There’s a difference in free and aimless;
with adventure comes consequence,
so measure this and take the risks
you deem worth it.
Not all who wander are lost, but there’s a difference in exploration and exploitation;
this is not a trial run,
don’t squander opportunities to make life mean.
All our existences intersect-
be conscientious,
don’t drunk drive your way through.
Question accepted “truths”.
Live purposefully,
live aware,
thinking for yourself
is not the same as ignoring everyone else.
There’s a difference between apathy and peace.
Be a scientist, an anthropologist, a linguist,
seek to understand.
seek to live expressively.
seek harmony.
seek joy.
Seek.
Gather up things inside you to hold,
these are the only things you’ll ever really own-
guard them, feed them,
this is your wellspring, you’ll need this unremittingly.
Try to minimize pollution in your mind, in your soul,
let your open mind be your open road,
enlightenment can not be found any where
if it’s not already within your self.
You have inside you endless possibility and strength.
You have room for belief and love, you always have room.
And the safest place you’ll ever find is between the two.
Because no amount of any material thing can grant you safety or guarantee.
In your relationships, seek communion, reflection, laughter,
but never seek completion;
we are not designed to co-depend,
but to co-exist.
Expect and accept
anger, hurt, disappointment,
but let these things pass through
and keep in your self a hiding place
and room for grace.
It’s worth it to let go
and it’s worth it to hold on
and only you know how far you can go,
either way.
Take your time
and don’t compare yourself to anyone else’s version
of happy or satisfied.
Sometimes even your best decisions won’t go as you hoped,
but you only perceive a lonely road,
because there’s no place you can go where you are alone.
In our depths, we reach our heights,
don’t be afraid to ache or cry,
you are expanding your capacities;
your breadth and reach.
Don’t believe you should know, believe you should learn.
There are inevitable missteps, unavoidable mis-turns.
You will pick up, along the way, dozens of roles.
Learn enough to know why you indulge them,
and know it’s always a choice, you can always say no.
Speak your petitions,
gaze,
and listen.
Freedom is living a life where your body, spirit, and mind are in tune and entwined
Love is more than they lead you to believe, and in some ways, less
Don’t accept general standards
Learn what you don’t want in your life and develop a filter-
never a wall;
then stand,
open arms, heart, hands, and take the rest,
it is yours to take (and share).
Everything you allow yourself is yours (this is the same for those around you)
Don’t limit your self,
and I’ll try not to.
Before my daughter Natalie was born, I wrote her a poem, “Be Free” and this was the last stanza: “All your life people will tell you what they think you should be, but what I want for you most is just to be free”.
This poem is something of a follow up, or maybe an extension
In “The Prophet” by Kahlil Gibran, it says “Your children are not your children…They come through you but are not from you, and though they are with you yet they belong not to you. You may give them your love but not your thoughts, for they have their own thoughts…You are the bows from which your children as living arrows are sent forth. The archer sees the mark upon the path of the infinite, and he bends you with His might that His arrows may go swift and far.”
I am an arrow still, and I am a bow. I am a bow made from an arrow. I know I can’t save my daughter grief or sadness or tragedy. Nor will my guidance always be useful or even sought after. But I know it’s not enough just to love her, just to provide for her her basic needs, or her wants, or just to write her a poem if I do not embody the love, the provision, the words, if I am not a present, mindful party in her life, if I am not a living example of my hopes for her. And that is so much harder than writing the poem, or packing her lunchbox…
