Rise Up…

A song that not many have perhaps heard just yet by Sheryl Crow off her new album Detours (ltd edition of course why who knows).  This song has gotten me through some turbulent days recently, I sit and close my eyes and allow her voice, the music and the meaning to flow through my body and feel at peace.  For me it is beautiful, perhaps you will feel the same way.

We take one step

One tiny step and we’re on our way

To where we are from where we were

Just yesterday

Well the sun’s gonna rise

When it’s everything or nothing

And everything seems dark

The sun’s gonna rise up with you

You’ll be allright

I’m on your side

And we’ll make it through

When you can’t go on

I will be strong

Enough to carry you

Well the sun’s gonna rise

When it’s everything or nothing

And nothing seems allright

The sun’s gonna rise up with you

Well the sun’s gonna rise

When it’s everything or nothing

And everything seems dark

The sun’s gonna rise up with you

The river of life

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The river of life is the journey that we take from birth to death, forever evolving, forever meandering with seasons and droughts.  At birth we are put on the path with no road map or guides, we are told no warnings of what to expect or of the dangers that lie in wait for us.

As we travel along that river of life we will often find ourselves covering all sorts of terrain, we go over hills of all sizes, sometimes we find ourselves climbing over big rocks and at other times walking over pebbles.

Sometimes we pause to take in the beauty and at others we run from wasps and creatures that smell a delicious dinner.  We pick up flowers and bring them to our noses inhaling their sweet scent, we get sad seeing a creature fallen before us or skeletons of past travellers along the road.

If we’re lucky we will bump into fellow travellers along the way and they guide us over the really difficult parts while at other’s there’s not another soul in sight.

Through it all though there are those precipices, the times when we pause and take a look at both sides of the river and notice that the one we are walking on is not as colourful as the one on the other side, the river is mostly dry where as towards the other side it flows with a steady pace. 

The precipice is what separates you from the other side of the river.  There is no bridge to quickly cross to the other side so you find yourself sitting with a decision that could change your whole journey. 

Option one is that you continue walking on the same path with no guarantees that you will find that desired bridge.  The word “Maybe” keeps one foot in front of the other as you walk along the barren land. 

Option two is that you cross the rocky danger infested river bed that has demonic creatures and monsters from the past, obstacles and challenges that you must face in order to get to the other brighter side.  The river could claim your life, you could break a few bones, old wounds will scratch open and bleed.

We all swing between these two options in all instances we come across in life.  The decision to cross the river might be sometimes easier than others, sometimes it can be so scary that we opt to walk a little longer on the drought barren path building up courage to take the first step over the edge.

Ultimately we have to cross to the other side or we allow our souls to become barren and dry, colourless and dead.  All change is necessary, no matter how long we take, no matter how far we try to run from it. 

Cross the river and face the demons that lurk, bleed through old wounds and keep going over the obstacles, slay the monsters and get to the other side… For once on the other side you emerge stronger, your spirit is lifted and you once again can smell the true sweet scent from the flowers, the scent of life you had forgotten existed.

Nothing worthwhile is ever easy…

I have a few quotes that I live by, the one that has stuck with me the longest is probably “Live life like there is no tomorrow”.  That one for me has the strongest meaning and encompasses who I am and what I stand for.

Live life like there is no tomorrow… what does it mean to you?

For me it is…

  • Living life without regrets
  • Being honest in both my actions and my words
  • Treating others as I want to be treated
  • Experiencing both the ups and downs with the taste of life in my mouth
  • Laughing as much as possible
  • Seeing all sides to stories and doing my best to understand them
  • To not give up at the first hurdle
  • To cherish those in my life as much as I can
  • To always let those I love know that I love them
  • To learn new things constantly
  • To face any challenge head on and to learn through them
  • To experience new things, eat new food and to see new places

The other one that I quote often is “What will be will be”.  This one frustrates more than a few because it is interpreted that I just don’t care or that I am not going to work for what I want, go along for the ride like a piece of driftwood.  For me though it means accepting what is and working with that.  If plans don’t happen then there will be something better along the way, I will follow my gut and heart, not get discouraged at the first hurdle. I believe in a life plan and trust in that… most days.

I adopted another a couple of years ago during the time I was climbing out of my breakdown and back into the world.  It wasn’t so strong back then, merely a phrase that I adopted and held onto without having the courage to look at the true depth of the words.

Nothing worthwhile is ever easy…

For me, for this lifetime, that phrase has gained more and more meaning.  I have sought freedom for many years now both from my past and my present, I’ve fought to travel to new lands and to live by my first quote.  The one thing my freedom hasn’t been is easy, it’s come at great cost and torment.

My thinking though is life is much like a toy that is built quickly and cheaply won’t last long and the pleasure will be short lived, the toy won’t be treasured as much either.  A toy that takes time and care to build out of materials that take time to source will out last anything made in a quicker fashion, it will be treasured more because of the pain it took to create.

I see this with kids all the time, give them a task that is easy for them they will feel less accomplishment and satisfaction, same goes for adults. Give a kid a simple lego set including 100 pieces and they’ll follow the instructions no sweat, they won’t stress one bit or get upset.  Once the lego set has been completed it is put on the shelf till an adult starts dusting and quitly puts it in the lego dungeon where it lies unmissed.  Give a kid a complex lego set with more pieces than the first and they will cry in frustration, perhaps even through the odd tantrum, they will proverbially pull their hair out, try to give up, come back for more, try again and again till they succeed.  Once that complex lego set is built though it takes pride and glory over all others, it goes on the mantlepiece, treasured and shined, it never goes near the lego dungeon for if it is moved one millimeter it is noticed.

Even though the complex lego set was harder to build, even though it hurt them emotionally, frustrated them and brought them to the brink of accepting failure they perservered and they feel a sense of accomplishment and success through it all.

Nothing worthwhile in life is ever easy.

We get taught this early on in life but we don’t see it, only in time and after many challenges do we start to get a sense of the truth, do we realise that sometimes it is better to get challenged because the pleasure and happiness will last longer in our success.

We live. We Learn.

So my two long standing life quotes “Live life like there is no tomorrow” and “What will be will be” get an official friend… “Nothing worthwhile in life is ever easy”

Do you have life quotes and what do they mean to you?

… and then the fight started

Donated by Ambermoon

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My wife sat down on the couch next to me as I was flipping  channels.
She asked, ‘What’s on TV?’

I said, ‘Dust.’
And then the fight started…
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My wife was hinting about what she wanted for our upcoming anniversary.

She said, ‘I want something shiny that goes from 0 to  150 in about 3  seconds.’

I bought her a scale.

And then the fight started…

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When I got home last night, my wife demanded that I take her someplace expensive …

so, I took her to a gas  station.

And then the fight started…

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After retiring, I went to the Social Security office to  apply for Social Security. The woman behind the counter  asked me for my driver’s license to verify my age..

I looked in my  pockets and realized I  had left my wallet at home. I told the woman that I was  very sorry, but  I would have to go home and come back later.

The woman said, ‘Unbutton your shirt’. So I opened  my shirt revealing my curly silver hair. She said,  ‘That silver hair on
your  chest is proof enough for me’ and she processed my  Social Security  application.

When I got home, I excitedly told my wife about my  experience at the  Social Security office.

She said, ‘You should have dropped your pants. You  might have gotten  disability, too.’

And then the fight started…

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My wife and I were sitting at a table at my high school  reunion, and I kept staring at a drunken lady swigging her  drink as she  sat alone at a nearby table.

My wife asked, ‘Do you know her?’

‘Yes,’ I sighed, ‘She’s my old girlfriend.
I understand she took to drinking right after we split up  those many  years ago, and  I hear she hasn’t been sober since.’

My God!’ says my wife, ‘who would think a person  could go on celebrating  that long?’

And then the fight started…

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I took my wife to a restaurant. The waiter, for some  reason, took my  order first.

“I’ll have the strip steak, medium rare,  please.”

He said, “Aren’t you worried about the mad  cow?”"

Nah, she can order for herself.”

And then the fight started…

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A woman is standing nude, looking in the bedroom mirror.
She is not happy with what she sees and says to her  husband,  ‘I feel horrible; I look old, fat and ugly.

I really need you to pay me a compliment.’

The husband replies, ‘Your eyesight’s damn near  perfect.’

And then the fight started…..

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I tried to talk my wife into buying a case of Miller Light  for $14.95.

Instead, she bought a jar of cold cream for $7.95.

I told her the beer would make her look better at night  than the cold  cream.

And then the fight started….

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My wife asked me if a certain dress made her butt look big.

I told her not as much as the dress she wore yesterday

and then the fight started…..

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Saturday morning I got up early, quietly dressed, made my  lunch, grabbed the dog, and slipped quietly into the  garage.

I hooked up the boat up to the truck, and proceeded to back  out into a torrential downpour.

The wind was blowing 50 mph, so I pulled back into the  garage, turned on  the radio, and discovered that the weather would be bad all  day.

I went back into the house, quietly undressed, and slipped  back into bed.

I cuddled up to my wife’s back, now with a different  anticipation, and whispered, ‘The weather out there is  terrible.’

My loving wife of 10 years replied, ‘Can you believe  my stupid husband is out fishing in that?’

And then the fight started …

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I asked my wife, “Where do you want to go for our  anniversary?”

It warmed my heart to see her face melt in sweet  appreciation.

“Somewhere I haven’t been in a long time!”  she said.

So I suggested, “How about the kitchen?”

And that’s when the fight started….

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My wife and I are watching Who Wants To Be A Millionaire  while we were in bed. I turned to her and said, “Do  you want to have  sex?”

No,” she answered.

I then said, “Is that your final answer?”

She didn’t even look at me this time, simply saying   “Yes.”

So I said, “Then I’d like to phone a  friend.”

And that’s when the fight started….

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When our lawn mower broke and wouldn’t run, my wife  kept hinting to me that I should get it fixed. But, somehow  I always had   something else to take care of first: the truck, the car,  e-mail,  fishing,  always something more important to me.

Finally she thought of a clever way to make her point.

When I arrived home one day, I found her seated in the tall  grass, busily snipping away with a tiny pair of sewing  scissors.

I watched silently for a short time and then went into the   House.. I was gone only a few minutes. When I came out again  I handed her  a toothbrush.

‘When you finish cutting the grass,’ I said,  ’you might as well sweep the driveway.’

and then the fight started…

Friday Funnies: He said, She said…

He said to me . . . I don’t know why you wear a bra; you’ve got nothing to put in it.
I said to him . . . You wear pants don’t you?

He said to me . . ….. Shall we try swapping positions tonight?
She said .. That’s a good idea – you stand by the ironing board while I sit on the sofa and fart!

He said to me. … What have you been doing with all the grocery money I gave you?
I said to him . …Turn sideways and look in the mirror!

He said to me. … Why don’t women blink during foreplay?
I said to him .. . They don’t have time

He said to me. . How many men does it take to change a roll of toilet paper?
I said to him .. . We don’t know; it has never happened.

He said to me. . Why is it difficult to find men who are sensitive, caring and Good- looking?
I said to him . . . They already have boyfriends.

He said…What do you call a woman who knows where her husband is every night?
I said. . . A widow.

He said to me . .. . Why are married women heavier than single women?
I said to him . . . Single women come home, see what’s in the fridge and go to bed. Married women come home, see what’s in bed and go to the fridge.

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