21 June 2011

The Not-So-Unbearable Lightness of Being

So anyway its Tuesday or should that be tuesday, because really is it that important, that much of a standout that it deserves its own capital letter?  Seriously, man, it's freakin' tuesday and I'm not feeling the love, you know?  Sorry I know I'm being difficult, my bad. It's just that I was expecting so much more by this time in the week.  Too many weeks of the grind and the yawn...

Wait, hold that.  Yeah, yeah, the obligation of what needs to be done to earn the Daily Bread, that can be a royal drag, the ol' millstone and albatross many of us carry around and can I say, as as sidebar a digression even, perhaps said sotto voce ('cause you should know by now I can't resist those little sidesteps into Theater and Art and Screenplay language, yeah boy because (as the kids say) that's how I rolls.  or roll.  Or something like that.) that the Millstone & Albatross would be a great name for a pub, or perhaps a law firm.  Has a nice ring, don't you think?  Yeah, me too.

What's that? Oh, damn. Right, right, now where was I?  I was speaking of grinds and yawns and royal drags...but what I meant to say is that it isn't all gloomish and Sturm und Drang (there I go again off into Art), no no by any means no, there are good things too, my lovelies, yes there are and the trick the real trick, the meat of the matter as it were is that you need to know where to look for the good stuff...

...Because sometimes the good stuff, my friends, the good stuff can sometimes be right there under your nose or hanging out just behind your back, like when you try and turn around really fast to see if the good stuff is trying to sneak up on you, or maybe trying to keep the bad stuff from sneaking up on you.  Which I have to say is damn near impossible because joy and misery will find you no matter how  hard you try to catch them or avoid them, and they will do it most often when you least expect it.

So stop chasing them.  Misery you don't need and joy?  Well, joy is kind of like that butterfly you ran after when you were a little kid and no matter how fast or agile you were, or thought you were, that butterfly was always one or two moves ahead of you, and you remember what happened? When you stopped running after it? Very often it would stop and alight on a flower or leaf or stalk of grass right in front of you and sit there, wings hinging open and closed slowly as if it were in a dream or it was pondering the dark shadows and lumbering footsteps that rumbled along behind it.

So the point of all this, the kernel, the "crux o' the biscuit" as my brother was fond of saying...is that joy can be ours, if we know where to look, know when to look, and most importantly learn to recognize what we are looking for when we see it.  Because that is how joy rolls.

When you see the butterfly, whisper its name, but let it fly free.

8 comments:

  1. First? "Crux o' the biscuit"? I think I would have gotten a huge kick out of your big bro.

    Second? Joy has fluttered herself down and alighted upon your sleeve.

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  2. your word play is a perfect example of finding the joy where and when you can! Your post make me smile, and laugh, and feel the love. And makes me want to open a pub called the Millstone & Albatross. Much better than the ubiquitous Crown and Anchor. (Hey...wait a minute...what about 'The Hairy Nostril?)

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  3. Choose to see the joy.

    Yup.

    I needed that. Just joyfully saying.

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  4. Millstone&Albatross? definitely a law firm...

    I'm glad I came back to read to read your post after such a long time.

    Totally worth it!

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  5. Hey, congrats on the Blogs of Note score! I don't normally check those, so it must be fate. Or destiny. Or a complete accident. It was a festident.

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  6. Gorgeous! And I think I'm going to be saying "crux of the biscuit" quite a lot now...

    Sarah Allen
    (my creative writing blog)

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  7. You grew up, learning you got to run after what you want, then one day you`re too tired to run anymore and stop to take a breath, and everything comes to you....... This is what I read between your lines.. :)

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"Let your laws come undone
Don't suffer your crimes
Let the love in your heart take control..."


-'The Hair Song', by Black Mountain

Tell me what is in your heart...