Category: Posts

The Last of the Human Freedoms

“The last of the human freedoms:  to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.”                                           (Viktor Frankl  1905-1997).

One of the greatest freedoms we have is to read without fear.  It is the freedom to learn, to grow, to experience the lives of others through the work of authors who offer us insight, inspiration, affirmation, and accountability.

We get to choose what we will read and what we will learn.  Even when everything seems to be stripped away from us, it isn’t until we surrender our minds and our attitudes to others that we experience true defeat.  Never give up hope and faith in the triumph of goodness.  This is one of the messages I took away from reading Viktor Frankl’s book, Man’s Search for Meaning.

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Hope, Dreams, Courage, Harmony

“If you lose hope, somehow you lose the vitality that keeps life moving, you lose courage to be, that quality that helps you go on in spite of it all.  And so today, I still have a dream.”  (Martin Luther King – 1929-1968)

I didn’t realize until I was looking up the dates that defined MLK’s life that he was only 39 years old when he died.  That got me thinking back to when I was 39.  How about you – what were your dreams when you were 39 and do you now have new dreams for your future?  And if you are approaching 39, in what do you hope, what is your dream?

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Simple Things In Which To Believe

“To know oneself is to foresee oneself; to foresee oneself amounts to playing a part.”

Paul Valery – 1871-1945

 

Faith is the belief in things that we cannot see but in which we hope.  So what do we believe and in what do we hope?  Here are some simple beliefs that lead to hope.  Read at your own peril.

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The Brass Ring

Asbury Park, New Jersey – Ocean Grove, New Jersey –  Summer, 1958

To a ten year old living in New Jersey, summer meant only one thing – the Jersey Shore.  Every one in New Jersey had their favorite beach.  When I was ten, there was nothing better than Asbury Park, the boardwalk and the carousel.

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Satisfaction or Hope

“It is a certain sign of a wise government and proceeding that it can hold men’s hearts by hopes when it cannot by satisfaction.”  Francis Bacon (1561-1626)

What can we learn from the past?  Nothing, unless we study it and internalize the successes we discover.  We must also seek to understand the failures that have occurred along the way.

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Living For Another’s Happiness

“True religion…is giving and finding one’s happiness by bringing happiness into the lives of others.” – William J.H. Boetcker (1873-1962)

I have an acquaintance who is on a personal journey from his roots in a fairly traditional, orthodox religious denomination to embracing an eclectic view of religion, faith, karma, and purpose.  He seems happy and content with the freedom he is finding in examining noble purposes – purposes that uplift, affirm, and broaden his life.  Hence I follow him on Facebook because he prompts me to evaluate my worldview statement – “every life should have a noble purpose.”

I don’t know for certain, but I suspect he has found release from seeing things as right/wrong/ yes/no, obeying/questioning.  I suspect he has discarded constraints that have previously hindered his ability to sense and serve the needs of people from other faith traditions.  He seems to have found broader definitions for words such as happiness, faith, God, purpose and tolerance.

I mention this because my friend/acquaintance appears so happy when I see him on Facebook Live or in photos or various other video presentations online.  His online presence is overflowing with happiness and energy.  Quite frankly, I want some of that.

Finding happiness in one’s life is a very specific undertaking.  While you and I may have teachers, confidantes, family, and friends who suggest ways to find happiness, in the end it is our task alone to find that which offers us happiness.

Happiness begins easily enough.  Because today is National Random Acts of Kindness Day, I decided to pay for the coffee of the person behind me in the drive thru lane.  As I pulled into a vacant parking spot to drink my coffee, I wondered what the person whose coffee I just purchased was thinking.  I didn’t have to wonder for long, because suddenly there was a knock on my car’s window.  It was the recipient of my free cup of coffee.  The person thanked me for the unexpected kindness I had shown them.  They asked why I did what I did.  I explained the National Day of Random Acts of Kindness concept.  The person said my simple act of kindness had been a blessing.  They seemed happy which made me happy.

So tomorrow I will try to find some occasion to help someone else find a  little happiness.  It probably won’t be the coffee thing again.  For instance, I know someone who is the sole care provider for a terminally ill relative.  She never gets a break from care-giving and never has a moment to herself.  Perhaps I can offer her some company or a respite from care-giving.  I am sure she hasn’t had a moment to herself in many months.  I want to do that – I can do that.

“True religion…is giving and finding one’s happiness by bringing happiness into the lives of others.”

Every life should have a noble purpose.  That’s when we will get a glimpse of the power and promise of hope – the theme of this blog site.

Start small, think about your life.  What have you learned, what can you share, what happiness or kindness can you offer to someone in need?

“I know that there is nothing better for them than to be happy and enjoy themselves as long as they live; moreover, it is God’s gift that all should eat and drink and take pleasure in their toil.”  (Ecclesiastes 3:12-13)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Upload Hope

“Everyone lives for something better to come.”  (Anonymous)

Those of us who blog, often feel as if there are no words to adequately represent our thoughts.  We become stuck – the proverbial writer’s block.  While it may be overly dramatic to suggest that at that moment we have hopelessly lost our way, the hope of a finished piece of writing seems quite distant.  Hope for a writer is realized when the editor says,”good job.”  We call on the Muses, we go to books filled with writers’ prompts, we meditate, we read the work of others, all in hope of finding the synaptic connections that will open up our creative process once again.

That’s where I have been for about a month or so.  That and the flu, but that’s the subject for another post.  In the most unlikely of moments when all thought of writing had been exorcised, I found words to write.  As I was sitting at the stop light, a truck pulled up next to me.  Waiting for the light to turn green, I glanced at the panel van idling beside me.  On the side of the truck, along with the name and website address of the organization that owned the truck, was this simple message – “upload hope.”

Upload Hope.  That phrase was setting off sparks in my brain as I got in line at my favorite coffee store drive thru.  Caffeine seemed the elixir for unlocking the secret of the truck’s message  – UPLOAD HOPE.  As I approached the window, ready to exchange data on my smartphone for coffee, the woman at the window said, “your coffee was paid for by the person in front of you.  They said they felt badly for having made you wait so long in line.  They also asked me to say thank you for not honking your horn or glaring at them.” I am certain my benefactor’s tone was more magnanimous than the barista was able to project.

The stoplight, the truck and it’s message, the kindness of a stranger conspired to produce a kernel of insight.  Too much serendipity for me to ignore.  I pulled into a vacant space in the parking lot and began to write.   I know I could have continued to let despair, writer’s block and annoyance fill my heart or I could have chosen to be guided by this new bit of inspiration – upload hope.  I chose hope.  After all, I was writing again even if it was on my smartphone in a strip mall parking lot.  I had caffeine, I had  inspiration, and I had the recent memory of the kindness of a stranger.   My heart was warmed by hope in common decency and civility.

I look for hope every day – short term hope as well as the long term eternal kind of hope.  Some of my more religious friends would say I am cultivating “an attitude of gratitude.”  I wouldn’t say that just because I don’t like my faith reduced to jingles.  But it is true that if I have a choice between uploading anxiety, despair, feeling blue, being consumed with doubt (you get the idea) or uploading hope, hope will win every time.  Hope never disappoints me.

I have faith that whatever happens in the world, my hope comes as a promise made to me some two thousand years ago – “peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you.  I do not give to you as the world gives.  Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid.”  A good thought then, a good thought now.  Upload this hope into your hearts.

 

 

 

 

Two Roads – Hope and Despair

It has never been, and never will be, easy work!  But the road that is built in hope is more pleasant to the traveler than the road built in despair, even though they both lead to the same destination.                         (Marian Zimmer Bradley, 1930-1999)

My favorite poem is The Road Not Taken written by Robert Frost.  If you haven’t read this poem lately, why not take a look at it before finishing this post.

https://www.poetryfoundation.org/resources/learning/core-poems/detail/44272

We do have choices to make and attitudes to wrestle with.  Each day we have multiple opportunities to make choices between being a victim or being a survivor.  Many of the choices we make, I have learned, depend on attitude, self-discipline, habit and character.

In Frost’s poem, once the traveler decides which path to choose, he/she must abandon the other path to another time.  So choosing the path of despair or hope locks in your journey until the next time new journeys appear .

The companion you choose on the journey through the woods or fields is resolute in its guidance.  It affects all that occurs while you walk down the path you’ve chosen.  It affects all the senses.

In the 1950’s Pete Seeger wrote a song, Turn, Turn, Turn the words of which come from Ecclesiastes 3 found in the Holy Bible.  In the 1960’s, the band The Byrds, re-recorded the song.  The message of that song is there is a time and place for everything.  There is a time for despair but a time to be filled with hope.  There is a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance.

You and I freely choose the paths we will follow.  Whether we encounter despair or joy is of our own making.  Clearly the path of despair brings less joy than the path of hope.  Hang on to despair, grief, mourning for as long as you must, but always return to the path of hope.  It brings happiness now, and well into the future.

Words Spoken In Hope

“I lack the moral fiber to make enemies.” – (Murray Kempton, 1917-1997)

When was the last time you had a truthful conversation with a friend or a family member?  When was the last time you felt as if you were free enough or safe enough to speak your mind?  When was the last time you had to set a context into which your conversation would fit before saying what was on your mind or in your heart?  When was the last time you felt as if someone was really listening to you, suspending judgment and being fully present for you?

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Being Shipwrecked

“Life is a shipwreck, but we must not forget to sing in the lifeboats.” (Voltaire 1694-1778)

There is no guarantee that life will be smooth sailing.  In fact, it’s almost guaranteed that life will present us with numerous storms that leave us adrift in the waves and wind.  In the midst of the storm, there is hope, there is singing in the lifeboats.

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