To be seen, to be real is courageous

The face we present to the world
can be a vulnerable one
if we let it.
To feel and not deny our pain
gives access to all our feelings.
Safe is a myth, an illusion.
So why do we pretend we are?
Or cover up to not risk
being seen?
The more we unveil the
mysteries that we are,
the more chance for life.
For feelings to enrich it.
For participation and
a chance to be in relationship
with others for however they
may want to respond.
We can be seen and not be
vaporized by the opinions
of others.
We are more than that
and somewhere deep down
inside we know it.


Copyright © 2012 Gary Frates

Which way are you headed?

This title presupposes you have a choice--
well you do, and you don't.

Individually yes, collectively, not a chance.

As long as our feet are firmly planted on
Terra firma, i.e. Gaia, aka Mother Earth,
we're all headed the same way--up!

We're actually caught in
an expansion of the whole universe.
Our "consciousness" is rising
whether we're actively engaged
in raising it or not.

We're either one of those leading the way
or one being pulled along by the others.

There's really no laggers in the universe.

No one's pulling out of this "race" to sit
on the sidelines to watch the others progress
to the finish line.

We're all in this together.

We're expanding, growing, becoming more
and not just in the Springtime of our lives--
everyday, until our last carnal breath, we are.

So up, up and away
with booster rockets attached!
We're creating a new earthly citizenry
in the universe.
Becoming worthy of co-existing with
other civilized beings
leading the way
who may have breached
their evolutionary "rough spots"
ahead of us, successfully.


Copyright © 2012 Gary Frates

Feeling Better Consistently

Maybe many of you may know how it is to have what could only be described as "mood swings". Sometimes your "up" and sometimes the other way.

Well, consistently, as I think back on the last weeks, I feel a spiral upwards out of my depression or just general unhappiness with my life and its' progress towards a new and better tomorrow. Nothing substantially has really changed in the accomplishment of my major desires or goals.

But I do feel more energy consistently--not to say that on many days I feel like I spent a lot of energy that day and am pretty tired at the end of it. Whereas previously I would overdraw my energy account and be left with a big deficit to pay back on the weekend.

Now, it seems I am still paying back or resting when I have the opportunity on weekends but I have more energy to rest! Most things away from the stress of work I consider rest even if I am working hard around the house or am catching up on the exercise I skipped during the week for whatever reasons--none really valid probably.

I have found yoga/stretching and/or foam rolling to release the tight knots of tension I find in my body. I find them to be gone after a session of loosening up. I sleep better and get to sleep easier if I do this right before bedtime. And done almost daily, I stay loose from day to day, more easily.

If I just do aerobics and don't stretch or foam roll, I stay tight all the time--a very subtle difference actually I don't notice until after I'm relaxed and loosened up. It accumulates until insomnia and poor quality sleep result.

Also, I'm finding more enjoyment in my work, generally. People are giving me more positive feedback in response to this. I'm getting more spontaneous hugs and notes of appreciation from the kids at school and when I voice how well things are going to the staff, they're asking me for my contact info to come back when they have an opening.

I'm really happy seeing these positive changes in myself and expect those more major goals to be inching closer to my being able to cross them off my list.

A Time for Everything and Everything in its Time

I like to think I'm "on time"
with my life
as if there was a schedule
I was supposed to follow.
No, that's not it.
Yet a nagging doubt
pesters my consciousness
way too often
that "I'm late"--
late for my life
as if it were a meeting
I had to attend,
somewhere somewhen.
Doing or being--
which holds more weight,
more value for you?
Does a day of "being"
equate to a day of "doing"?
I tried to push the river
(back up hill!) today.
Even downhill,
pushing doesn't work.
You wear yourself out
when you could be going
with the flow--letting the
river carry you along,
gracefully.
Today was predominately
being--filling the coffers
replenishing, gassing up.
Tomorrow may be a travel day.
All in good time as they say.
I am enough, I do enough,
I have enough, is a good
affirmation for me!!


Copyright © 2012 by Gary Frates

The Forest

Facebook says: What's on your mind?
I never know how to answer that question
in definitive terms, right then and there.
Truth be known, I haven't given much thought
to it until you mentioned it.
To find out what's on my mind, I write.
It's a little journal entry that starts out
shallow and vague and somewhat scattered
and finally burrows its way into the things
I'm really feeling--concerned about or happy
about or things I long for or things that
happened that I need to get rid of the charge
for.

The forest confronts us.
It you see a path ahead, its not yours
you can be sure of that--that would be too easy
and besides it would be somebody else's path,
not yours.
You'll know which way to proceed when you confront
a pathless forest. Now it's time to roll up your
sleeves and start your journey through a forest
without a path.
Which way to go?
The eternal question.
It's your forest--you get to go whichever way you want.
How fun.
You can struggle through the thickest, densest, bushiest
parts if that's your thing--might make you very strong
in the process.
The point is, you get to decide which way pleases you
the most or maybe where you want to end up.
It could be a very lost feeling for a while
but again, your path is your path. No one but you
has ever been this way before.
Actually, I never quite looked at it like that before.
I thought I had do what someone else has done--
travel their path--to get what they had got.
I'm glad I'm free to consult myself for what I
want out of life--in the end I'm responsible anyway
whether I copy their model or make my own original.
I think I'd rather take the slings and arrows of
making my own original.


Copyright © 2012 by Gary Frates

Time off

I took some time
off recently
to heal my body,
mind and soul.
Feeling really
renewed--
so many things
were overlooked
in my life.
Instead of dragging
them on
from day to day
wearing me down
and congesting my life
I took care of
many of them.
I feel so much lighter
clearer, relaxed
and at peace it's hard
to tell where the
real (usual) me went.
I'm not greiving all
the stress--
my pocketbook
is lighter
but so am I.
Nature clobbered me
with a huge, humbling
experience so as not
to forget her power.
She takes care of it all
anyway if I just
get out of the way
long enough
to let her do her thing.
Time off for
time on!!
Hopefully I can
keep
daily maintenance
of these tasks
caught up
instead of
having to
do them
all at once.



Copyright © 2012 by Gary Frates

A day of hearts

I wrote it down
I put energy into it
I cleared space for it
I began (oh, so hard!)
I kept plodding along
one of the most
distasteful chores
I've had to do
for so long
got done today!!
At least 4 hours of it--
many more to go
but it's got to be done
and I've been chosen.
Can't hire this one out..
What I'm actually
doing is
reordering my emotions
vacuuming my psyche
dusting off
some seldom used areas
being brought
back into service--
all the while outwardly
going through
the motions
of cleaning house.
Many hearts are
supporting this project.
A lot of tough
decisions
were made today--
something
I could put off
forever
and pretend
they weren't there.
But they were.
Holding me back.
From moving forward.
On this day of hearts
Feb. 14--
a big
growth day for me.



Copyright © 2012 Gary Frates