continuity

i can't believe that it has been so long since i posted. so much time. so little time. equivocation. i have been busy living. i have been busy doing everyday living things. i have been busy doing things that some dreams are comprised of ...

sometimes, we get so lost in the minutiae of each day. we forget that yesterday we took that dream vacation to an island paradise. or that yesterday, our writing was published.

sometimes, we get so caught up in looking at that one (or two) element (s) that do not line up as we imagine they should, we forget about the many many things that are lining up. we forget about the love we have when looking over our shoulder at the love we left behind.

blkboyyblue has been crafting some fantastic work. how does he write in such a way that it stops breath in your heart because your mind is trying to process all of the emotions his work evokes?

so, in this long span/this short span i have been living. and so have you.

fun with photos

A rare photo of s smith

harmony

Harmony. Consider this word. MS Word’s handy thesaurus lists synonyms: agreement, accord, concord, synchronization. Antonym: discord. I think about music and balance. I think about being in harmony with self. I think about being in harmony with loved ones. And then I think about physics; everything being made of energy and sound because the energy vibrates at varying rates. Energy that vibrates slowly creates solid matter, while faster vibrating things create those things that are not solid. Sort of like the Star Trek episode where the Enterprise is taken over by the faster moving people who cannot be seen but sound like buzzing mosquitoes to Kirk and his crew. Mosquitoes in space. Now there's a concept!

Anyway, I figure all of that vibration must make a serious sound, cacophonous, resonant, discordant, unsynchronized with pockets of harmony. Haunting melodies that we hear when we meditate or when we click with someone.

And then I think about the name of this blog. Harmonious Note. One voice in this ether where there are so many sounds, so many brilliant writers, so many ideas. I wonder if harmonious note is insipid or too milquetoast in a world where people are writing about global politics, hunger, loneliness, art, beauty, ugly, you name it. I mean, harmony, for goshsakes. Being at one with self and loved ones. Being in accord.

It is a difficult task. I’m certainly not perfect at it because if I were, as I so frequently state, I wouldn’t be on this plane. This plane that I affectionately call, remedial school, all of us being remedial together, some of us not knowing that because of still being too unaware to know any better. I’m still on the lesson where I’m learning to be present

You’d think it would be easy to be in the moment, aware of the moment, instead of thinking back or ahead. Still, I only have short moments where I’m able to be present. And then I go a long time before I am present again.

Funny, huh?

But during those short, immeasurable spans when I am present, I can hear it. I can hear that sound that is vibrating outside of me and inside of me.

Clarity and peace before I have to attend to work, or the BART train jars me and breaks the spell, or someone phones and we have an intense conversation, or the channel changes and I get up and get a cold one from the fridge.

three

ona move ona move. :::momentum:::

on the count of three ... things start up. more time between two and three. counting, like in double dutch, where you count, waiting until the right ... beat ... to jump in. get your groove flowing. yeah. hear the click of the rope against the sidewalk. clack-clack. clack-clack. and matching pads of feet on the same sidewalk as they skip the rope.

ooooweee. i got rhythm :-)

that's how it is. you gotta get that rhythm going. time it right and join in. don't do no fancy jumping, no turning, or cross steps. just a steady rhythm without missing a beat.

one, two ... three!!! here we go ...

see. now you're jumping and i'm counting on the sidelines, body swaying with each arc of the rope. my chest surges toward the rope as it flows away from my body. i'm keeping the beat with you as you jump. you know what the next step is, don't you? don't you?

well, i'm gonna jump in with you. then we will be ready to do fancy steps. we will cross our arms at the wrists and join hands--my right hand in your right hand, your left hand in my left hand--all set to support each other as we turn and cross step. hop on one foot. turn.

awwww ... here we go. our knees raising at the same time, our feet hit the sidewalk, pad-pad, pad-pad, in unison.

now, ain't that fun?

two

waiting for one to have their turn. sometimes visualizing how it will be when two becomes one. number two. second.

or

two joined, becoming stronger than one. the strength of each one enhanced when two come together. secure in knowing that the gifts of one are sufficient without needing to be all things because the two join their disparate gifts to create more than one could be alone.

one does not contain perfection. nor does two, for that matter. but they don't have to. the point is not to focus on what is lacking, but focus on what is. capitalize on those strengths each one brings to the table then build from there.

One

one is a beginning but it isn't lonely. not today. when i imagine one i hear breathing in the background. another. one will not stay one for long because there are other like spirits.