Attention on deck; listen up

I was in a group of sailors not paying attention. Suddenly a booming voice yelled, “Attention on deck, listen up. The CPO let us know who was in charge. I have been collecting some pithy anecdotes and today I share them with you. Attention on deck; listen up.

“There are blessings hidden in every trial in life, but you have to be willing to open your heart to see them.”

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“It must be exhausting – waking up every day under the burden of grievance, bound by some self-inflicted expectation to find something, anything, to be offended by, victimized by, wronged by; willfully attaching yourself the manmade shackles of seeing every person, every situation, every encounter you have through the prism of being wronged.”

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“Grief, I’ve learned, is really just love. It’s all of the love you want to give, but cannot. All of that unspent love gathers in the corners of your eyes, the lump in your throat, and in the hollow part of your chest. Grief is just love with no place to go.” Jamie Anderson

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“Life is difficult for everyone. We all have stress and we all need someone in our lives that we can lean on. Never think that you cannot talk to someone because they have problems too or that your friend or loved one would be better off without you and your problems. You’ll soon find out that they need you just as much as you need them.” Joshua Hartzell

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“Look around you. Everything changes. Everything on this earth is in a continuous state of evolving, refining, improving, adapting, enhancing and changing. You were not put on this earth to remain stagnant.” Steve Marabali

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“When I understand myself I understand you, and out of that understanding comes love. Love is the missing factor, there is a lack of affection, of warmth in relationship; and because we lack that love, that tenderness, that generosity, that mercy in relationship, we escape into mass action which produces further confusion, further misery. We fill our hearts with blueprints for world reform and do not look to that one resolving factor which is love.” Jiddu Krishnamusti

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I closely identify with this one by Anais Nin. It speaks to my life and how it has evolved. “You have the right to experiment with your life. You will make mistakes. And they are right too. No, I think there was too rigid a pattern. You come out of education and are supposed to know your vocation. Your vocation is fixed, and maybe ten years later you find you are not a teacher anymore or you’re not a painter any more. It may happen. It has happened. I mean Gaugin decided at a certain point he wasn’t a banker anymore; he was a painter. And so he walked away from banking. I think we have a right to change course. But society is the one that keeps demanding that we fit in and not disturb things. They would like you to fit in right away so that things work now.”

[Larry Vandeventer. Go to my two websites – Larryvandeventer.com and wjrambler1956.com – and purchase my books. I grew up North of Calvertville and graduated from Worthington High School and Indiana State. Contact me at Goosecrick@aol.com or 812-796-0784]