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Nothing Gold Can Stay

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If We Could Only Freeze our lives on Warm and Wonderful Moments. ….

We all have moments in life we wish would never end and go on forever. It is a time of happiness and joy that resonates with our souls so much that we continually return to visit that memory to remember what life can be like when it is good. These visits are precious when times get hard, and the good things are not so easy to see. Then you start to wonder, why isn’t life always a decisive moment? Well, unfortunately, in my experience, that is not the way it works. My life makes me look back sometimes. There are so many moments I wish I could have frozen time and live in them forever. Unfortunately, days, moments, seasons, and relationships end and turn into another thing. Understanding the value of moments and accepting them for what they are is one of the life skills we should all strive to perfect. But still, there are moments I wish I could freeze and live in forever.

Stars, the moon, and Clouds

There is nothing like the incredible power of nature to accentuate a moment or create a positive memory. I know some of my frozen moments involve the times I have been able to look at the tremendous power of nature with someone else. I think the moments punctuated my overall feeling of well-being with these people at the time. But when I think back on the moments in

You captured me on the moon but then abandoned me there……

my life, I would like to live in, experience, and be again. They involve these things. A night when the sky of stars enveloped me and made me feel like a part of the universe with someone else. To remember the stars and how they felt is to touch that memory but only for an instant, and it never brings the power of the experience back.

These moments exist not to haunt you but to provide you with the hope of tomorrow and remind you of the gifts life can bring you every moment if you take the time to look. If I were a great artist, I would paint an image of a sunny day in my youth, running through life with the purpose of enjoyment only kids can feel. Or to see the moon reflecting across the water as clearly as the love I felt for that particular person I shared with that moment. Our lives are collections of these events stored in our brains to help us remember that life can be helpful. They idealize these moments if fuel for you to persevere.

The real trick is to know when these moments are happening in the present moment. Grab them and hold them as best you can for as long as they last. Then as they disappear through your fingers like sand, be grateful.

Champions

Few things make us feel our value as when someone else thinks enough of us to be a champion for us. I know it takes a sense of selflessness to put the well-being of another before your own. It has been rare for me because I am an independent thinker and doer, and I want to believe I don’t need the help of anyone to do anything. The truth is that we all need other people in our lives for many different reasons. When someone cares about you enough to put your life in front of their own, you should always appreciate it.

I have often wanted to be the champion for someone else and help them win the day, achieve the goal and become the best they can be. Even when the effort is not appreciated or also wanted. I can’t help it when I care about someone to want to be their champion somehow. To help them, move them, and encourage them to be the best version of themselves, even when they can’t see it in themselves. Then I  look at myself and my misperceptions, mistakes, and needs and know I need a champion too. Perhaps we all need someone to be that person for us at some point if we can avoid missing the moment or driving them all away.

Hard Truths Of Life

There are also some fundamental facts about life that make me want to cling to the good times and people I have experienced during my journey. They are essential because these ideas are, on the surface, not very hopeful but inevitable in life. Each truth is seemingly not positive, but to accept them is to value the moments and times we experience on the journey. We will all get old, we will eventually become sick, we will die, and all of our valuable relationships will end eventually.

Each of these truths about life could have a book written about them, but being aware of the fleeting reality of things should push you to appreciate all the small and beautiful moments in life you are lucky enough to experience. Each time you are happy in something you are doing and find enjoyment in the company of another, appreciate it. Be grateful. Hold onto it for as long as you can. All things will inevitably slip away and move on into the either memory and will not be able to be felt again. These truths make all things unique. Often the value of something is determined by its scarcity, and memorable moments shared and experienced are the most valuable of this life.

Take Time

For just a moment today, drop out of your “normal” pattern of thought and spend a bit of time being grateful for the moments you have had and shared along the journey so far. Keep an open mind and eye for the new moments of life you could be having today. Seek the people and things that will touch your soul and bring you closer to the life your soul is seeking. Put aside petty jealousy, envy, judgment, and anger because they won’t be what you remember at the end of things. It will be those starry nights, sun-kissed days, and special times spent with someone you love. Love yourself and your apparent faults, and they are yours. Embrace it all because life is a collection of fleeting moments you wish could be frozen in time.

“I always loved the idea that a photograph was a memory frozen in time.” Ed Gass-Donnelly 

“Hold fast to dreams For when dreams go. Life is a barren field Frozen with snow.” -Langston Hughes

“Learn to enjoy the simple pleasures of life together, and life is a continually enjoyable experience.” -J.D.H.

Nothing Gold Can Stay

Nature’s first green is gold,
Her hardest hue to hold.
Her early leaf’s a flower;
But only so an hour.
Then leaf subsides to leaf.
So Eden sank to grief,
So dawn goes down to day.
Nothing gold can stay.

 

Life

Lessons Learned in 2018

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It is my usual mindset to maintain a positive attitude about life and I have been trying to do this for all I am worth, today is December 31, 2018 and a moment of reflection is definitely in order. I am going to find it difficult to have any sort of reminiscence of this past 365 and be positive. It was a year of immense growth, and gigantic loss. A year of miraculous wonder in both positive and negative ways.  Each season of the year had its own story and each one was remarkably true to the weather and the temperature of the season. To be positive about the things I lost in 2018 would be disingenuous and borderline hypocritical. So although I am going to pick up the positive tomorrow, today I am taking a moment to put the hard lessons of 2018 into perspective and to move forward with the knowledge the year left to me.

Things I Learned This Year 2018

  1. Life is full of surprises- I learned that I am still able to be surprised in both positive and negative ways by life. Unexpected things happened, numerous times bringing me the experience of  unimaginable joy and heartbreaking sadness.  It makes me both leary and excited for the future and I guess that is as good a definition of life as we are ever going to get.
  2. All I know is I know nothing- We fool ourselves, I think, into thinking that we are gaining knowledge over years to be able to live our lives in a safe, orderly manner.  I am here to tell you this is just not true. As soon as you think you have figured it all out. Life will punch you in the nose, run you over with a car and toss you out of a moving car.  Why is this?  I am hoping it isn’t because life is sadistic, but maybe because we need to have challenges to continue to grow.  As the lesson here states clearly, I know absolutely nothing about life and am just trying to survive into 2019.  If you know the answers and the rules, please let me know.
  3. Love is a complicated thing– I know this is not a news flash, and anyone who has lived life knows this, but I have learned that love is made up of more than just words, saying I love you is not enough. It involves love, kindness, appreciation, trust, faith, and respect to name a few. When all are present it is a wonderful experience.  It is THE thing that makes life wonderful and joyful. Beware it comes with a lot of danger and potential pain attached.  But nothing great comes without a little bit of risk. That is what makes it so wonderful when it works out and painful when it is lost.
  4. Nothing Gold Can Stay- It is poem by Robert Frost and I read it when I was a kid reading the Outsiders by SE Hinton. My life has had many of these moments but none have provided an example of the temporary nature of things as 2018.  I enjoyed each moment and I have that in my heart, but would I have dared to live it if I knew it wouldn’t last? I am not sure. All I do know is, life is impermanent, we are all imperfect, and in that imperfection there is a unique beauty of life. That hurts. 
    Nature’s first green is gold, 
Her hardest hue to hold. 
Her early leaf’s a flower; 
But only so an hour. 
Then leaf subsides to leaf. 
So Eden sank to grief, 
So dawn goes down to day. 
Nothing gold can stay.
  5. If you want to see God laugh, tell him about your plans-  I am sure that many people have grand plans, and set out to make them turn into reality and I think the big goals are great and things to work on.  But it is the every day plans of constructing your life where this sentence comes to my life. I was sure six months ago what my life would look like right now. Positive. Had no doubt.  What was the laughing in the background? Who was that chuckling at my certainty? My unmitigated arrogance.  If God wasn’t laughing, he should have been because I could never have thought I would be where I am right now a scant 6 months later.  Some of it is good, some is not so good. All of it was unexpected.  Glad you enjoyed yourself God.
  6. You can do anything you put your mind to- I have seen this happen in small and big ways. If you set your intention on something, make a plan and then take the necessary action steps toward that thing, you can make it happen. Some achievements will come quickly and some take a lot more time. But all can be accomplished. It doesn’t matter if it is career you are searching for or a special rare treat you would like to eat. Whatever it is, you can turn it into a reality.  If you set an intention, make a plan and take the necessary action steps.
  7. Someone who believes in you helps-  Believing in yourself is THE most important aspect of accomplishment. Having someone in your life who believes in your goals and talents is number two. It can provide motivation to work on your dream and inspiration to make it great. Unfortunately when that person stops believing in you, it can set you back.  If the one you trust for motivation and inspiration no longer believes in you, you feel like your talent, and ideas are no longer valid. They are, evaluate your creativity in your own mind. Even though you have trusted and had faith in someone, having trust and faith in yourself is the most important thing you can do.  Believe in the dreams you have and have faith that life is helping you if you take your actions.
  8. Don’t Stop Believing- The Journey song has never had more meaning to me. I have gained and lost faith in life this year. I have literally flown like a bird and seen the freedom from above. I have crashed and burned like the Hindenburg. It has been tempting to lose faith in other people, life, the world, you, me, Elvis, everything!! But as I sit here and feel the last moments of 2018 drift away into the reaches of history,  I can’t stop believing just yet.  There is going to be a new day tomorrow, and it will be the dawn of a new year. I don’t know what that year may hold for me, but I want to have the faith in my heart it will be good.  Dreams will come true and happy times will come along.  As much as I want to stop believing, I am just going to hold on to that feeling, streetlights people…………

So now as I end this last creative blurb from 2018 I am going to try to be as positive as possible. It isn’t easy. I think all years have a lot of the same things in them. Surprises, joy, love, heartbreak, sadness, victory and defeat.  2018 has brought all of these to me in a special way and I know that there will never be another one quite like it. I am hoping to take the good, forget the bad, forgive the people who have harmed me, and love those who have loved me.  This life is a short ride after all and our time is running out to accomplish our dreams.

The woods are lovely, dark and deep,   
But I have promises to keep,   
And miles to go before I sleep,     
And miles to go before I Sleep.