Archive for December, 2010
046 Weekly Quote
by Charles on Dec.22, 2010, under Weekly Quote
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Ask the tough questions, THEN live the tough answers.- The Eadarian Poet –
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To see past “Quote of the Week”(s) click here.
Or to choose an installment(s) of our blog, The Creative Journey, click here.
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045 Weekly Quote
by Charles on Dec.15, 2010, under Weekly Quote
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Free from myths, free from lies; can you see what this implies?- The Eadarian Poet –
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To see past “Quote of the Week”(s) click here.
Or to choose an installment(s) of our blog, The Creative Journey, click here.
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036 Creative Journey
by Charles on Dec.15, 2010, under Creative Journey Blog
Hello my friend,
Welcome to the 36th installment of The Creative Journey, the experience of one Charles Yerkes, Eadarian Poet, perpetuator, and otherwise mildly creative and excessively modest personage.
Well my friend, the Christmas season is upon us. How are you weathering it so far?
Sometimes I think we overlook a certain song during this holiday season. One that is perfectly fitted for describing this seasons shopping frenzies – The Hustle. Yes The Hustle, that old disco song. For it seems as if that is all we do – we hustle here, we hustle there, we hustle to buy gifts –for those we love and for those we barely tolerate – to go to parties, both those we enjoy and to those we hate.
But we do hustle, hustle, and hustle some more. And are very happy when the Christmas season is over, just so we can rest… and find ways to dig out of the holiday debt we acquired just to make all that hustle possible.
For a long time I had a severe reaction against all this and gave Christmas no more thought than I did any other holiday. Yes, I still bought presents for those I care about and listened to some Christmas music, but I did not put up a tree or any other decorations. I guess you could say I came just short of being Scrooge during this time. With this being a direct reaction against being bombarded with Christmas trees, Christmas music, and every other Christmassy thing BEFORE Halloween. Even phrases like “Remember the reason for the season” became trite from over use and lack of follow through.
But recently, I have rediscovered a passion for Christmas. I guess it started about two years ago; I started putting up a tree – now mind you I do live by myself, so I am the only one who ever saw it, but it was up with lights and ornaments, it was beautiful. And it even benefited from having the presents I bought for others stacked under it, until they were given out of coarse. (Now, I do not have one up this year, but that is because of my two new kiddies. A 70 pound six month old puppy and a slightly older kitty cat and hanging ornaments are not the best playmates… if you take my meaning. But next year we will have it back. Or at least that is the plan.) And it has been a joy to do so!
And today a thought came to me, one that has allowed me to articulate why this has become so; why I have become excited about Christmas once again. This may take a second or two to explain, so please bear with me.
It dawned on me that Christmas and Thanksgiving are actually related, they flow into one another, rather than being the two separate holidays we currently hold them to be.
Yes, they are two unrelated holidays. One started a couple hundred years ago (give or take a century or two) thanking God for his help in a new land. Yes, I am also aware that most school systems prefer to ignore this or worse deny this, but that is the way it was. And the second holiday was set up to celebrate the birth of Jesus the Christ – which took place a couple thousand years ago or so, with the tradition of Christmas itself being established sometime after that yet before the first Thanksgiving was ever held in the US of A. And yet, when you look at the underlying attitudes in each, you can see how they are connected.
In the first, we are giving thanks for what we have received throughout the year. And in the second we are allowing that thanks to extend to others as we give gifts to them. A gratefulness for what we have received leading us to giving to others as an extension of that thanks.
Both are a time for giving. The first for giving thanks and the second for… also giving thanks – by giving presents, a way of saying, “Thank you for being in my life.”
So this is what has made the difference for me. Helping me to tune out what I do not like in this heavily commercialized season by helping me to tune in on what I do like. Being grateful for who I am, where I am, what I have received (both tangible and not), and who is in my life right now, my friends and family. And allowing this gratefulness to overflow and touch others, therein lies the magic of Christmas.
My friend, I do hope that for you, this Christmas season is a joyous one. That you take time to thank those who are in your life and to allow this thankfulness to overflow and express itself in your giving to others. Be that an extra five dollars for the hungry at the grocery store, a couple of bucks to the Salvation Army bell ringer basket, and by presents you know your loved ones will love. Presents that show your gratitude for their presence in your life. And the secret is that they do not have to be expensive debt producing items. Just something from you that shows you care about them.
Well it’s time for me to go and wrap more presents.
Until next time:
Merry Christmas my friend.
Merry Christmas.
Charles Yerkes
Eadarian Poet, Perpetuator, Photographer, and Fiddle Player
044 Weekly Quote
by Charles on Dec.08, 2010, under Weekly Quote
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The only time we have is now.- The Eadarian Poet –
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To see past “Quote of the Week”(s) click here.
Or to choose an installment(s) of our blog, The Creative Journey, click here.
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035 Creative Journey
by Charles on Dec.04, 2010, under Creative Journey Blog
Hello my friend,
Welcome to the 35th installment of The Creative Journey, the experience of one Charles Yerkes, Eadarian Poet, perpetuator, and otherwise mildly creative and excessively modest personage.
The process of growth is an interesting thing.
The noble life is a life that is always growing – always maturing – always improving. Or, rather, is consistently doing so.
In talking to a friend of mine the other day, I was reminded of the fact that maturity, growth, strength, and wisdom all come in layers. Meaning that you start working through an issue – say, insecurity or low self esteem – and you get to a point where you are feeling fairly secure in who you are, your self image is stronger than ever, and you have broken through to the next level of maturity and strength when suddenly the old feelings of insecurity and self doubt seem stronger than ever and you are left puzzled and thinking, Did I not just leave all this junk baggage behind?
Well, yes… and no. On the level you were living at, yes you did. But once you were strong enough to move in to a new level of maturity, you were also destined to face the deeper underlieing causes for that first set of baggage. Sort of like (referring to air travel and luggage) you were able to ditch the carryon bag but now you get to deal with the first of your checked baggage – the smallest possible checked bag, and it can even be one with rollers. And worry not, once you have gotten rid of this accessory, there will be the next bag in line, perhaps a little bigger, and maybe one with out the ease of rollers to help pull it along.
This will continue as long as you are alive and growing. So don’t worry about missing out on your chance to deal with this… you will avoid it not.
Now, it is true that at some point the baggage you have to grow through may change in appearance. Meaning that once you have dealt completely with an issue, for example low self worth; and you have done this on several levels of growth and now have a very strong self image, you may have to start to deal with growing out of selfish behaviors, out of the tendency toward arrogance that often accompanies a new self image, or perhaps some other obtuseness, which currently lies hidden in your life, will now be able to come to your attention as something you need to grow through.
This is the natural order of things and there are only 2 other options to this growth. 1) Being alive (heart beating, lungs breathing) but dying for all other intents and purposes. And 2) actually being dead.
And as none of My friends live in either of these alternatives, be prepared for this slow and stubborn growth cycle. There is no way out of it.
It is easy to wish the growth to be over and done, and done NOW! And to want to be grown up all at once. But, that is simply not the way things are made. All growth takes time. Physical growth from infant to adult takes twenty years, give or take a couple of years. Psychological growth from infant to growing adult also takes more than twenty years. Friendships only grow with time. Love, – true – deep – other directed love, only develops with time. There are no short cuts.
Yes, some grow faster than others and some mature slower than others. But the point is, all growth takes time. Allow yourself to be ok with the time that is needed.
I know we live in a day and age when everything has to happen yesterday. When the hallmark of success is how quickly it is achieved, not simply that it is achieved. But this is simply not how life works. Indeed, all things worth having take time. Even the great dancer, Fred Astaire, once said that his apparently effortless dance moves, only came as the result of hours and hours and hours of practicing them, of going over the same steps again, again, and again… and again.
Give yourself the time to grow. It is ok if it takes more time than you wish. And, as with Mr. Astaire, it is ok if it takes hours and hours (or days, months, and years) of doing the same thing. For when the time of growth is over, also like Mr. Astaire, you will glide over the floor, giving no hint of all that went into getting you there.
And the coolest thing, is that you then are able to help others who are going through what you just did. That my friend is not something that is to be missed.
Well, I’m a little long in this installment, so for now I had better go.
Incase I do not get to add another installment before the 25th,
I do hope you have a most excellent Christmas season, so…
Merry Christmas!
Charles Yerkes
Eadarian Poet, Perpetuator, Photographer, and Fiddle Player
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To choose a past installment(s) of The Creative Journey click here. To view a Quote of the Week, click here.
043 Weekly Quote
by Charles on Dec.01, 2010, under Weekly Quote
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It takes courage to live free; it is not for the faint hearted.- The Eadarian Poet –
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To see past “Quote of the Week”(s) click here.
Or to choose an installment(s) of our blog, The Creative Journey, click here.
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Worth Quoting
Never be so libelous as to call a man perfect; once a person is so labeled it is too easy to tear him apart for being what he is, a human being.
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