A SHOWER OF WISDOM

Lately it seems that I get some of my best ideas in the shower.

Perhaps it is an unconscious response to avoid addressing the naked version of myself.   My mind will travel anywhere other than having to remain present and forced to take in the reality of my own body.

Often I have been so deep in thought that when I emerge I cannot honestly recall whether or not I actually washed anything at all, and I am forced to smell my hair to detect the scent of shampoo and restore my peace of mind.

I look upon this with gratitude, however, and consider it a gift from my mind to my ego.  They've got each other's backs even as I struggle to remember if I've washed mine.

But this morning I hit the soap-laden jackpot and was able to put yet another of the all too many incompletions in my life to rest.  I finalized a poem eighteen months in the making, and it has given my spirit a sense of progress and my mind the guilt-free option of spending some time today in non-thought.

Unlike being brain-dead, the state of non-thought is temporary and can actually promote intellectual rejuvenation if experienced sans any alcohol or narcotics, in case you didn't know.

Ironically, the poem itself is about our propensity as humans to go to great lengths to avoid suffering, sacrifice and struggle; often to our detriment.  It has nothing to do with cleanliness and hair conditioner.

And while suffering is obviously not something any sane human being should seek, it is also not something we should fear.  In fact, it is when we are most challenged that we are also given the greatest opportunity; the opportunity to become wise.

As King Solomon knew when he prevailed upon God to give him a wise and understanding heart, wisdom is the best navigational tool a person could hope to possess to successfully negotiate the trials of our earthly existence.

Wisdom is not a frivolous gift.  It is weighted with importance and gilded in humility and is our best reward for accepting the brutal turns of fate courageously and without complaint.

Perhaps it is because wisdom is such a noble and vital gift that it is offered as the choice fruit of suffering?  We tend to remember the lessons of loss with more reverence and clarity than we do those brought to us on fluid ribbons of joy.  It is a point of honor.  We've earned our deepened insights and are not likely to let them just fade away.

So, now that I have fulfilled my blogging obligation for today, I am going to indulge in a little non-thought.  Between my over-thinking in the shower and serious reflection on the correlation between wisdom and suffering, the remainder of this day is begging to be made into one of repose and restoration, both of which I am in need of. 

Tomorrow I can resume my quest to shower the world with love and joy. 

Right now I think I'll make a sandwich.

Self Indulgence

Some things are never meant to be

Those brittle limbs of misspent dreams

Where consequence is always freed

From knowing all that sorrow means

The sweet allures of self  and choice

Obliterate the Sacred Mind

Denying access to The Voice 

That speaks of fair and truth and kind

Instead we cultivate our plans

To counterbalance discontent

With lies that fashion and demand

More recompense than we have spent

We stake our pride in vapid ground

To circumnavigate our trials

And when no solace can be found

We counteract by swift denials

For every choice a price is paid

A judgement, fair, for every hand

But when the soul has been betrayed

There is no truth on which to stand

Yet, if we knew the somber cost

Of trying to outwit our pain

We'd gamely suffer any loss

To earn the wisdom it contained