Author: asmith

Seriously?

The sun sets on another day…well, I know the sun set on another day but i could not see it…

I have always said to my children that seriously is Bruce Lee’s brother. (Serious Lee?) Anyway, after that poor humor I better get good really quick. We have all been in situations where there seems to be a black and white line, and really it is really 51 shades of grey (Just didn’t want to be confused with the book here). It is amusing sometimes to consider that people get a line in their mind and cannot seem to move out of it. Worse, there are those that start walking a line, know they are wrong, and still walk the line out of pride or principle. It can go both ways as we move into the realm of relationships or money as walking away from a decision can be a tough trick. Either way the words are “I have too much invested to…” (fill in the blank with your favorite piece of silliness)

My pseudo problem with all of this is there really isn’t any grey at all, just shades of colors that the sunset could point out for any people who tend to look at it.

Really, our days have the perfect way of dealing. Each day there is a beautiful beginning, that gives us unreal and amazing colors that are more spectacular than any rainbow; a full day where the sun (hopefully) shines down on us and warms our hearts and souls; then an end filled with even more colors and that end gives promise to a new day, Perhaps we need to consider each day as a gift, and in the process pay attention to our gift, and not our investments or our lost time. We should hold on to the good in life before the rest of the “stuff” has the opportunity to swallow us whole. Walk away before you lose it all, like I did in the 90s when I invested in Syquest instead of iOmega. It was a big oops for me, but I learned from it and moved on. Learn from my boo boo and skip on staying in a loss too long.

So as the sun sets on another day, consider your paths well, and realize there are times to wash, rinse, repeat, and times to walk away and the investment you will loose is not really as big as you think.

Sleep sweet, love life, and wish upon a sunset, then have a colorful night….

The face of beauty…

The sun sets on another day…

Beauty is an interesting idea. You may be thinking it is an interesting fact, and interesting pastime, a lot of work, a lie, or a host of other things people often say, It may well be all of those, or it may not. I feel it is an interesting idea as beauty is truly in the eye of the beholder. The problem is when the beholder is you, it is not really a reasonable beholder to believe. I know so many people who have the lowest self esteem in the world, and it is they that are the people who shine as beautiful. I also know a significant number of people who are “fashion model” beautiful, and they are some of the less beautiful people I know. 

I recently talked to a young lady who was past fashion model beautiful, but as I talked to her it was apparent she had no belief that she was beautiful. She did not feel beautiful, nor did she present herself as the striking young lady she was, instead she was quiet, reserved and still was shining. It was apparent, based on my brief interaction with her, that she was not as sure of herself as she could have been and perhaps that was part of her beauty. Perhaps patience is the lesson we all should consider when dealing with our vision of ourselves.

To me, a even better solution is not to consider beauty at all, and instead, just enjoy the moments and move forward. After all, in my opinion, as you enjoy people it is when you find their true nature and their true beauty. Perhaps I am wrong, but maybe not as well.

So as the sun sets on another day, remember when you look in your mirror that you are beautiful, and everyone’s opinion doesn’t matter, only yours, and in the end life is an amazing journey and you are in it.

Sleep sweet, love life, you are beautiful and wonderful, and don’t you forget it….

Expectations…

The sun sets on another day…and boy does the sun have it easy…

If you think about it, lots of “stuff” has it easy because it just happens. The sun rises, the sun flies across the sky, then the sun sets. No issues, no muss, not problem. Not exactly true with all of us is it? We all have certain expectations in life, the expectation of pay for work, that our mother loves us, our father protects us, and a million more. In the end it is my opinion our expectations get us into more trouble that we really need.

Why?

Easy. Let’s take Jack and Jill. They went up the hill, to fetch a pail of water? Why? Well, Jill was thirsty, and Jack wanted to make it right, so up the hill they go. (Or it could be Jack was thirsty and Jill was trying to make it right). Anyway, they get to the top of the hill, just to get water. their expectation is to get some ice cold Dasani and in the process not have to worry about being thirsty for a while. Happened though that Jack fell down, and broke his crown, fortunately it was insured, and he started rolling down the hill with a broken crown. His expectations of that ice cold water were crushed. Jill, being good, tumbled after, but she missed out on the water as well. The point is, they had an expectation, they fell though (Well Jack fell through) and ooops, expectations crushed. You know, Fred was next door and when he saw Jack and Jill at the bottom of the hill laughing because Jack was such a klutz, Fred gave them some water anyway so it turned out okay but it doesn’t for us all the time. We miss out on the raise, the good grade, the loving feeling, and a host of other silliness that defies the imagination.

(Yes, I am having fun today)

So what was the problem here? No problem at all except we set expectations and didn’t meet them. Imagine if the water was for Jack and Jill did not come through. Did Jack ask for the water? Should Jill have known? How many times are we in situations where someone says “Well you should have known” and we are sitting there like Jack, with a broken crown and a drink of Fred’s water.

This is the stuff jokes are made of, jokes, sitcoms, and a host of bad relationships. So what, right? Well I tell you “so what”, here is the clue. Pay attention to your expectations and communicate them. If you are with someone, look at them and think about their expectations, if you don’t feel like meeting them, maybe you are with the wrong person. If you do feel like meeting them, turn up the volume and do it. (Just do it) Better yet, lets skip expectations, and just communicate and be happy. Funny how that works. 

So now, Jack and Jill are thirsty. Jack says to Jill, “I am a little parched” and Jill says “Me too my dear Jack, wanna go up the hill and get a pail of water?”, where Jack says “How about we just go over and ask Fred, he has an Aquafina distributorship and will hook us up and I can avoid spanking my crown again”, Jill just laughs and says “Good idea, the bucket has a hole in it anyway”, so they both communicate, know they are thirsty, and work it out together, and Fred, well Fred gets rich selling bottled water to people who can’t get up the hill.

So as the sun sets on another day, take a moment and look at the sky, and realize expectations are what they are, and the sun has it easy, remember that life is good, and we can all enjoy every moment if we manage our expectations with ourselves and with those around us.

Sleep sweet, love life, drink about 8 glasses of water a day, protect your crown, and love to the moon and back…

Orange Orange, Red Red…

The sunsets on another day…

As the sunset today I watched a fiery orange glow shift from the brightest possible orange to a massive red globe. I could literally feel the colors trying to overwhelm me as they covered not only the earth but lit the sky with colorful wonder. 

As the sun is setting it goes through significant changes until it finally passes into twilight. As people we too go through massive changes from our sunrise to our sunset even though we may not be aware of them. Change is part of everything that we are, everything we were, and everything we will be. 

So as the sun sets on another day realize you are changing whether you like it or not, whether you know it or not, or whether you feel it or not. Instead of ignoring this change, embrace your changes become a part of them and learn to be a better person. 

Sleep sweet, love life, and don’t just change yourself, change the world…

Retrointroprospectivism

The sun sets on another day…

The sunset is a miracle to enjoy, but so too are we. Each day we can experience the miracles of life, if we choose to do so. How can we choose to do so? How can we understand, embrace, and look at ourselves in a realistic manner, and not be influenced by our personal bias on us as a person? (Yes yes, confusing already)

It is tough. When the sun sets, it is what it is. Simply put, no matter what, the sun does exactly as it should, and rises and sets, independent of all else. Is it so hard to do similar for people (That would be us), we sometimes find it hard to be ourselves, and know ourselves for the purpose of being ourselves? (Still confusing I bet) It is not quite as easy as being the sun, since it is a giant gaseous ball floating in the center of our solar system that doesn’t have any of the hangups we do.

I suggest we look at three things (since we are human and think, feel and a host of other things that drive us away from us): 

1) Embrace our past, look at it, learn from it, and grow from it to be better each day.

2) Embrace ourselves, look inside, and see what we are now, and in the process know who we are and feel good about it.

3) Embrace our future, look forward, know where we want to be, and make it there.

Don’t get me wrong, this is tough for most. A lot of really troubled people do not even know they are troubled. A lot of really happy people don’t realize the gifts they have been given, Makes no sense does it? (Nobody said we were logical all the time, or any of the time for that matter)in the end I feel it is worth the look and we could be better. (My opinion)

So as the sun sets on another day, lets take a second, look inside, and understand who we can be, what we can be, how we can be, and in the process become better people, and find our way to happiness.

Sleep sweet, love life, and find a way to the moon and back, and the stars beyond…

Faith…

 

The sun sets on another day…

Tonight as I went to a new place to take pictures of the sunset heavy fog rolled in. The fog was so oppressive and so thick that it felt as though it were going to choke life out of existence. For a moment I was concerned and felt as though I would have to fight my way out to once again make it to the wonderful colors that are always part of my life. But in an instant I found my memory. I remembered those people who truly love me, I remembered those people who had made my life more complete, I remembered those people who were a fantastic part of all that I am, and in that I remembered that behind the fog, whether I could see it or not, the sunset was there.

So too should this be in life. We should have faith in those people around us. We should have faith in the people that make us more complete. Faith should always be a part of our lives. Whether you are Christian, Muslim ,Jewish, Buddhist, Wiccan, or some other religion, or even if you are not a religious, have faith. 

So as the sun sets on another day, believe in the people you love, pray they believe in you, and in the end enjoy every moment that you can and know that when the fog rolls in they will be there for you. Have faith.

Sleep sweet, love life, and embrace the fog so that you too can know what is behind it…

Eliminating one fear…

The sun sets on another day…

We have a certain power when we do not fear. In the movie the BodyGuard after a nice overly violent Samurai scene we discover the hero “… doesn’t want to die, but he’s not afraid of death.” and that gives him power. Fear is a luxury you really should never partake in. Of course being afraid is a good thing that can give you strength to fight or flee, but often fear keeps us from doing what we need to do, when we need to do it, and finding the right way to do it.

So why skip being afraid? As in the movie, if you release fear you are able to see beyond yourself and truly understand what it is like to be unselfish. Can there be anything greater than to do what is necessary, no matter what?

This is a question to ask yourself, but I for one believe that 1/2 way, a 1/4 way or even 3/4 of the way just does not cut it, find the WAY and make it happen. Have faith, believe in truth, and love the sunset each day!

So as the sun sets today, as I sat and watched it go down with the picture above, let’s all conquer one fear today, and make the world better by our realization that fear holds us back more than takes us forward. (I say let’s conquer the fear of spiders today and work our way up)

Sleep sweet, love passionately, and make every day the best day it can be…

Another fine mess…

If we laughed about it we know that Laurel and Hardy had it right a lot of the time, well Ollie did. It always seems like this is another fine mess that life got us into when we run into issues, challenges, or challenging people. Fun huh?

Take heart, the way to deal with such people is to smile through it and never let them get you down. (Or so it says in the song Cheers)

So, as the sun sets on another day, let’s enjoy the colors today, and love every moment of the day, even those that are less than pristine. No matter what.

Sleep sweet, love life, and if you are going to drink to that, do so in moderation…

Reflections…

The sun sets on another day…

A fun day, an exciting day, a day filled with happiness, sadness, passion and fire. So just another day.

In the center of every day is you. (Or me if it is my day). Each day is an experience in choices and determinations of who you are in life. Do you make the right choices, or make choices that are right for you? Do you walk the right path, or the left, or even the center? As we progress it is important we understand our lives and how our decisions define the choices we have available and how we continue. As you look at your reflection in the mirror, who is it you see? I see me, and work to make me the best I can be every day.  I implore you do the same. The best may not be what you think, but the best will lead you to happiness. 

So as the sun sets on another day, look in the mirror, see who is before you and decide if you like them, if you do, great, but if not, find a way to be that person you want to be, and then find someone to be with who makes you better, happier, and more fulfilled.

Sleep sweet, love life, and change the world for the better every day…

Sunsetting…

The sun sets on another day…

Today I was bathed in unbelievable colors as the sun set in the west. I was joined by hundreds at the same location, many taking pictures, some holding hands and just watching and a few romping playfully in the sand as the sun closed another day. For a moment we were all focused on the same moment and in that were happy. No strife, pain, or election blues took over, just us all loving the moment.

So as the sun sets on another day, remember sometimes we are all focused on the same thing and in that, perhaps we can find the common ground to be happy…

Sleep sweet, love the moments we share, and remember to wish upon a star, then perhaps your dreams will come true…