.  There is an excuse or object of blame OR an escape route for everything...because people are just so afraid of "looking within themselves" and developing a bit of good old-fashioned character.  These are the ones who are defined by, taken in by, and easily led by circumstance..and hence, become the epitome of them...they are fly-by-night, unreliable, ever-changing, clinging to the "new and exciting", and sadly, never really experience anything meaningful because to them, everything NEW is meaningful...but everything new turns old and soon we are fostering programs for alcoholism, drug addiction, mental health issues, the fiber of the "family" takes a back seat to comfort as this embodiment of power attempts to treat the "SYMPTOMS" of escapism instead of considering the "root" of it. 

I will leave you with a few thoughts to ponder today:  What is it about Europe that leads people from all over the globe to see and experience....could it be the ancient architecture, the beautiful works of art, the Mediterranean sea perhaps?  Could it be the rolling hills of wine country, the open-air markets, the aire of celebration that one feels once they touch that soil?  Could it possibly be...the immense character of things that stand the test of time and the people generation after generation who CARE for it and nurture it in keeping with its period of time?  Why are antiques so valuable?  Could it be the same reason?  And when we decide to say...throw a different color on the walls of a room in our home...don't we get sick of the color that was on there before because it isn't new anymore?  Or when we purchase a new car....are we drawn in by it's newness...it's shiny exterior and the interior's new car scent and gadgets....but very soon after we paint that room or buy that car...it really all just comes down to the purpose right?  I mean, it becomes not about the color we change, but the walls that adorn it...and the car becomes a means of getting from point "A" to point "B"...New is fleeting.  BEING something that can be counted on to stay the same no matter the temptation, the lure, the circumstance is something of VALUE.  Novelty wears and more importantly TEARS--and this a tool used by society to keep you "buying."

"Any intelligent fool can make things bigger and more complex...it takes a touch of genius and a lot of courage to move in the opposite direction."  Albert Einstein.