Positive Waves - Finding the positive in everything

It's very late as I write this so forgive the meanderings of a mind still stirring after most have long since retired.

The room is dark, Gordon Lightfoot's, "Sundown" plays in the background and I'm in a good place.  

Not that all is puppies and rainbows.  I lost an Uncle this week and in the process tested whether what I preach was practiced.

There's plenty of babble about positivity out there.  Lip service from the self-help set that seem to have an answer for everything.  Ready made solutions conveniently packaged for instant gratification like a candy bar from the corner convenience store.

We know better don't we?

Life's not about easy answers, absolute truths or anything that passes for divine insight. 

These days my favorite analogy has to do with waves.  I picture a sunlit day over some tropical beach watching the waves crashing against the shore.  In the distance I see a lone figure prone on his longboard.  

He waits for the swell, paddles toward the growing curl and when the moment is right stands up and rides his wave...

Or not...

It doesn't matter, there's always another wave and another opportunity to shoot the curl.  

We can't control the waves only how we react to them.  Do we submit or harness their power.  

That's up to you...

Life is the same.  I'm not suggesting any easy answers because there aren't any.  If there were life would be pretty boring now wouldn't it.  

Of course you could always choose to stay on shore.  No risk in that, no reward either....

It's so very easy to keep a death grip on what we believe to be true even if it robs us of the gifts that life offers..  

The echoes are familiar: I'm not good enough, smart enough, pretty enough or any of a 1000 reasons to stay in that safe place.

I've often said that we're prisoners of our experience.  Some misunderstand it as an assertion of some deeply held absolute truth that I carry around like a boulder strapped to my head.

It's not.  Instead it's an acknowledgement of the enemy we have to conquer before we can truly experience what life has to offer.

My mind works in strange ways leading to sometimes strange analogies.  One that I frequently borrow, from of all places the financial industry goes like this...

"Past performance is not indicative of future results."

Good advice whilst evaluating your portfolio but even better when you're in unfamiliar territory.

Experience is an excellent teacher but the lessons never end.  

I'll put it to you this way.  When I was in school Pluto was still a planet.

Now it isn't.

So should I reject evidence contrary to what I learned in school or should I be open to something new.

My "prisoner" phrase isn't meant as an absolute but rather a warning because it's so very easy to cage ourselves in the context of the past when dealing with the present.

Most people don't want to be in prison.  It's a place that keeps you in the past paying for sins real and imagined.

 
So do we always catch that wave?  Is the ride always sweet?




Hell no but here's the trick.

If we fall off that board at least we know we've tried and chances are we'll try again.  Eventually as we open ourselves to new information we'll figure out how to ride that wave all the way to the shore.

We don't control the waves only how we respond to them.

Does that mean I'm never sad, angry or disappointed?  Of course not!  I'd be some babbling idiot if that was the case.

But just like falling off your surfboard there's something to be learned.  Even in the worst situations you can find the positives.  Maybe that flat tire gave you time to think about something you didn't have time for otherwise.  Maybe the ending of that past relationship brought into focus what you really wanted.

There's always something to be gained from our experiences.  Let them be our teachers but not our masters.  

Every hero's tale ultimately finds said hero evolving beyond their mentor.


Positivity isn't about being a happy idiot.  It's about being open to the possibilities even if it they aren't immediately obvious.

Watch the waves, float along for awhile and when you're ready stand up and harness their power.

A passion for the discarded

I've always had a special kind of reverence for old things.  Things discarded, battered and within an inch of being just a pile of scrap.

I'll look at an old car rusting away in some forsaken back lot and think, What was it like when it was new.  What places did it go and whom did it carry there.  What was the world like around it.  No doubt very different from where it is now.

It's a little sad to see such things discarded simply because they've fallen out of favor with their owners.

I feel the same way about anything abandoned, discarded, unloved...

But while I feel a subtle tug at the heart strings I also see potential.  I never believe anything is too far gone so long as someone is willing to take up the challenge to breathe life back into it.

Yes, there are exceptions and some things are just meant to be thrown away but these days it seems we treat everything from the cars we drive to the people we meet the same way.  Disposable when in our estimation they become too cumbersome.

I've been a fan of Science Fiction since I was a kid which is where I first noticed this fascination with the discarded and neglected.  I was a huge fan of Star Trek (the original series) and always watched with intense interest when the good ship Enterprise would visit some derelict spaceship or forgotten world.  

One of my favorite episodes was entitled, "The Doomsday Machine"  Where Kirk and crew set off to discover the fate of their sister ship who had suffered an unfortunate encounter with a world eating mechanized monster.

What fascinated me wasn't the alien device, however.  It was the bruised, battered hulk of a starship hanging helpless in the cold blackness of space.

The destruction was palpable but what thrilled me was when it was brought at least partially back to life ultimately sacrificing itself and providing the vehicle for Kirk to once again save the galaxy.

It was that last gasp of life.  The Phoenix rising from the ashes if not a bit battered in the process but nonetheless once again relevant.

It's taught me a lesson.  Nothing is beyond hope so long as you're willing to try and the rewards can be truly great.  

I have two cars one is over 40 years old and I've owned it more than half of my life.  It's what I call a project car meaning there's always something to be done.  Mind you, many things have been done but part of the joy of owning it is the ever present opportunity to make it a little better.

When I first bought it nobody paid much attention.  20 years later, however, it seems I can't drive it a block without it coaxing a smile or an impromptu conversation.

It seems to bring others more joy than even I get from it.  I can only guess as to why but if I dared to try it's probably this...

It's not disposable.

It's a reminder that with effort,, some patience and a little love anything is within reach even if nobody else thinks it's worth the effort.

That's why I have a special place in my heart for those old, special things. They're a link to a tapestry of memories that can add color to an otherwise mundane present.

It's worth it to bring some of them into our future. 

By the way, I'm not just talking about cars and barns.  Today we live in a society that's far too quick to label everything disposable, even when those things posess a heart and a soul.

Learn to see the value after the luster has faded.  Learn to see the potential in the passed by.

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