Nature inspires us all. Even in the cold confines of Prison.
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I couldn’t get back to sleep this morning after our 5 AM feeding (you would call it breakfast in your world!) so I watched as the sun woke Mt. Rainier … a glorious view from my “slit window”. Then I wrote this haiku:
Venus glows brightly.
Morning sun lights up Rainier.
Magenta snowball.
I am a little nervous today. My attorney is coming to discuss his strategy and I know what I want him to do…I know how I want this to end yet he is the lawyer, basically it’s his call. In the words of Viktor Frankl,
“You cannot always control what happens to you in life, but you can always control what you will feel and do about what happens to you.”
So it would seem that my job in this situation is simply to:
Show up! Was it Woody Allen who said 80% of life is showing up?
Pay attention! Be mindful…stay in the moment…don’t let this mind wander.
Tell the truth. Pretty self-evident, eh?
Be open to the outcome. Taking the result as my path unfolding.
Hours later, I am beginning to feel better. I’ve been “fighting the blues” this week…or maybe I’ve been “experiencing the blues”?!@# I think I have a handle on the why…or at least part of why I’ve been so down. Three of the “tank-tribe” have befriended me in the past few weeks. They’ve made my stay a little less lonely. They help me understand the rules, the ever-changing rules…and they have very interesting stories to tell so I have gotten to know them as human beings in this new world. There are times when we interact and I actually forget that I am in jail!! These three tribal brothers are scheduled to be released in the next week or so and I am feeling a little depressed…sad. I SHOULD be grateful for having met them. They are nice people and they have helped me through a very challenging time in my life. I will try to get to that feeling of gratitude for I know it will feel so much better than this sadness.
I remember feeling isolated before they came into my life here in “the tank”. I don’t want to feel that way again. Having these friends in my life made me feel “normal”. To paraphrase the artist Flavia:
People come into our lives
And leave footprints…and
We are never ever the same.
These men taught me the ropes and shared their food and some of their life stories with me. For that I am very thankful.
That’s all the news that’s fit to print for today.
Pay Patrick Michael Leonard a visit at his blog
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