Category: CY Columns

  • Dune Buggy in My Mind, a Poem

    Rolling down life’s highway in the dune buggy in my mind. Up and down, endless rolling hills; taking turns that wind. Asking questions, looking for answers. Never hard to find. The answer we get, the answers we give, the people we meet on the way. Our questions are the things that power us, not to go astray. Westward and back, to the east and down, in any direction we travel. Seeking and searching and striving, we want life’s mysteries to unravel. The beauty of a brilliant sunset. A warm sandy beach at our feet. The smile of good folks welcoming us. The beauty of the world we greet.

  • One of the Basics: Smiling

    People always seem to be looking for secrets to success. There are countless books on how to succeed. Somehow, we human beings are drawn to ways of accomplishing things that are purported as new or secret. How about some ways of succeeding that are not new and are not secret? Over the course of our lives, we tend to learn so many things that the basic information we absorbed as children is often forgotten. This information is not secret. It is simply buried in our memories. And it makes sense, from time to time, to dig that fundamental information out of our brains and put it to use.

  • Positive Qualities

    In business, school and life in general, intelligence is something we tend to look at with a certain degree of reverence. We often look up to people who are exceptionally intelligent. Generally, we believe these people have a particular advantage when it comes to succeeding at a given endeavor. I certainly respect intelligence. However, having intelligence is only one of a number of factors that can help us succeed in life. There are, after all, some people who are naturally brilliant yet do not truly push themselves when it comes to accomplishing something. The flip side of this is that there are people of average intelligence who work very hard at their goals and, consequently, accomplish great things.

  • Cultivating Optimism

    Attitude is important. A good attitude does not guarantee the projects we undertake will be successful. However, if we set out to accomplish something harboring a negative attitude about it, our performance will probably be less than optimal. Some people seem to possess an optimistic outlook and some do not. Having a naturally upbeat view on life and the projects we undertake is truly a gift. Having a positive mental attitude can work as a powerful impetus to positive performance. Yet, what do we do if we do not seem to have a naturally positive outlook? No matter how tough our lives might have been up to this point in time, we all have had moments of triumph - no matter how small. If we want to develop optimistic outlooks we must look to those moments of triumph and constantly remind ourselves of the times that we succeeded in our undertakings.

  • Awkward Orchid, a Poem

    Awkward Orchid You’ve been apprised and advised It’s up to you, for the chaos to subside Behold, the goal is yours to achieve Empty merriment collides with intense intent Then change happens Time needed varies, but change happens The evolving of the Soul Light glowing and we’re drawn to it We know our knowledge is so incomplete Yet the voice of wisdom beckons “The basics are best.”

  • Refreshing Our Knowledge and Skills

    We tend to think of school as something we partake in during the early years of our lives. There is preschool, nursery school, kindergarten, primary school, junior high school, high school, college and graduate school. If we went to these schools in linear fashion, we would be attending them from, perhaps, three years old until our mid or late 20s. However, in today’s day and age, with so much changing so quickly, particularly in the area of technology, we might want to consider school as not only a foundational undertaking, which we participate in at an early age, but as a lifelong endeavor.

  • The Wise, a Poem

    You sit around and think. And you realize some of what you thought you knew, you didn’t. You think of the errors you’ve made. At times, it can be tough. Songs play. Some are laments about the past. Others express pride about actions taken. In the end, our reflections are our own. Assuming we choose to reflect at all. Some reflection is good. A corrective soul tonic, it is. Too much reflection can leave us baking in joylessness. Life is for living.

  • Tender Light from Above, a Poem

    Tender light from above. Sky light, my light, the heavens smile. A bird flies. The sun shines. We are happy. Happiness from the waves of the ocean and the blooming of the flowers. Happiness in all its simplicity. Our internal compass points to joy. We know and we are glad when we follow its course. That path by the eternal endorsed. A walk through nature’s wonders. A satisfaction from seeing the amazing gifts of this world. Behold them now, as we go through in a whirl. Mountains, canyons and the deep blue sea. Heights and depths and perspectives to see. The heart races as we climb a rock face. We smile as we come out of the ocean, refreshed and renewed. Our soul yearns to be by nature imbrued. Worms crawl and ants busy themselves doing that work that ants do. Bees are busy making honey. A breeze blows blades of grass as they gently rock back and forth, a trillion hammocks for organisms, perhaps, too small to imagine.