TOXIC

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TOXIC

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Some folks put the "hell" in hello

And the "good" in goodbye

They can't help it

I avoid them 

I can't help it

Because there is nothing and no one to help

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THE MACHETE OF PHILOSOPHY

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THE MACHETE OF PHILOSOPHY

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The character and content of my life

Changed when I changed the character and content 

Of the thoughts in my head

My thoughts are the wellspring of my life

Any change I want to make in my life

I must first change in my thoughts

Becoming aware of my thoughts and trimming them back

Like jungle growth obscuring the Path I wish to walk

Once thoughts become tamed they become useful

Calm and supportive, even fun and dynamic

So I hack and slash my way through the Jungle

Of crazy, worried, sad, self critical thoughts

Cutting back noxious vines that spring up overnight

With the Machete of Philosophy

Until there is no longer a nightmarish jungle

And the Path forward is clear and bright.

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DEVIL FOOD CAKE

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DEVIL FOOD 

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Oh wow! You want to lose weight

So you think of the steps you must take

You come up with plans you will make

But then ..... Someone shows up with a cake

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The cake looks yummy and good

But you know this is not something you should

You see everyone having a slice

You want to say "no" but surprise!

You say yes and have cake instead

While you make a quick deal in your head

"I'll have this cake right now

But tomorrow I swear and I vow

I will be twice as strict and good

Spare eating and workout like I should"

You eat cake as the bargain is struck

And tomorrow, if you have good luck

You can eat mindfully all day

And no one brings temptation your way

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WHAT I ASSUME ABOUT YOU

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WHAT I ASSUME ABOUT YOU

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You are doing the best you can

When you learn how to do something better

You do it better

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You do things for a reason

Your reasons need only apply to you

I don't need to understand them

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You feel drawn to a higher purpose

Keeping your nose to the grindstone is practical

But adding to the good and kindness in the world

Is your real goal

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Art and nature are vitally important to you

On a daily basis

Music, paintings, forests and clouds

All draw your attention

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You think about the nature of reality

You live the examined life, the only game

Worth the candle

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NO GPS IN WONDERLAND

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NO GPS IN WONDERLAND

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Down the rabbit hole little Alice fell 

Until she landed in a topsy turvey heap

There were many new worlds to explore

Wonderland's mystery is infinitely deep

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But this is nothing compared to us

As we go about our ordinary day

Over and over another rabbit hole comes along

As we make our cautious way

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One rabbit hole might be a sketchy investment

Another might be romance

Trying an addictive substance

Every new opportunity a chance

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To explore something completely different

Take off in a whole new direction

Where it goes is anyone's guess

We hope to make the next right connection

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WIN WIN WINTER

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WIN WIN WINTER

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I have begun wearing things that are thermal

Putting oil on anything dermal

Lip balm for chapped lips

A long coat covers hips

And apples dripping with caramel

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TWADDLE

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TWADDLE

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In the Land of Foolishness and Nonsense

The person with a lick of common sense

Will have an intellectual advantage

And can even help others if only

They will listen and heed the voice of Common Sense

Which, of course, they will not

Ever ever ever.

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INDELIBLE INK

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INDELIBLE INK

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Some people think that karma is in the future

But I know its foundation is in the past

When I think about good things I did

A good feeling comes that will last

When I think of my misbehavior

When I fell short of my kindness goals

I feel bad about doing that

Yet I can not ever ever rewrite those scrolls.

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THE LAND OF GIANTS

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THE LAND OF GIANTS

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I used to live in a land of giants

I was small, unsteady and weak

I could hardly reach anything

My voice was a little squeak

The giants ran everything in Big Land

They were scary as scary could be

I learned to avoid all the giants

In the end they could barely see me

They were large and loud and forceful

I was small and quiet and meek

They had all the angry words to say

I could hardly speak

I left the Land of Giants

And all the rules they made

I'm no longer shy and compliant

But most of all - I am no longer afraid.

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THE WAR IS WON IN THE GENERAL'S TENT

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THE WAR IS WON IN THE GENERAL'S TENT

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The General who is a pessimist

Is defeated before he's begun

Yet if the General is too optimistic

He won't know when to turn and run

But if the General is a realist

He will live in the vital moment

While adjusting plans and strategies

And figuring out his opponent

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BLAME GAME

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BLAME GAME

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We all can plainly see

The many woes and wrongs in our world

The unfairness, the fragile structures of life

Becoming smoking rubble

The blood, the wailing ...

Oh yes

We all see the horror life can bring

We all agree these things are heartbreaking

Wrong, even Evil

Therefore we must all be united in fixing these wrongs

Right?

Wrong.

The reason we can not immediately swarm in with help and comfort

Is because we must first stop and figure out who to blame

And we all blame the Other Guy

Which might be perfectly justified

But how does that help? 

The Blame Game becomes the focus

As if affixing blame will somehow work magically

To fix everything

Blame fixes nothing, helps no one, puts food in not one mouth

Binds up no wounds, dries no one's tears

If we can't give up our addiction to blame

Then for Goodness sake let's postpone it

Until we fix the problem, care for the injured

Relocate the dispossessed, Restore peace and harmony

Like the law has always maintained, fix the problem

Total the cost, and then legally assign blame and restitution 

In a court of law where blame actually serves a function

To begin the healing process, pay for the tort, and restore order.

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THE LAWS

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THE LAWS

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Animals don't have to pay for things

They work, but the only pay they get

Is what is needed to survive in the near future

If they are unable to get the necessary food and water

They die

The law of nature is unrelenting

Fend for yourself or die

Fortunately there is a higher law

Humans have evolved to work as a team, a hive

Helping others survive when they need it 

The higher law is our ideal, the golden Carrot of Abundance

While the law of the jungle is the Stick, driving us on

But higher than the higher law is the highest law of them all

The one that governs everything from electrons to galaxies

That law is Keep Moving - your existence depends on that

As does the existence of everything that ever was. 

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ENTROPY

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ENTROPY

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Beware the creeping crud

The first signs that a previously stable situation 

Is starting to fall apart

Don't let the thin edge of the wedge

Make a crack wide enough for trouble to enter

Vigilance will avoid slippage

And a frequent moral inventory, fearless and honest

Will flatten out any personality bumps before they

Get too big and become a huge problem

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EXCELSIOR

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EXCELSIOR

Even if I am not immediately victorious

I can still be successful

By gathering the important information I need

To win big, once I have mastered all the components

That add up to ultimate victory

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WRONG WRONG

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WRONG WRONG

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"Two wrongs don't make a right"

Says the one who committed the first wrong

Everyone nods in agreement

So if the one who was wronged can not hit back

How can the wrong be made right?

Would the might of many good people 

Step in to make things right?

Possibly, but the might of good people 

Needs more than tsking and shaking their heads

To make things right

Because first and foremost

We must all agree that a wrong is a wrong

And wrong-doers must not be allowed to do wrong

Without any consequences to themselves.

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TRUE DOUBTER

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TRUE DOUBTER

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Things used to be a lot simpler

An expert gave an opinion and I believed it

Because he or she was an expert

But no more!

Now that life has turned me into a stone cold skeptic

I immediately ask "Who is this expert?

What qualifies them for rendering an opinion?"

I look up their credentials

To see if I can credit their credibility

I look up the studies the expert referenced

To see if these are trusted sources

Which are getting farther and farther apart

I look for opinions that disagree with the expert

Researching their credentials and the studies they used

All this is a lot of work, using up my limited time

And enthusiasm

So mostly I just proceed slowly

Evaluating along the way, ready to change direction

If I spot a problem lurking in the bushes

Just like my caveman ancestors who had no experts

To guide them through the wild, no expert except

Finely tuned hypervigilance and a strong survival instinct.

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NOBODYS

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NOBODY'S

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My life doesn't look like the glossy ads

The perfectly groomed women

Spotless home, constant smile

New modern possessions, fabulous trips

No, my life looks nothing like that

So, whose fault is that?

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FOCUS

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FOCUS 

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A mighty river flowing to the sea

Can dwindle down to nothing

If too many rivulets are formed along the way

The might of the river is in its gathering of every raindrop 

And the turbulent coursing in a single channel

Between the guidance of strong banks

To the goal, to the vast and uncharted sea 

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BEGONE

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BEGONE

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Hurt, angry, fearful responses

Come from the accumulation of personal experiences

The training that provides, the knee-jerk reaction that is learned

Hurt, angry, fearful responses 

Also come from the situation, which might be very messed up

And came out of left field

Hurt, angry, fearful responses are an obstacle to clear thinking

Level headed decisions, not to mention

A nice day where we enjoy the little things that make life 

Pleasant

Hurt, angry, fearful responses can be reprogrammed

Deactivated, changed out to compassionate hopefulness

The situation itself can be adjusted, broken down into

Bite-sized manageable bits, 

When a hurt, angry, fearful response arises

That is the very first thing that must be tamed

Looked at a different way, made to vanish

Into the clear blue sky of an open mind and big fluffy white clouds

Of self confidence

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IDENTITY PROBLEM

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IDENTITY PROBLEM

His shirt all buttoned up to look "chollo"

The Kia has a DB so it's BOLO

Homie ratted him out so he's solo

He wants to run but he's got no dough

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He started out a nice boy from the suburbs

A shy kid, quiet, a chess nerd

The flashy cool girls that he preferred

Well, he just didn't exist in their world

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He started to dress more gangster

He gave his little sister his pet hamster

Bought a hot gun behind a dumpster

Found a partner in crime to rob a small store

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But the lick went bad because the gun fired

Killed an 18 year old kid that was just hired

They stole the clerks Kia, it was hot wired

Now he's on the run and he's so tired

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He never got the hot girls to notice

Now he's on the run from the police

He knows his next stop is a bad place

His family is baffled and disgraced

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Too late he came to his senses

Now it's too late to mend all those fences

A thug life was all pretenses

If he's caught he will serve a long sentence

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NAVIGATOR

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NAVIGATOR

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The beginning of things might look quite different

From how they end up

The trajectory is sometimes impossible to plot

From the get go

We must watch carefully the way things are going

Ready to step in immediately if the direction is taking a wrong turn

Or if the goals suddenly change, for whatever reason

Because we, the Intrepid Explorers, are packed and ready to go

Setting sail off to new horizons and the dawn

Of a bright shiny new day

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AUTHENTIC

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AUTHENTIC

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"Fake it until you make it."

I took that saying to heart

I faked it and I made it

But now I want to start

To find the real inner me

The one that is not fake

I want to finally be true to myself

Whatever that might take.

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MINI-CHANGE

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MINI - CHANGE

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So subtle and invisible is change sometimes

We might not detect when it begins

But small changes can tiptoe through the door

Like coiless safety pins

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HOW ABOUT NOW?

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HOW ABOUT NOW?

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When did I develop free will?

I didn't have free will over my place of birth, nationality, language

I didn't choose my family of origin, century I was born in 

Planet I was born on

No one asked me what gender, body type or IQ I wanted

Nor which parents, siblings, state or religious affiliation I might like

The schools and church I attended were not my decisions

The adults and children I was required to interact with were not ones I picked

Even my personality was molded by all these lessons, sermons, lectures, books

And expectations

Childhood was a series of lessons they insist I learn

Sermons they insist I believe, a society they insisted I conform to.

At some point free will was supposed to kick in

Suddenly I am fully responsible for my actions and reactions

Even though I had absolutely no choice before.

When did this free will finally kick in?

I date it from when I decided to reject their lessons, sermons

Inculcation, when I refused to conform and play nice

When I said no to values and standards that I clearly see are stupid

While I might be a product of a particular time and place

I am no longer a commodity, a sheep to be sheared

An automaton of conformity

I broke free as I will

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INNOCENCE LOST

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INNOCENCE LOST

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Sometimes I ask myself

What would I think about a situation

If I were a skeptical, cynical person?

While innocence is important

Being naive puts innocence in peril

Of being taken advantage of, exploited

Being lost by painfully stripping away

Hope and joy

Innocence lost is never regained

So what innocence remains must be guarded

By the two guards Skepticism and Cynicism

Until I am sure the guards can relax

Their constant vigil.

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TRASH DAY

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TRASH DAY

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When the Abyss opens up in front of me

I used to panic, filled with dread

But no more!

Now I jump in my spiritual bulldozer

And shove that steaming pile of grievances and regrets

Right over the edge

Down down down they go

To Who-Knows-Where

Until my inner landscape is no longer littered

With emotional rubble and the ground is cleared

For my next garden of dreams

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