Ain’t no mountain high enough

Temptations have a way of knee capping even the strongest of us. “Go on, dip your toe in.” Nothing bad will happen.

Until something bad happens. Crushing-ego-type blows to the psyche. Falling down incoherent for this reason or that. Or. Just falling down.

Ugh.

We wanna just go back to bed. Sometimes. We show up with the intent to do good, going about it in ways that show our cluelessness in the cues. Societal norms seem so passé

What did I just say?

What did I just do?

Who did what?

Why did you do it THAT way?

We become confused when accepting the difficulties and differences test our own measures of what is the “norm.”

The ritual and routines are gone, but the memory oftentimes fade like a bad wart. Takes a long time to go away and even longer to heal the residuals. The residual pain and ugly, not to mention the uncomfortable and sideways ways we were required to walk during its flare up. To cope with the uncopable.

So. Instead of dipping the toe in cautiously, we go head first and dive right into the deep end of it all. Foolishly trusting that somewhere along the way at least one person will have our back. That is where the enticement of the “alone” comes in. We decide to go it alone because frankly,

Hell can be other people.

What we do not realize in the heated moments of doubt and despair is that we are never alone. Even when we push everyone and everything away.

It is a dog eat dog world out there, don’t ya’ know.

The cats may “purrrrrr” aloof-ly and invitingly. In the end, at the end of the day, if what is held in the recesses of the hearts is still an openness to change. The dog may bark and growl and show its gritty teeth in an effort to hide the fear that is deep within its core.

We can work together. But. No one said life was easy. No one said life was easy-peasy either. Even at times, it looks like others have it so righteous.

It takes time. Sometimes more than we bargained for. More than we expect. More than we hope for. You get the gist. Sometimes coming to the middles takes a tug of war so insidiously ridiculous we forget what the goal is.

We grit our teeth. We wink an eye. We flash the peace sign. We do all sorts of things acceptable and unacceptable in the presences of others and in then naked ways we play our hands of hopeful.

Gotta get there first. There are a gagillion different cues and mimicries that cross our faces daily. Minutely even. When we rush around in a heat of self-importance, or conversely running away from the past, we are so caught up in our head’s busy-ness, we can forget to

Stop.

Look.

Listen.

It only takes a second to see a struggle that is real. It can take a little longer to piece together the pieces of the brokenness that steered the battles and the battleship of heartbreak. When our expectations lead us down the wrong road. And we begin not to care.

So. We go it alone.

We know we are better together. Even if and when the annoyances, and we all got ‘em, rear their stubbornness and trite-ness. At the same time. Be the bigger person is for them. Not for me. We are tired, agitated, bored and so “Done.”

Challenges are the reassurance someone DOES care.

How do you like them apples? Seems rather counter-intuitive.

Wouldn’t you agree, and no you do not have to agree because that is what makes our world go round.

Differences. Civility. Forgiveness. Appreciation.

The four corners of a successful world of working together when the brokenness seems to sell a whole lot more. What we may not, in the moment, realize is we are being guided to a greater purpose. The haze takes over and we utter, “I don’t want to do this or that.” We know better and everyone else is wrong, wrong, wrong.

Ain’t no mountain high enough??

Every day seems like a frickin mountain to climb.

Well.

The alternative may not be much better. The valley can get pretty low, too. Friends come and go. Some just go. The trick is to see the friendship that has been. “Sometimes I put you in places alone.” (ai) So. We can take stock. Examine ourselves. Examine what we hold near and dear. Examine who we hold near and dear.

That kinda stuff.

Not one person is an expert in everything. But there exist and are many, many experts in the kind of living a life that is productive and lends a helping hand in the face of aloneness. The best one can hope is to know their motivations and intentions in and out. Their self motivations in and out. Leave the explaining to the ones who have to explain.

Leave the projection for the peeps in Hollywood. The line between reality and the big screen blurs so quickly nowadays. Scary stuff. The way forward is compromise and it can not be a dirty word if everyone adds their two cents and at the same time exercise reserved discipline in order for negligence to not take over and wreck the order of the day.

Paying attention is a gift. Paid attention is an afterthought that has expensive and dire ways of showing we forgot to

Stop.

Look.

Listen.

We got this. The only way up, is

Up.

This crazy, crazy world throws stuff at us each and every day.. Be prepared to take the punches. It’ll help keep you from falling back down. Falling back down the rabbit hole of desperation and aloneness.

Even if you do the wrong thing, at least do something. With a heart full of gratitude that the opportunity presented itself for good. Goodness and all things positive. Beats the alternative of doing nothing.

Nothing equals nothing.

Something can be the difference between a happy heart and a lonely heart.