Sometimes I feel...

  

I have to admit....

It's a really good song...

I picked this particular video not just for the sound quality which I admit could be better but for the lyrics set in time to it.

In case you haven't noticed, the past few posts have had music videos embedded in them that either match the tone of what I'm trying to say or the message.  Sometimes both.

This one is a little scary but the truth always is.

I kind of feel like the guy who'd be singing this song.  I mean other than Phil Collins.  I meant it figuratively.  Try to stay with me here...

I guess if I was feeling that way  I should take the hint...Which is kind of the point of the song.

OK, I'll pause for the group DUH!

Go ahead, I'll wait...

<tap> <tap> <tap>                     (sound of my impatient foot)

Thing is, I've been around long enough to know that I've never gotten anywhere by just giving up.

Especially when things like assumptions, expectations and fear are involved.

...and they all have been.

You end up in this place.

Hell, I ended up at this place...

WE, all of us, end up in this kind of place not because of anything WE did.  All the arguing, blame, mistrust is just symptomatic.

Fear

That's why we're here.  Fear robs the future, clouds the present and denies reason.  Fear stays with you until you face it.  It lives in the shadows coiled like a serpent waiting to strike.

But the serpent has no fangs other than those you provide.

To give up is easy. Just tell yourself it's the other person's fault and pat those self-fulfilling prophecies on the back as you sow the seeds of regret. 

Regret loves a quitter.

To resolve to try even if it means putting it in God's hands is hard.

So here's what I'm going to do.

I'm going to be who I am.  I'm going to be true to myself no matter what.  I'm not making assumptions, reading between any lines or expecting anything. 

Most importantly, I won't quit on anything or anybody I believe in.   

And yes, sometimes that means stepping out of the picture for awhile when they need space.  If they need me I'm there.

The only failure is to betray that and I'll be damned if I'll make my life any harder than it already is.

I've said it before, I won't be set up to fail...by anyone

...including myself.

Which means I'm not entertaining any more turmoil, any more doubt, any more regrets.

Regret is about the path not taken.  A child of fear and an embrace of the shadows. 

If I don't know that I've done all that I could do then I reap the harvest of regret.

If I try and fail there's no shame so long as I tried.

So let's get back to the context of this post.

I go all in.  I have to.  I've got to know that I am doing and have done all I can do to succeed.  Even if it looks like I'm not doing much, I'm just leaving an opening.   

Sometimes you've just got to leave some room for the divine.

So no matter what, there is and will be no regret here. 

Ensure that you can say the same.

My wish for all of you...

Heart be....alright!

I'm still positive....

Be still, sad heart! and cease repining;
Behind the clouds is the sun still shining;
Thy fate is the common fate of all,
Into each life some rain must fall,
Some days must be dark and dreary.

From The Rainy Day by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Longfellow takes you to the last verse before any glimmer of hope appears in Rainy Day.  Every verse prior paints a dreary scene.

But that last verse, Oh that last verse!  



The power in it, the power of the poem itself lies not in the soggy resignation to the hopeless but rather the impending emergence from it.

This goes to the core of positivity.  The realization that the world is always seen through your own perspective.  You choose whether the clouds obscure the sun.  You choose whether the rain brings life or drowns your soul.

The light always shines even if shrouded by your darkest hours.  Whether you choose to see it is a different matter.

Look to the skies on a clear night.  



What do you see? 

A thick black veil of nothingness or an intricate tapestry of a million shining jewels dancing in the heavens.

Your attitude is meaningless to the stars.  They exist in spite of your attention.  Their light is always there even if they aren't always easy to see.



So it is with positivity.   You control your perspective.  

Too often we're blind to the light when the darkness is too familiar.  We hope and dream of a better life but frame it in the perspective of what keeps us from it.



Mistrust, doubt, fear, uncertainty draw us into nothingness like a black hole devouring the light.  



But the light will not be denied.



A smile emerges from tears.  Hope from defeat.  Understanding from uncertainty.  Love displaces doubt.



So long as we're willing to give at least as much credence to the positive as we so easily give to its opposite we can find our light in the darkness.