Growth

Tiny wizened seeds planted in black soil, warm and moist with sunshine and dew; sprouting and growing in great green health as only plants know how to do.

We don’t see ourselves this way but we do come from microscopic seed

sprouting and growing short or tall, family and friends our soil to feed.

Growth is our transition through life

All around us within spirit and heart

Soil, sunshine and water 

we choose for ourselves to

nurture bodies, minds and hearts.

“The strongest principle of growth lies in the human choice.”

~ George Eliot

The History of Detox

Private homes seconded for detox

when it was time for a break from the drink

Hospital beds for the very sick.

Social Detoxes with three hots and a cot

when social transition was needed as bodies mounted.

Hospital beds for the very sick.

Treatment centers of thirty days or more

to teach ‘them’ what to do and when to do it.

Hospital beds for the very sick.

Medical detox facilities thinly spread

when all those programs were still not enough

Hospital beds for the very sick.

“You have to look at history as an evolution of society.”

~ Jean Chretien

Mood Magic

Pacing in great angry strides

Tears pushed back deny any shred of weakness

Vulgar words spew forth instead of fists against hard surface

Fists airpunching release explosive energy

Purpose, focus and awareness rekindle and awaken

Bent head allows tears to leak and trickle

Pacing slowed, voice softens to a whisper

Magic transition through moods unpredictable.

“The momentum of the mind can be vexingly, involuntarily capricious.”

~ Gregory Maguire, A Lion Among Men

A Midnight Ramble.....

Life’s transitions are often considered stepping stones to another level in society.

From birth to infancy, infancy to toddlerhood, toddlerhood to youngster and so on until we reach the age of graying and wisdom. Graying is almost always assured. Wisdom? Always debatable.

And then there is health to illness and hopefully back again. However the final transition is to death and passing on out of this world. Many consider an afterlife a given, others reincarnation and still others just an end. A friend from many years ago said death was just like shutting off of a light switch. There are many beliefs surrounding death and often much fear. Fear of the unknown - the ‘what if there is nothing’.  What if there is an afterlife and it’s been scoffed at it for a life time?

All that aside, I believe that a part of transition that may be overlooked really is a positioning of oneself in the present life.  Positioning for the next step is preparation. Not to be able to do any great feats of skill or strength, but just to be able to roll with the punches, play the cards that are dealt and accept the good or bad that life has to offer.

All that is easy for me to say. I am truly blessed in this life. Have I had difficult, and some downright dreadful, things to deal with. Certainly, I have. Each one of them was a transition step for me, positioning me for moving in a direction of my choice. How does one know a direction? A self proclaimed atheist, speaking to a gathered crowd, shared in no uncertain terms that direction needs to be good and orderly - Good Orderly Direction.  

What I haven’t mentioned in this ramble is intention - an inner compass that can act as a GPS or Global Postioning Sytem, to be an inner guide to these outer directions.  And so, with intention, preparation and a good dose of good orderly direction, navigating this world becomes very doable.  Are the outcomes certain?  Very seldom, and because of this faith will be the foundation for this good orderly direction.

“Faith means living with uncertainty ~ feeling your way through life,

letting your heart guide you like a lantern in the dark.”

~ Dan Millman

Progress Misses the Mark

Water cooler conversation ~

Monetary effects on employee populations shifting and changing over time.

New gadgets and programs doing numerous tasks - faster.

Why all the transitions?

Bed utilization in hospitals and residential facilities

Dollars shrinking and ballooning within departments 

Technological changes as progress progresses

paper and pen to electronic documentation 

trailing histories and life events

Touch and intuition lost as

machines and gadgets beep and whirr.

What does not transition?

An individual’s need for care when

sick of mind, body or spirit.

Touch and intuition provide

the soul within rigid tasks of technology and budgets.

“Progress is man’s ability to complicate simplicity.”

~ Thor Heyerdahl

Plateaus and Thresholds

Plateaus ~ places to breathe,

choices to run across,

stop moving and sit,

wander forward among nodding daisies. 

Transitioning across a broad plain

whether in bright sunshine or slanting rain, offers opportunity to dance and spin

in air fresh and clean, free of the dust of change until the next step is clear ~

a threshold to the future.

“Leaving the old, both worlds at once they view,

That stand upon the threshold of the new.”

~ Edmund Waller

Webbing ~ 1

Like fine, strong and silky spiderwebs

transitions trail and cling memories behind

while stretching forward hopes and dreams

in search of strength and support

joining past and future in the present.

                        “The past, the present and the future 

are really one: they are today.”

~ Harriet Beecher Stowe