1007 TWINKLE TWINKLE—REVISITED 2

(2 and 3)

On December 8, 1943, I slid, head first, into a brightly lit world.  And with one slice through the umbilical cord, my mother and I were free to be uniquely separate individuals.

Next thing I knew, some guy flipped me upside down and smacked my naked bottom so soundly that I grabbed hold of LIFE with a strong spirited cry.  You’d think that such an indignant beginning would have prepared me for what was to come, but no such luck.  As far as I was concerned, the world was my oyster; I was the sun, and the universe would surely revolve around my needs.  At the age of five, I'll feel shocked to learn that I'd been the product of—sexual passion.  As to why I was shocked?  Good question.  Which I plan to answer, sometime later.

Once the fires of lust energize my existence

Do I ponder upon what kind of person I'll grow up to be?

Not on your life!

At first breath, before my spirit smiles, laughs

Rolls over, sits up, crawls

Stands, toddles, walks, runs

Flies toward each next personal goal ...

I will cry, right out loud ...
As though I have something significant to say

Instinctively

My adventurous spirit and curious mind

Will stretch toward achieving

Every challenge life sets before me until

A lightening bolt

Strikes from out of the blue

Knocking my self confidence senseless

Each time my spirit has been pierced

By a bolt of lightening so powerful as to

Color my mind black and blue

I've tuned into this PLAN

Which inspires my exhausted life force
To fire up, yet again:

First I rest to reset my emotional compass to neutral

Next I call upon humility to seek out a trusted guide
Then, having benched my ego

My mind opens naturally to absorb spirit-strengthening knowledge

And here's how this common sense approach to personal growth

Will serve me well after I embrace the concept of mindfulness as my own:

Whenever I sense a NEGATIVELY CHARGED EMOTIONAL MAZE

Readying itself to suck my spirit dry

I remind the thought processing center of my brain

To seek out the shining star of insight that lights my path

And each time my think tank is guided by insight

My spirit feels empowered to
Rise above any negatively focused attitude, which might otherwise
Pack such a punch as to knock out my self confidence, again

Each time you watch me
Take conscious control over my think tank

Here's what you'll hear me sing:

Twinkle, twinkle little star

No Maze, charged with negativity, proves as mighty as

A positively focused insight, which empowers me to
Re-ignite my life force by
Illuminating a misperceived subconscious belief that's
In serious need of reconsideration
I mean, think about it:
As long as negatively focused
Subconscious beliefs slam my self esteem
I'll put myself down
And that makes no sense, at all!
Needless to say
I'll know nothing of questing toward insight that serves to
Reprocess subconscious misperceptions
On the day of my birth

As an infant, I’d not yet met the baby cousin who’d been born on the west coast, so I crowned myself first grandchild on both sides of our family.  As everyone’s dimpled darling, my life felt grand until two weeks before my third birthday when FATE knocked down our apartment’s front door; tragedy struck, and life grew grim.

When trauma interrupts the natural course of a child’s development, an inexperienced mind may wander into a deeply confounding, emotional maze.  Once lost in this maze, it can take decades to figure out how to reclaim one’s original path.  Seriously, we can't 'get over' subconscious distress until we know which terror we need to recover from—right?

Luckily, my curious mind will set out on a life long quest.  However, before I can identify the nature of this quest, I'll need to crash through my self protective wall and wander about in a foreign land, wondering if it’s possible to be true to those I love and be true to myself, simultaneously.  Thank goodness, the intuitive nature of my quest will guide me toward a path strewn with insights, and as I go forth 'connecting the dots', I'll find that being true to those I love and being true to myself are, actually, one and the same.

With time, I'll learn that the key to maintaining inner peace during times of unrest does not depend upon pleasing others or pleasing myself.  The key to maintaining peace of mind depends upon figuring out which of my perceptions is in need of reconsideration, because much of what we are taught to believe contradicts deeper truth.  Bottom line:

Personal perceptions (beliefs) change, but TRUTH remains constant.

Each time mental stress offers me reason to quest toward insight into DEEPER TRUTH, my sense of self deepens, as well.  As self awareness deepens, so does peace of mind—even during moments when conflict swirls around me.

As each insight leads to a host of insights, eventually, that which is in need of change comes to mind.  And change is a mixed bag.

Since one change leads to many more, you'll watch me come upon one fork in the road after another.  And though I may take a wrong turn, now and then, my compass will remain set upon my intuitive quest to circle back to that stage of development, where tragedy's dark clouds of fear caused me to misread so many signs that I lost sight of my true path, early on.  Needless to say, I know none of this on December 8, 1943.

In fact on the day of my birth, I 'know' nothing at all.  I certainly have no clue that tragedy can silence a young voice, thus changing the natural course of a child's life.  On the day of my birth, I'll have had no clue that life is a quest—not for happiness but for TRUTH—which leads toward inner peace, over time.  And if you ask how I know this to be true, I'd respond:  With patience, you shall read stories that illustrate why I've come to believe that questing toward DEEPER TRUTH, INNER PEACE and HAPPINESS are one and the same.

Though we are born knowing nothing, our instincts are fully functioning right from the start.  And once cradled in my parents' arms, intuition suggests my having been born under a lucky star, as is true of every child, who feels swaddled in love, all around ...