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BOB BOB BOBBING
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Spring, spring - What will it bring?
It could be about anything
Snow or a heat wave, rain or drought
We must wait to see
How this spring plays out
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I have Spring in my heart
A spring in my step
This could be
The very best Spring yet
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I first saw one robin
Then the whole flock
All is working flawlessly
On our Mother's clock
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PLAN B
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The vulnerabilities of a system become obvious
When there is a failure - sometimes a catastrophic failure
Of the current system
So if you have failed, even spectacularly
Over a long time
YOU ARE NOT THE FAILURE
The system might have failed
Perhaps a flawed system, perhaps misdirected efforts
On our part, based on the information available
At that particular point in time
There is a weak point in any plan
Which can be analyzed and fixed
As long as you don't become the failure
You can become the fixer and overhaul the thing
Or put it in the round file
A new path to success always opens up
For the resilient one
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KNOWLEDGE IS POWER
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Nobody wants to be the fly in the ointment
The traffic jam on the highway of life
The pimple on the ass of progress
We mostly go along to get along
Preferring to not rock the boat and make waves
Until
A real and credible threat
Rears it's ugly unconstitutional head
Then we are prepared to stand up
And use every tool we can muster
Oh we might look like ordinary citizens
Going about our daily routines
In our chest beats the heart of a Patriot
We are a hidden militia, hidden in plain sight
We will not give up our rights without a fight
If we must take to the streets we will - to express
Our dissatisfaction with government actions
We hold these truths dear to our hearts and mind
Together
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GRATITUDE/ ATTITUDE/ PLATITUDE
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"This could work to your advantage"
I say to encourage myself
When events take a sudden turn
"No one can foretell the future"
I reassure myself when things look alarming
"Every cloud has a silver lining"
Words like a clapperless bell, but I repeat them anyway
"Where there's life there's hope"
This is embroidered over the heart
Of the ragged teddy bear of philosophy
I drag along behind me everywhere I go
A teddy bear named "All Is Not Lost"
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HERE COMES THE SUN
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When Ego pays us a visit
Everything must go their way
Because they have Main Character Syndrome
They are the star of the play
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Just when you start to get sick of them
You've had about all you can take
They can steer you off the course of reality
Because everything about them is fake
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It is best not to confront Ego
Best to just smile and nod
Until you can escape their orbit
Even if elsewhere is flawed
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It is still better than being a hostage
When the ego's agenda is done
Then suddenly everything's brighter
Cause they have stopped blocking the Sun
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The Sun, the actual main character
Shines warmly on you and on me
It is a wonderful equality teacher
And always the sunlight is free
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TIME OUT
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What we all know now
Is not what we all knew three hundred years ago
Or three thousand years ago
What we all know now
Is not what we will all know
Three hundred years from now
Or three thousand years from now
So, I hold what I know in this moment loosely
Letting it slide, giving it slack
Because knowledge is constantly on the move
We can but follow the flow
Knowing that knowing is just an illusion
A mirage
Existing only in this moment
Shifting with the sands of time
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PARTYING WAYS
A demon stopped by for a cup of regret
And a thick slice of fault and blame
But I've had this pointless party before
I'm done playing this losing game
So I picked up my broom
Chased this grey imp of doom
Right out the ever-loving door.
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UNARMED
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Two guys went out on a Saturday night
Had a lot to drink, got into a fight
They threw a few ineffective punches, wasn't much of a fray
They apologized and laughed about it the very next day
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Two other guys went out on a Saturday night
They had words about something, got into a fight
Since they both had guns they had a shoot out
The guns made a difference, I have no doubt
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We have our rights, but we also have sense
Why bring out your gun to win a fight?
Someone can always take offense
But a bullet can't decide who's right
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FREEDOM FIRST AND LAST
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We all want peace, but it ends in war
Sometimes we don't know what they're fighting for
All I know is I need to be free
To nurture and grow peace inside of me
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So many want to control our ways
Rein us in, take our days
But from childhood we have been wild and free
That is the natural state of you and me
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We do what we must to meet our needs
Our spirits unbroken we do as we please
We are willing to stay with our band
As we roam free, we take a stand
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No one owns your body or mind
No contract can be sealed and signed
That forces us against our will
We were born free and remain free still
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HERE HERE
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Nobody knows how hard you tried
How many desperate tears you cried
They only see the surface, not what's inside
On your way to get here
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If you saw what looked like a break
An opportunity you should take
Even if it was a huge mistake
It has brought you here
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The past is gone, the future's not yet
Right now is the only time we get
So take heart, dear friend, and do not fret
Together we all arrived here
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CONSULTANT
When you've tried everything you can think of
But your efforts just make things worse
You have completely run out of ideas
You fear your life might be cursed
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This is when you need a Consultation
With a Consultant that's always top shelf
You need to have a conversation
With your Highest Self
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Your Highest Self sees the situation
But does not have an ego motive
Instead you look for the highest good
A candle of hope that is votive
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Your Highest Self does not participate
In Ego's plots and schemes
Yet your Highest Self can guide you
Like a beacon for your hopes and dreams
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NOMENCLATURE
We should rename war
"Destroying Children's Lives"
Because telling it like it is
Is the first step towards not
Destroying children's lives
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THE END OF YOUR ROPE
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Avoid inner conflicts
Especially the conflict where part of you has an urge to do something
But part of you also does not want to do it
Because of undesired consequences
Inner conflicts set us up to fight with ourselves
Which means you can never completely win
You are not a weak person who doesn't know their own mind
If you see yourself getting into a tug of war with yourself
Get a rolled up newspaper and whack your existential self
On the spot that says "Self Deception" until one side lets go
Then drop the rope, you don't need it anymore
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MORNING WISHES
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May a swordfish not chase and stab you
Nor a meteor fall on your head
May the Sun not go supernova
May your path be scenic and pleasant to tread
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CYCLE ROUND
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The merry-go-round spins faster and faster
Until everything around is just a blur
The music is loud and lively
Time spins away and the moment is pure
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No matter how fast the ride might go
Or how fancy the carousel horse struts
When it stops we are in the same place
But we have changed our outlooks
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CONDITIONS FOR SUCCESS
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We must be ready for success
Hydrated, centered, lots of rest
Eating healthy, feeling frisky
Avoiding investments that are risky
You most certainly can succeed
When you become the "you" you need
Once you are in training you can win
Is today the day that you begin?
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RECIPE FOR A NOMAD
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Once your goose is cooked
Serve it smothered in gray, lumpy self-pity
With a flaming hot side dish of blaming others
Serve this morning, noon, and night
Until you are heartily sick of this meal
Then you begin to forage for something with nutrition
And leave the sackcloth and ashes
To blow away in the winds of change
Which never let up and sculpt our landscape wonderfully
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SPRUTAN
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We can't re-do the past
Nor can we pre-do the future
We hold only this moment
In the palm of our hands
A seed we can tenderly nurture
Until it grows and grows
Into a mighty tree whose branches
Reach to the stars
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NIGHT TRIP
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Without a worry, without a care
I rose and floated in the air
I zoomed out into outer space
No helmet needed for my face
I whizzed by planets, I circled stars
I walked around on mysterious Mars
I spun and twirled utterly free
Until my alarm clock awakened me
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MY FELLOW AMERICANS
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How does patriotism
That swelling affection for one's homeland
How does that become hatriotism?
That destructive rage towards those who have different ideas
This is a case of love turning sour, curdling, poisonous
We need to know when patriotism goes bad
Here are some signs:
Are you speaking to your fellow countrypersons
Or speaking to the enemy?
Are your words and actions aimed to increase understanding
So we can stand on common ground
Or do you merely want to shut the Other Side down
Silence them, drive them off with stones and curses?
We all acknowledge there are differences among people
These differences can not be irreconcilable
All our ideas are thrown into the melting pot
And can produce a great benefit to progress
If we can stop chucking rocks like enraged primates
We, who love liberty, free speech, equality under the law
Being the land of progress
Must make progress our goal
We are the shining city on the hill that all look up to
The hope of the future, the healing of the past
The motto "Love one another" goes double in times
Like these
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SYSTEMS
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Systems are the worn paths
We use to navigate our days
We must invent new systems
If we want to change our ways
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The tried and false solutions
We leave by the side of the road
Our new, better ideas
Will actually lighten our load
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Get rid of excess baggage
Like the regrettable parts of our past
Our eyes are on the future
And the solutions that will last
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THE HIGH ROAD
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It is one thing to be lost in the woods
To become disoriented in time and direction
Get turned around somehow and lose sight
Of the Path
Wandering around in circles as day slowly fades to dusk
There are tricks savvy travelers can use to find their way
The position of the sun or stars, marking trees
To avoid wandering around in circles
Being lost in the woods is scary but not as scary
As being lost in one's own mind
When all the familiar thought paths seem to shift or even blank out
You can get confused about what you are doing next
Or recalling what you just did
Anyone can get lost, wander off the path
This moment is the nexus with your next destination
So stop, figure out a good orderly direction
You might need help, either cosmic or a fellow human
Move forward carefully, feeling your way
Until you see a light in the fog of confusion
That light is held by your higher self to guide you
Back to warmth and safety once again
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YOU KNOW
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You know how to be you
Nobody else knows exactly how to be you
All the myriad details of your existence
Are known only to you
Your thoughts, reactions, associations
Of your day to day existence
Only you know what they are
Our secret lives have paralleled our public lives
Since we first formed a memory that we hung on to
You know how things should be handled
You are the world's leading authority
On you
Your private history could fill volumes
Your unique talents and knowledge can be shared
With the world puzzle and the you-shaped piece
You help complete the picture, you are needed, wanted
Just as you are
Only you does what you do, knows what you know
Brings what you bring to the potluck feast
That is life
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ETERNAL HOPE
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The statute of limitations never runs out on some crimes
They chase the wrongdoers down the corridors of time and power
Like a pack of savage shrieking hyenas, like a huge millstone
Rolling out the truth, crushing the wicked like grapes of wrath
Generation after generation hear the damned echoes from the past
The cries of the innocent can not be silenced by the evildoer
Forever
If we trace evil back to its very roots, it gets lost in the mists of time
We have had to develop a morality, create laws
To prevent the strong from crushing the weak
Under the heel of greed and corruption
Unhealed trauma is passed down like a curse
Healing is the only hope, individual healing
Healing as a society, healing as a planet
Denying the past happened the way it happened
Will not fix anything, a pretty bandage of lies
Can never cover the stain of wickedness
Because the statute of limitations on exposing evil
Never runs out
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SHAPING THE INVISIBLE
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How we make decisions is a hidden process
Sometimes we don't even know ourselves
Why we decided this and not that
Out of the formless universe of infinite possibilities
We choose one - giving the invisble shapeless ether of existence
Shape and form, sequence and results
We are the sculptors of our realities
Our minds the wands, energy and cauldrons
We use to make something of substance and value
From raw unhewn time and infinite space
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SOME OF MY FRIENDS
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Some of my friends are rectangular
Thick with pages covered in lively ideas
Always ready for an interesting chat
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Some of my friends are green, orange and yellow
They grow in fertile soil
Bringing me all the nutrients I need
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Some of my friends are invisible
They once lived here on earth
Now they watch me and cheer me on from the Mystery Beyond
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TALK TALK
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There are romance languages
And there is hate speech
Hate speech is a language used to prevent communication
Where no progress or understanding is possible
Contemptuous, enraged, bigoted and judgmental
The Hate Speaker is coming from a land of zero self-awareness
Words are used as a weapon or electric barbed wire
Specifically to prevent any new, fresh, expanding ideas
From entering their closed mind
Which is like a boarded-up room that gets no air circulation
Everything stale and dank for years at a time
I don't understand hate speech, it sounds like squawking gibberish to me
So there is no point in trying to engage with the vituperative self-righteous
They are sleepwalkers dreaming that they are always right
Don't try to awaken them from their fantasy of moral superiority
It might be all they have going for them, poor empty bitter beings
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A WELL OF INNER PEACE
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One part of us experiences glee
When we handle something victoriously
The glee could be sports or our personal life
Something we master after much strife
The dark side of glee is getting clean away
With something shady in dark hues of grey
The glee of wrongdoing is hellish glee
But I don't wish that for you or me
Hellish glee is the path to ruin
Cause eventually we forget what we're even doing
Just acting out fears and rage
Hellish glee is a red hot cage
But the glee we feel when we succeed
Is a validation we all need
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Joy comes from a deeper place
The world can neither give nor erace
It comes from a garden of inner peace
Among flowers of gratitude this flow will not cease
When the world is indifferent or unkind
Your inner joy can calm your mind
Appreciative joy has no beginning and no end
To walk the path with joy as with a friend
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TALE OF A TAIL
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If I had a tail it would wag when I see you
Droop when you have to leave
Point straight back when I am focused
Curl up over my back when I feel cute
My tail would tuck between my legs when I am nervous
I could chase my tail for fun and philosophical insight
My tail would need colorful crocheted tail sleeves
And every morning I would put on tail bracelets
Tinkling with magical charms
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PRESTO CHANGO
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When I was a child, I desperately wanted to find
A real magical object - a leaf, a stone, a talking tree
That I could use to magically change my life
That would change me, too
Into the poised, popular child that fit in
I also secretly wanted God or somebody to smite those I resented
To manure the neighborhood with their blood and guts
Or smite them individually with lightning bolts from on high
I lacked spiritual guidance, but I found teachers to show me
That the magic, the power, is within me
In my clarity, my will, my mindful focus
And a desire to harm none
These days I spin my spells into a safety net for us
I sparkle my blessings and good will all over the place
Where I tra-la-la each day amid my impressive array of magical objects
While I know, sure as sunrise, that the power behind the magic
Is when we join together to will a better world for everyone
A magical transformation into the garden where all might find a place
At the table
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HALT, WHO GOES THERE?
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There is a gate
Where we meet Eternity
Where hope, strength, peace and clarity can enter
The mighty city, teeming with life
That is you
We are all mighty cities, complex, active
Running day and night - the city that never stops
The city gate lets in the things we need to thrive
Unwanted visitors like compulsions and obsessions
Are escorted to the gate, sometimes kicking and screaming
The negative and unhealthy are trespassers in a kingdom
That is a gleaming city on a hill
Dynamic, efficient, vibrant - our bodily functions
Are monitored and watched for any troublemakers
We each have this Gate where Eternity meets
The Golden moment of Now
Feel where the breath enters and leaves your body
That place is the vital check point
Where goodness and mercy can be inhaled
Where frustration and sadness can be exhaled with a sigh
You are the gatekeeper; you decide what will pass through
Your inner guards escorting the unruly out
A City of Peace with Watchmen on the towers
And an Angel guarding the gates with the sword of justice.
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