Category Archives: Thoughts For the Day

As the year began, with tradition, so it ends; with reflection and anticipation. A lot of good things happened in 2014, and a lot of bad things happened.  I’ll not judge the year on the basis of either, because that … Continue reading →

Get past the container and straight to the milk. Listen to what your thoughts are telling you.

Exploring emotions is just as satisfying as exploring intellect, perhaps more so.  Intellect can run rough-shod over emotions; but naked emotions are raw and unharnessed reality. It’s too bad we have to hide so many of our emotions, the ones … Continue reading →

If honesty were not so damn dangerous, we would be more forthright in our dealings with everyone from the power company to the people we love, and even the people we loathe.

Words harbor such innuendo. Hunger, thirst, passion.  Innocuous words, yet barely concealing the boiling cauldron of lust upon which they rest.

Whether sitting alone, but in need of companionship—or sitting among other people, but in need of privacy—arguments that those needs harbor selfishness are specious.  

Regardless of one’s personal religious beliefs, or lack thereof, today of all days is a perfectly fine day for giving everyone a break; let people believe what they want to believe without ostracism or criticism. Let them enjoy their personal … Continue reading →

I am convinced that some writers of fiction and philosophy and poetry have frangible hearts.  Their sensitivities to the world can dash them against the rocks of emotion; that susceptibility to heartbreak shows in their writing. Other writers are just keen observers, people who … Continue reading →

Personal revolutions are best planned during periods of quiet reflection. Inside, where the fear resides, is where the explosions start. I was saddened to hear, yesterday, that Joe Cocker died. His duet with Jennifer Warnes, singing “Up Where We Belong,” was spectacular. … Continue reading →

Smiling at the demons is an act of defiance. But it guarantees nothing, doesn’t assure safety or freedom or periods without pain.  It just shows defiance.  Defiance is the only remaining weapon in a war that can’t be won, a war whose loss can … Continue reading →

It’s so nice being around some people that it makes one giddy.  That’s a good feeling. Giddiness, that is.

Billy Preston, the only musician to be credited alongside the Beatles on a Beatles recording, is also credited as the originator of the expression, “if you can’t be with the one you love, love the one you’re with.”  There’s an odd … Continue reading →

Some of the rules really were meant to be broken.  Only by breaking those rules does one’s fundamental nature as a good human being truly surface.  The hard question, of course, is which rules demand breakage; harder still, is why the … Continue reading →

I remember how I felt as a young man when I realized a young woman in whom I had a romantic interest had no interest in me. It felt like a kick to the gut; it hurt somewhere deep inside … Continue reading →

A tender embrace, a touch, can sometimes say far more than words.

The dangers are not in igniting the flames of emotion that fly in the face of conventional acceptability. The dangers lie in failing to fan the flames, allowing them to suffocate as they choke for oxygen, never giving birth to the beauty of what might have … Continue reading →

Some people grow. Others mature. Many age. More than a few ripen.  Too many decay. It’s not just age that does it; it’s acceptance and an attitude of inevitability. While burning the candle at both ends may hasten the end, mightn’t it also make the … Continue reading →

Understanding is a far better teacher than experience.

Believe it or not, I’ve never belonged to an outlaw motorcycle gang.  Consequently, I have no way of knowing whether the brotherly love between the members, as depicted on Sons of Anarchy, is the real deal. I suppose the only … Continue reading →

I’ve read that imagining a future in which dreams are realized is an exercise in futility; that living in the moment is all that matters. The pragmatist in me might grudgingly be willing to entertain that dreary perspective, but the dreamer who resides … Continue reading →

I came home one day, not too long ago, and found sentence fragments all over the keyboard. I spent hours putting them back together.  It’s a good thing I know how to type.

In the past, but not so much lately, I have seen replicas of eggs—chicken eggs—made of agate or other stone.  Typically, I’ve seen them in gift shops or in individual homes; they are on display.  Just there to look at. … Continue reading →

We have a lot of choices to make, if only we take the opportunities. For example, I might choose to learn a new word each day or try a new recipe every month or meet a new person each week.  I could … Continue reading →

I can offer hundreds, perhaps thousands, of solutions.  The problem is that most of them appear to have no corresponding problems.

The frenzy of youth melts slowly into the inertia of old age. Every step taken to slow the process even more is a step in the right direction.