Ale for the Soul

Often I struggle in how to effectively relate to the opposite sex, whether in dating or friendship.  The key issue boils down to expectations in regard to the category the relationship falls under.  For me, dating automatically assumes a level of intimacy I haven't earned or the relationship isn't ready for.  This, of course, is a recipe for disaster.  Given some thought over the course of a significant amount of time, I have devised a solution to safeguard the conventions of friendship and relational intimacy, and to instill a healthy respect for others and their boundaries.  The solution is acting as a brother toward those of the opposite sex.  If my blood brother or sister were to fall under the assault of behavior I was often guilty of, would I not react as a true brother by seeking to rectify the situation at-hand before it spins out of control in to the realm of danger and dysfunction?  People deserve to be treated with dignity and...

There is a hierarchy of sorts and a common thread intertwined among the art of writing, literature, and music; all of which act as the language of the heart.  Each one has a musical ability of itself: music is obvious...words set to music or simply a song which moves the heart; writing, or word-smithing as I like to call it, truly gives expression of the soul when poured over and exacted to our circumstances; and literature, with its intrinsic meter and rhyme, even in prose, creating a song of the soul which can become our personal ballad or cry from the very depths of our inner-person.  Whether in times of joy or despair, I continually find myself searching for the particular vehicle in which to sound the groans of the heart and soul.  When in the struggle to find voice to articulate the essence of what I'm feeling to the world outside me, other instruments of personal self-expression fail.  In my opinion, anything other than literature, in whatever form it may take...

At the expense of other people's misunderstanding, I often share my thoughts about authority, holding oneself accountable, and civil or communal obedience.  Certainly allow me to immediately add a disclaimer, I am not advocating anarchy by any means whatsoever.  What I am advocating is people too quickly give up their power of autonomy and the ability to think for themselves.  I, on the other hand, quickly state I have to recognize someone or something as a legitimate authority before I submit myself to the over-arching regulation.  What does this look like in real life as fleshed out in practicum?  A drill instructor at boot camp in the military is a legitimate authority for an enlisted individual.  An institution and the people associated therein advocating for the status quo against all odds are not a legitimate authority, or at least not one I recognize and willingly submit too. The following phrases always give cause for laughter because of the implied...

Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life.  Don't be trapped by dogma - which is living with the results of other people's thinking.  Don't let the noise of other's opinion drown out your own inner voice.  And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition.  They somehow already know what you truly want to become.  Everything else is secondary. Here's to the crazy ones, the misfits, the rebels, the troublemakers, the round pegs in the square holes...the ones who see things differently -- they're not fond of rules...  You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them, but the only thing you can't do is ignore them because they change things...they push the human race forward, and while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius, because the ones who are crazy enough to think that they can change the world, are the ones who do. Steve Jobs        ...

God grant me the serenity to accept the things I can not change; courage to change the things I can; and wisdom to know the difference.  Living one day at a time; enjoying one moment at a time; accepting hardships as the pathway to peace; taking, as He did, this sinful world as it is, not as I would have it; trusting that He will make all things right if I surrender to His Will; t hat I may be reasonably happy in this life and supremely happy with Him forever in the next.  Amen.   Serenity Prayer - Reinhold Niebuhr (1892-1971)   Next month marks five years of residence in Fort Worth, Texas.  Since my arrival in this city, I have experienced a lot of ups and downs: heartache, joy, disappointment, great gains, severe losses, simply treading water, and so much more.  The circumstances under which I moved from Houston to Fort Worth were not the best.  As a result, the best description of my time living here has been "kicking and...

'I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived.  I did not wish to live what was not life, living is so dear; nor did I wish to practise resignation, unless it was quite necessary.  I wanted to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life, to live so sturdily and Spartan-like as to put to rout all that was not life, to cut a broad swath and shave close, to drive life into a corner, and reduce it to its lowest terms, and, if it proved to be mean, why then to get the whole and genuine meanness of it, and publish its meanness to the world; or if it were sublime, to know it by experience, and be able to give a true account of it in my next excursion.  For most men, it appears to me, are in a strange uncertainty about it, whether it is of the devil or of God, and have somewhat hastily concluded that it is the chi...

By my own confession, I am a slow-processor.  Usually it takes some time for me to wrap my mind around something by fully thinking it through.  Having stated this, I have been thinking for quite some time how God orchestrates His Will in my life and, generally speaking, on earth.  Sometimes He gently nudges me through an inner-voice or "gut feeling/vibe," or rather violently through upsetting or disconcerting circumstances, for example: my state mandated "vacation" a few years ago.  As a result of facing the consequences for my poor choices years ago, I now have a socially stigmatic mark placed upon me.  For those who have not grown to know me, this "mark" is all they know or see and refuse to become acquaintance with the human being I still am.  Acquaintances and friends who do know who I am can see the change and growth in the person I have become.  As a "marked man" of sorts, finding traditional employment is difficult.  The passage of time do...

Happy New Year!  Welcome to 2015!  Wow, another year has come and gone with the arrival of a new year.  Throughout my days on this earth, I always try to give pause as a time for reflection.  This is especially so as a new year announces itself whether or not we are ready.  I suppose the turning of the calendar page is the best break most of us have from the old to begin the new.  Guilty of the many same issues plaguing the common man, I also find it difficult to change mid-stream when I'm out living life on life's terms on a daily basis.  So the beginning of new year provides a healthy launching point, at least mentally, to get geared up for changes for the better in our lives.  One point of reflection is the many seasons of life I have experienced in my 41 years on this planet.  A few of the seasons are viewed with a heavy heart as difficult times.  But what I find is these times are the most endearing simply because I can see the grow...