That year we won it all

(Have I mentioned recently that I’ve migrated my blog? New stuff is at this link.)

I have heard it said that 2020 is a terrible year. I say, “In your dreams.”

It’s not the calendar’s fault if you choose to be downcast and pessimistic and defeated.

Did you ever dance to those songs about getting knocked down and getting up again? Did you nod and stick your thumb up when someone said Rocky wasn’t defeated because he stood back up and kept fighting? Did you applaud when the speaker said you can’t always control what happens but you absolutely can control how you react to it? You remember that, son? Does it ring a bell, daughter?

OK, then. Your assignment for the next (how many days are left in 2020? that many) days is to make 2020 one of those years you look back on with a smile. “Man, we were so … that was when … those were the days … 2020 was one of the best years of my life.”

Don’t look at me like I’m some naive dolt who has finally, after too many years of beer drinking, rotted his brain and taken leave of his senses. Are you the one who takes comfort in “God grant me the serenity to accept the things I can’t change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference?” Are you?

OK, then. I’m telling you right now that you have the power to change your perspective on 2020 and make it one of the best years of your life. Go on, scoff all you want, stay knocked down and defeated. But you’ll feel a lot better if you stand up, look it in the eye, and go make a difference.

Not: OMG, what next, 2020? I can’t take any more.

Yes: OMG, 2020, is that all you got? Come on. Let’s dance.

for most this amazing

I just went out to pick a poo that Willow had left near the front door. It is a beautiful night — warm, not hot — comfortable — bright and sunny, the light from the not-quite-ready-to-set sun bouncing off fluffy white clouds against a brilliant blue sky — and it occurred to me I have lived more summers than I have left to live.

Continue reading at the new warrenbluhm.com

“You can turn it off!”

This is a little tricky, because I’m trying to reach you amid the noise and the distraction, right through the telescreen. You may never find the message through all the clamor, or if you do, it will have been an accident that you found this — but what a fortunate accident. And here we are.

Mr. Orwell’s prescient book never exactly explained how telescreens appeared in every house, on every street corner — how Big Brother established a system of constant surveillance. Well, you see how it happened now, don’t you, for here you are, reading the words on your personal telescreen, this handy and useful device that cost you hundreds of dollars and you carry with you everywhere? Yep, they made your chains so convenient and attractive that you just had to have them, right?

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Look up into infinite possibilities

REMINDER: I have moved … please find future posts at warrenbluhm.com/my-blog/

Sometimes, when you’re feeling down, the most obvious thing to do escapes you: Look up.

There is so much sky there. And the Master Painter has produced so many masterpieces in every direction — sometimes I will take four pictures in six seconds and every one looks different, even though they were taken in the same moment.

We’re used to paintings on canvas, so we’re accustomed to viewing clouds in frames a foot or two wide — it’s east to forget that real clouds are miles long and the sky goes on forever, as far as any human can determine. When they say “the sky’s the limit,” what they mean to say is: There is no limit.

In a world where there are infinite ways to box yourself into a corner and feel trapped by circumstances or lost or alone, the limitless sky reminds us there is no box, there are limitless possibilities, and there is no limit. And in a world of 7 billion people, and billions and billions of other creatures (hear that bird singing over there?), you are never quite alone.

The sky can be a little intimidating — like when it brings storms instead of sun and gentle clouds — and when you consider how tiny you are in the midst of all that infinity — but it also shows us how vast this world and this universe are in comparison to whatever you think you’re facing alone.

So: Keep looking down at what ails you in your little corner of the universe — or look up and see the infinite ways to break out and live. Take a deep breath and choose. My advice: Look up. The possibilities are out there.

I’m moving

After many years of blogging on other people’s platforms, I have shifted my online base of operations to my own actual authentic website, so to speak, if you please, thank you very much.

So, if you’ve enjoyed these musings and ramblings and such, please come visit me at, well, WarrenBluhm.com.

There’s a free ebook in it for you.

Thanks!

For the joy

Run for the joy of running because your spirit cannot be contained in a walk.

Write for the joy of writing because your spirit can’t hold back the words.

Sing for the joy of singing because life has a melody and harmonies so pure and clear that it has to have music.

Speed across the page never-you-minding whether the phrase is perfect or awkward or pretty or odd, because the words have to spill out and never you mind whether they spilled out in a perfectly ordered order.

Because it’s fun to write, or it better be, because you’ve spent your life writing and the spirit who has never had fun is a sullen spirit indeed.

Attend to crasftsmanship? Craft away, child, but not until after you’ve said it all raw and full and with all the joy you can’t hold in your heart a minute more.

A brief lesson in writing and self-forgiveness

“Hello. My name is x and my mind wanders.”

“Hi, x,” intoned the others in the group.

“I’ve been sitting here for 20 minutes, and my head has been all over the place. I glanced at my phone until I realized what I was doing. I read some back pages of my journal, I sipped coffee, I added to the to-do list for today, and what I didn’t do until a few moments ago was write. It’s funny, because I call myself a writer. On the other hand, I recently discovered that preparing my mind to write is part of the writing process, but if all that fussing was prep, then I have prepared for 20 minutes during a period when I had 25 minutes total to write something.”

“Still,” one of the others said, “you did write something. So stop beating on yourself.”

When we live despite the urge to fear

Fear is an ugly thing. It contorts the face, boils the gut, and manifests in every unhealthy emotion – anger, worry, hatred. Fear can spread across the land, a virus more deadly than any microbe.

“Fear is the mind-killer,” Frank Herbert wrote: It robs us of our reason, strips love and compassion from our hearts, and brings out the monster in us.

The children of fear are slavery, tyranny and war.

When we overcome fear, we rise.