is one of the perfect pieces in the time puzzle that serves a dual purpose; retrospection and contemplation. It is at the cusp of the end of one week and the beginning of another. A time to look back on the past few days, to see strengths and weakness, to view insecurities and inadequacies to come face to face with failures. I don’t want, and doubt anyone else wants, to admit to insecurities, inadequacies or failures; we have them, though. In spades. How, otherwise, would we know our strengths if it weren’t for the ability to isolate our weaknesses?
I cherish these moments where I am alone with my thoughts and my thoughts have purpose. A time when I can reflect on how I handled myself in difficult situations A time to review my circumstances… my interactions. How I could have avoided meltdowns, hurt feelings and unnecessary chaos. Don’t get me wrong; there are times when I thrive in chaos, but not when it is permeated with negativity. Coming into full, thought-jamming contact with the negative is like two trains colliding. My positive brain pan tries to adjust, to defend and to avoid such an event so that my rational mind can do what it does … rationalize. Those rare but damaging collisions, however, nearly always end up causing an overload. Meltdown mode usually commences soon thereafter
When I can look back and see the catalysts to these events, it provides me with knowledge and knowledge, as everyone knows, is power. I have the information and the sense to use it to see the warning signs and avoid a potentially volatile situation which has me coming home from work and throwing porcelain cups against the wall just to hear them shatter. I don’t like feeling that way and while I am usually able to keep it self-contained, there are times when it explodes to cover my family and friends in the same sticky rottenness that I have allowed to get beneath my skin. This is humiliating for me as well as perplexing and hurtful to them; unfair to them on every conceivable level.
Knowing that I can step boldly into the week ahead with a new piece of know-how and take each day as it comes, with compassion, patience and grace (or even one of the three) gives me hope for the coming days. It is egotistical to believe that it will be perfect. This is life, remember. There are no certainties, no infallibility clause, no precision. It is simply knowing when I go in that I am going to be the best person I can be even in the midst of those who are having a moment which proves that there are no certainties. If I, however, forget what I know simply because something happened to upset the apple cart, then I didn’t learn anything useful after all and it’s back to the drawing board.
On this night, my introspection is accompanied by the brilliance of fellow Sagittarian, Paul Desmond. Music. There is a certainty, pure and beautiful, after all.
A Photographer's Heart 