On the way out
of the cave
stumbling in the void
so unwittingly entered
a sense of possibility
as yet untried
leads a little further
toward the light
promising liberation
from the
endless darkness.
The path less
traveled
seems the right
one.
Each new juncture
fork in the path
offers another
possibility
hastening progress
to see and feel
wholeness
in the light of day.
Life's a rip and a trip
when your on
the right path.
So many dead ends-
so many steps back
seeking the light
we already had.
Not paved for sure
since almost
no one's traveled it,
the fun of discovery
and innovation
creates an original
outcome.
This way
the sign says
barely made out
in the dimness.
Try this path.
It promises
an ultimate shortcut
though fraught
with more challenges
than the previous one,
but worth it.
To finally head
the right way
instead of endlessly
circling in the dark
feels good.
The Dark Ages...
giving way to
The Age of
Enlightenment.
At last.
Copyright © 2013 Gary Frates
Friday, January 25, 2013
Monday, January 7, 2013
Tapping The Power Within
I continue to amaze myself
by tapping into the power--
maybe I could call it the
power of belief or faith--
that has always been there
for me waiting...I guess, for
me to take the next move--
to sort of ask for help, and
what is working for me is
to write it down, or out, on
paper so there's no confusion
about what I'm communicating
or asking about. When it remains
in my head, it gets lost with all the
"other" thoughts/feelings in my
mind/heart and I become
untethered from that source of
power.
I can still feel it now. And I trust
that feeling, whereas before I
didn't trust it, even though I knew
it was there, was aware of its
potentially powerful influence
on the unfoldment of my life,
yet my faith was misplaced and
I was fighting it every step of
the way.
It seems easier now. I hope I can
develop a positive, trusting
relationship with this power I feel
is there for me within.
It wants to help. I don't have to
fight it. (I would lose anyway--it's
stronger than I am). So why create
all this upset and resistance to
something I inherited at birth
really, but have denied and not
accepted or used it to any
great degree, I would say,
throughout most of my life?
It's there within all of us for the
using and taking, and the world
and myself are only enriched
by my tapping into all that I've
been given and starting to use it
to the fullest. I really don't know
how I could do any less now that
this awareness is dawning on me.
So here's to fanning the fires of
faith in the expression of my
gifts and talents to the benefit
of others, myself included.
My light needs to be unshackled
from the bush that shrouds it.
Since I have really not tapped that
source fully, I have no idea
of what it contains or how far and
wide it can go...so we'll see...
Copyright © 2013 Gary Frates
by tapping into the power--
maybe I could call it the
power of belief or faith--
that has always been there
for me waiting...I guess, for
me to take the next move--
to sort of ask for help, and
what is working for me is
to write it down, or out, on
paper so there's no confusion
about what I'm communicating
or asking about. When it remains
in my head, it gets lost with all the
"other" thoughts/feelings in my
mind/heart and I become
untethered from that source of
power.
I can still feel it now. And I trust
that feeling, whereas before I
didn't trust it, even though I knew
it was there, was aware of its
potentially powerful influence
on the unfoldment of my life,
yet my faith was misplaced and
I was fighting it every step of
the way.
It seems easier now. I hope I can
develop a positive, trusting
relationship with this power I feel
is there for me within.
It wants to help. I don't have to
fight it. (I would lose anyway--it's
stronger than I am). So why create
all this upset and resistance to
something I inherited at birth
really, but have denied and not
accepted or used it to any
great degree, I would say,
throughout most of my life?
It's there within all of us for the
using and taking, and the world
and myself are only enriched
by my tapping into all that I've
been given and starting to use it
to the fullest. I really don't know
how I could do any less now that
this awareness is dawning on me.
So here's to fanning the fires of
faith in the expression of my
gifts and talents to the benefit
of others, myself included.
My light needs to be unshackled
from the bush that shrouds it.
Since I have really not tapped that
source fully, I have no idea
of what it contains or how far and
wide it can go...so we'll see...
Copyright © 2013 Gary Frates
Wednesday, January 2, 2013
Tread lightly
Around I go chasing my tail...
nowhere to GO really.
The law of ATTRACTION
is whirling everything I could
ever need or want with FED
EX speed directly to my
front door.
THE COURSE IN
MIRACLES says:
"You need do nothing".
Nothing indeed! I'm usually
doing "stuff" all day long--I'm
not a bench sitter. If I can't
play, I'm not on the team.
Although, I just arose from
a nap which you could arguably
pose is NOTHING, but felt
pretty good when I got up,
anyway.
DO NOT pursue--no hot
pursuits--as I understand it.
Just a welcoming attitude
and a willingness to receive
OR give that which needs
to keep moving in my life-
i.e. those things I need and
use now, at the time I need
them, will be there. So,
as Alfred E. Neuman use to
say: "What, me worry?"
So, I'm off to enthusiastically
to do nothing--or maybe just
focusing more clearly on
what I'm wanting or needing
mostly these days.
May the force be with me.
I have a feeling a failed plan
is in the making
and I end up doing
SOMETHING
just maybe not wringing the life
out of every moment in a feverish
chasing down of my outrunning
desires.
The tail my prove a
more fruitful option.
© Copyright 2013 Gary Frates
nowhere to GO really.
The law of ATTRACTION
is whirling everything I could
ever need or want with FED
EX speed directly to my
front door.
THE COURSE IN
MIRACLES says:
"You need do nothing".
Nothing indeed! I'm usually
doing "stuff" all day long--I'm
not a bench sitter. If I can't
play, I'm not on the team.
Although, I just arose from
a nap which you could arguably
pose is NOTHING, but felt
pretty good when I got up,
anyway.
DO NOT pursue--no hot
pursuits--as I understand it.
Just a welcoming attitude
and a willingness to receive
OR give that which needs
to keep moving in my life-
i.e. those things I need and
use now, at the time I need
them, will be there. So,
as Alfred E. Neuman use to
say: "What, me worry?"
So, I'm off to enthusiastically
to do nothing--or maybe just
focusing more clearly on
what I'm wanting or needing
mostly these days.
May the force be with me.
I have a feeling a failed plan
is in the making
and I end up doing
SOMETHING
just maybe not wringing the life
out of every moment in a feverish
chasing down of my outrunning
desires.
The tail my prove a
more fruitful option.
© Copyright 2013 Gary Frates
Tuesday, January 1, 2013
A great day
Such a long
full day
with a rainbow
of emotions
swinging to
and fro
like a kid
on a playground
enjoying the ups
and downs
spending energy
earned at rest
to once again
give birth
to the
possibilities of
tomorrow.
Copyright © 2013 by Gary Frates
Saturday, December 29, 2012
Walking on air
Walking the plank
down the isle
of life
wedded to a
dream
of expectation
and "safeness"
I embark upon
a journey
of immeasurable
hazards--
sand traps all
over the place
with my errant
ball going toward
the flag of desire.
When is a guarantee
honored?
When there isn't one
to begin with.
Oops...forgot to
sign on the dotted line.
So, I'm free to fail.
No guarantees.
Free to succeed, also.
Still no guarantees.
Life's a big crap shoot
at this point.
Sometimes you win
and you got it...
Sometimes you lose.
Loss isn't always
"bad".
Sometimes gains
take losses to
materialize them.
You can take 3 steps
at one time if you
stretch it but
trying to take
them all at once
may cause you
to doubt your
abilities of human
tolerance.
Go ahead. See how
many steps you
can take at once.
I guess it depends
whether you're
going up or
down the steps
how big a risk
you'll be willing
to attempt.
Copyright © 2012 by Gary Frates
down the isle
of life
wedded to a
dream
of expectation
and "safeness"
I embark upon
a journey
of immeasurable
hazards--
sand traps all
over the place
with my errant
ball going toward
the flag of desire.
When is a guarantee
honored?
When there isn't one
to begin with.
Oops...forgot to
sign on the dotted line.
So, I'm free to fail.
No guarantees.
Free to succeed, also.
Still no guarantees.
Life's a big crap shoot
at this point.
Sometimes you win
and you got it...
Sometimes you lose.
Loss isn't always
"bad".
Sometimes gains
take losses to
materialize them.
You can take 3 steps
at one time if you
stretch it but
trying to take
them all at once
may cause you
to doubt your
abilities of human
tolerance.
Go ahead. See how
many steps you
can take at once.
I guess it depends
whether you're
going up or
down the steps
how big a risk
you'll be willing
to attempt.
Copyright © 2012 by Gary Frates
Thursday, December 27, 2012
Writing Poetry
Mucky--That's what my mind often feels like when I sit down to write especially when I don't have a burning desire to impart some inspiration upon the paper/screen.
Then, as I travel along the page, ideas begin to blossom. Some hit a dead end and no matter how I try to develop it into what I'm writing, it just doesn't
want to fit or it casts a dark shadow on what is predominately an upbeat message.
So a lot of things get deleted. All in the process of two steps forward one back--still moving forward but
not as smoothly and swiftly as if inspiration came like a strike of lightning and all the words just rolled off my tongue onto the screen effortlessly and easily with very few corrections.
I used to write poetry long hand on physical paper. Well, as I soon found out, when I went back over them for submission to a friendly editor who was encouraging me to journal and write poems everyday, some were o.k., some I really liked, and some didn't even come close to making the cut to send off to anybody.
The o.k. ones I labeled "maybe" hoping that somehow they would improve with age, or my critical function would come down a few notches and I would accept them as "good"--valuable to send to somebody.
One time I wrote a page of aphorism-like one liners. Since I kind of liked them but they weren't really poems, which he requested, I sent them in anyway with some other poems. He liked the aphorisms and wanted to use them in his newspaper!
With the computer, I usually don't do a thumbs down to anything. Instead I edit and rewrite and rearrange until I have something acceptable that I like.
Somehow, when I wrote with a pen in hand, I could retrieve ideas fast enough to do something that I liked the first time, and I never touched the poem after that.
Either it was good, or I tossed it. It took practice to write by hand and then in those days-type it up on a typewriter--is anybody old enough to remember those? and send it in, as is.
With the computer, a whole different style of writing has emerged. It's sort of like dropping a vase from a ten story building, picking up the pieces, gluing it back together and pretending it's new. Who's going to know, right?
In a way, I'd like to go back to hand writing first and then typing it up as a regular routine. It's more inspired and spontaneous.
I don't really know which one I prefer. Whether I'd have to relearn how to do it the old way as efficiently as now--only typing and writing it once, but with many revisions.
I'm still glad I have choices in life, even if I don't exactly know which way to go most of the time!
Then, as I travel along the page, ideas begin to blossom. Some hit a dead end and no matter how I try to develop it into what I'm writing, it just doesn't
want to fit or it casts a dark shadow on what is predominately an upbeat message.
So a lot of things get deleted. All in the process of two steps forward one back--still moving forward but
not as smoothly and swiftly as if inspiration came like a strike of lightning and all the words just rolled off my tongue onto the screen effortlessly and easily with very few corrections.
I used to write poetry long hand on physical paper. Well, as I soon found out, when I went back over them for submission to a friendly editor who was encouraging me to journal and write poems everyday, some were o.k., some I really liked, and some didn't even come close to making the cut to send off to anybody.
The o.k. ones I labeled "maybe" hoping that somehow they would improve with age, or my critical function would come down a few notches and I would accept them as "good"--valuable to send to somebody.
One time I wrote a page of aphorism-like one liners. Since I kind of liked them but they weren't really poems, which he requested, I sent them in anyway with some other poems. He liked the aphorisms and wanted to use them in his newspaper!
With the computer, I usually don't do a thumbs down to anything. Instead I edit and rewrite and rearrange until I have something acceptable that I like.
Somehow, when I wrote with a pen in hand, I could retrieve ideas fast enough to do something that I liked the first time, and I never touched the poem after that.
Either it was good, or I tossed it. It took practice to write by hand and then in those days-type it up on a typewriter--is anybody old enough to remember those? and send it in, as is.
With the computer, a whole different style of writing has emerged. It's sort of like dropping a vase from a ten story building, picking up the pieces, gluing it back together and pretending it's new. Who's going to know, right?
In a way, I'd like to go back to hand writing first and then typing it up as a regular routine. It's more inspired and spontaneous.
I don't really know which one I prefer. Whether I'd have to relearn how to do it the old way as efficiently as now--only typing and writing it once, but with many revisions.
I'm still glad I have choices in life, even if I don't exactly know which way to go most of the time!
Outside Nature Beckons
Outside
is where it's at
in Wintertime.
Cool, light air
entices our lungs
to open themselves
fully and deeply
savoring the fresh
crisp, aliveness
of natural air
as we feel
the warming
rays of the sun
on our exposed
face and hands-
all free
for the taking.
Creatures also
take advantage
of the
hospitable
enticements
nature affords.
Birds, rabbits,
squirrels all
claim heritage
to a beautiful
sunny day
out of their
homes.
No nest sitting
or holing up
for them.
They're out
and about.
They've
places to go,
others
of their kind
to hang, fly,
run, and
play with.
Wherever
they slept
is not where
they are
in the middle
of the day.
Copyright © 2012 Gary Frates
is where it's at
in Wintertime.
Cool, light air
entices our lungs
to open themselves
fully and deeply
savoring the fresh
crisp, aliveness
of natural air
as we feel
the warming
rays of the sun
on our exposed
face and hands-
all free
for the taking.
Creatures also
take advantage
of the
hospitable
enticements
nature affords.
Birds, rabbits,
squirrels all
claim heritage
to a beautiful
sunny day
out of their
homes.
No nest sitting
or holing up
for them.
They're out
and about.
They've
places to go,
others
of their kind
to hang, fly,
run, and
play with.
Wherever
they slept
is not where
they are
in the middle
of the day.
Copyright © 2012 Gary Frates
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