Silent Stillness

The deafening quiet
silences my heart.
Like a peace
that pervades
a windless lake.

I'll sail tomorrow.

Anchored in time,
I retrieve my limbs
from reaching
for more
than they can
easily grasp.


Looking within
I get acquainted
with the me
that feels

intimately and deeply

accessed best
in this
peacefully quiet state.



Copyright © 2103 Gary Frates
Photograph © Dennis Frates

Unexpected Possibilities

If it were up to me
to predict my future
my crystal ball would
have to have
a lot more polishing.
I'm convinced that
forcing my way through
situations is not my
preferred way to proceed.
So without the needed
energy, motivation, drive &
desire to get some things
accomplished I needed to
do, I could easily say that
as much as I need and want
to do these things today, I
don't feel I have what it
takes to get them done.
So I go into default rest mode.
Rest and recuperation mode.
The universe looks out for me
but doesn't always inform me
of what's going on and how it's
managing its devious ways.
So I pass through my usual
everyday rest mode and come
out of the other side like
I just did an energetic walk-
through of my whole life
and here I am at my present
age, feeling I passed through
a time warp and I wake up in
2013, my energy being restored.
I think I can do the next thing
on my list.
I usually feel better from resting
but this was such a contrast from
black to white, not going
through any gray areas at all.
Like I arose from the grave and
was granted a second chance at
at life, not just any life but here,
fully present and functioning
pretty much on all cylinders firing
at once life.
So to ask me if I could get the things
I needed and wanted to do today done
you wouldn't want to ask me for a
reliable answer of what was not only
possible but very probable, given my
rejuvenated condition all pivoting on
a simple resting procedure I do
normally everyday, but today I struck
pay dirt!
Before that happened, I really could not
see that a divine intervention--a seeming
"miracle" to me--could change things
around so drastically and affect the rest
of my day so profoundly.
I think I'm going to try to open myself
up to unusually miraculous events
manifesting into my life just because I'm
deciding to leave a space for the
unexplainably unknown to enrich and
fuel-inject my path and passion in life
forward to success and fulfillment
and accomplishment beyond my wildest
expectations.



Copyright © 2013 Gary Frates

Photograph © Dennis Frates

Life is Fun

My intuition often encourages me
to do counter intuitive things
that a now lessened fear level
enables me to pull off for a try.

I'm not as sensitive to an error
or mistake in contemplating
the consequences of following it
as best I can.

Trust is built up slowly, with me.
You earn it by who you are.
Intuition is earning it.   
It wants to teach me,
I guess,
some lessons in life--
by trying to follow it's guidance,
building up a relationship 
allowing for
"miscommunications" occasionally
between us.

I want to learn:  Life is easy,
or can be--my choice.
I want to learn:  The unlimited nature
of the universe is not going away
because I slip back
into my limited perspective.
I want to learn:  Everything I can
of interest to me
in this one lifetime.

Life is fun.
Fun is inside us.  
It needs to be released
out into our life
for it to be fun, also.



Copyright © 2013 Gary Frates
Photograph © Dennis Frates

Days Come and Days Go

So what if I mess up a blog post.  I want to write what I want to write whether other people want to read it or not.

That first sentence was probably enough to move you on to another page.  That's ok.  I am writing this for me, and If I post it, for you.  My days, when I think back to them, are as varied as a week.  In the morning things happen and then afternoon comes and into the evening seems like another day.

Well, I stay up so late sometimes, it seems like I'm starting another day but it's just my way of winding down, doing things later at night until I can feel sleepy enough to hit the sack.

I made juice today.  I love juice, green juice with sweet fruits to make it taste good.
The fatigue I feel right now is not commensurate with the amount of energy I put forward today, I don't think.  I even had an hour nap.

My body seems stretched in many directions at once. From all the activities in my life right now.  Its summer, for God's sake.  I'm supposed to be taking it easy to recuperate for the next school year.  That's what most sane teachers do--take the summer to reevaluate all that went on during the year that definitely will not go on the next year.

I feel impoverished of spirit a lot from doing a job that doesn't totally satisfy me.  My spirit is saying we're hungry down here give us something fun to chew on; its dull and boring doing what you're doing when the whole world is open to you to explore and use your gifts and talents at things that satisfy you and turn you on.

I've cheated my spirit out of the fun it so deserves before, and so unhappy was it that it demanded that I take total time off and do just what's fun no matter if I starve to death or not.  It and I was so happy I was able to pay back that debt.  It's no fun to owe somebody something for a long period of time and not or not be able to pay them back.
Not fun at all.

So where am I going with all this??  If I knew, you'd know. I don't plan, I just explore where my mind goes and write it down.  Ideas come.

I really don't like the weakness and fatigue I feel all the time.  I want to work out more but don't.  I won't make excuses.  I think there's a way.  I just have to find it.  Exercise is very fun to do--I didn't say easy--fun.

Overall my digestion is improving and the times that I do feel full power flowing through me are really supercharged. Months ago, I would have not felt this way. I was crippling to get through each day most times.

What else do I have to say before I shut this down for the night?
Life is so enjoyable in these evening hours just typing away with/at my thoughts and possibly sharing them with a broader audience.

Well this is going to be a different post than what I normally do.  Now let me

go back and read it and see if I want to share intimate details about my life with people I hardly know.


Copyright © 2013 Gary Frates
Photograph © Dennis Frates

Goose Flesh

The geese know
how to do it.
They mate for life.
They have no
alarm clocks,
getting up early
with the sun.
Sleeping in?
They don't
know what
that's about,
but they do know
the value of a nap
during the day.
They're on no diets.
If they eat too much
they just fly it off.
They don't work
for anybody
instead
they work for
each other
taking turns
being lead bird
in the V
or keeping watch
over group naps
in the park
or field.
There's power
and safety
in the group.
So they
stick together.
Their needs
are rather simple.
There's always
more cooperation
than competition
when you're
part of a flock.
Birds in the wild
free to come
and go
are pretty much
happy
all the time...
They live joyously
in the now.
Everyday
starts the same-
getting up singing
to the sunrise
(or honking
if you're a goose)
to bed

at night
and doing it
all again,
tomorrow.



Copyright © 2013 Gary Frates
Photograph © Dennis Frates

If I knew then...

Ever wish what you know now
you knew then?
Why did the universe set it up this way,
the best for the last?
If I could live my life backwards with
what I know now, they'd call me a genius
or crazy (which I sometimes get anyway:).
With all the pressure a fast-paced
life presents, we get to go where we're going
faster, and the trade-off may be worth it.
After all, who wants to wait, right? 
Instant enlightenment, instant everything.
People, though, are clamoring for more
peace of mind and freedom from
"constant connection".
Quiet is a valuable premium these days.
Some are choosing to spend a weekend
"disconnected" until Monday.
Unplug everything, and see
if you can take the silence.
It'll be there when you get back.
Where are we going in such haste, anyway?
Do we know?  Is it even remotely justifiable?
Or are we caught in the stream, with no choice
as to its speed? 

Maybe we could step out for a bath in the sun?
Something's apace as to why
the world has played out as it has.
Some secrets are no more
though many mysteries
still remain.



Copyright © 2013 Gary Frates
Photograph © Dennis Frates

Act Despite Fear

The march outward
becomes the
march inward
turning around
and taking a
look at yourself
often takes courage
especially
if your house
needs some
cleaning.

No one's going to
or can
do it for you.
This is an
in-house job--
making decisions
from a loyalty
to your own
deepest values,
to your authenticity
to being absolutely true
to yourself--
no less being considered.

Fear may come
at anytime
on your path--
expect it,  face it,
feel it, and walk
through it,
shirking not to
its intimidation--
and then let it go,
moving on to the
next challenge.

You may view it
as an adversary
wanting you
to run,
quivering
from this non-thing
artfully, skillfully,
even meticulously
crafted
in your ill-used
imagination
gone awry.

Yes, an in-house job.
Your mind, emotions
and body all in concert,
taking risks

in each step
along the path.


Copyright © 2013 Gary Frates
Photograph © Dennis Frates