1469 10D's THE FOUR C's

If you ask:
Annie how did the Four C's line up for you, like
Ducklings safely crossing a busy intersection, all in a row?
I'll reply:
Decades back, while feeling compelled to read
A wealth of knowledge in hopes of raising three little boys
To grow up to become a trio of emotionally well balanced adults
I truly absorbed the fact that little monkeys copy everything
They see and hear big monkeys do and say, so I decided to
Work toward adopting the same character traits that
I'd hoped to inspire my three little monkey faces to emulate, and
Lo and behold, (though hindsight highlights the fact that
I had my work cut out for me, because
My defense system kept less admirable traits secreted from
My conscious awareness for many years) I've come to
Identify, understand, work through and resolve a host of
Deeply troubling inner conflicts, offering the conscientious adult
I've developed into, today, to take comfort in
The decision-making process that refocused my mind to concentrate on
Acknowledging my defensive attitudes, word choices, behaviors
Actions and decisions, many of which had undermined
The achievement of certain highly personal, heartfelt, long range goals
And having S pent more than forty years, working to absorb
The Four C's ever more deeply into the frontal lobe of my brain
I've grown ever more aware of the infrequency with which
Compassion, common sense, creativity and clarity intertwine when
Leadership employs an autocratic defensive attitude to maintain
A peaceful co-existence (both at home as well as throughout our
Complex world), and though the tomes I've read (in hopes of creating
Change for the better within my thought processor) have
Actually multiplied immeasurably in number, over these past forty years
Insight, spotlighting today's deeply stressed mode of life throughout
The world of today, highlights this deeper truth, which proves to be
Classic, universal and timeless in nature:  Attitude and timing are
Everything when critical thinking depends upon objectivity
And sadly, a paucity of objectivity (which is an attitude) continues to exist
Worldwide, and lack of objectivity proves self evident at crucial times when
Humanity has need to brainstorm, together, in hopes of
Achieving peaceable solutions that serve to address and resolve
Complex, long standing conflicts that have overwhelmed the processors of
One and all ... Seriously these conflicts would resolve, naturally, if
Closed minded attitudes felt inspired to expand toward embracing
Ideas focused upon creating change for the better ... and
That's where patience with the time line comes in, because
Monumental changes, which prove peaceful in nature, can take
Several lifetimes before reformation has been so deeply absorbed by
Society as to drive the oppressed to feel more defensive than
A peaceful mindset can withstand ... so along comes
A leader, like Trump, whose attitudes rock everyone's boat
All at once, causing every out-of-balanced faction of
Our unstabilized nation to capsize, at once
(Throughout Jewish history, sages have noted that
For the most part, secular and religious devsiveness
Comes together to brainstorm only when
A common enemy is attacking all of us ...)
And I offer Trump's infuriatingly bungling administration as
An example of the inept leadership that will blindly draw
The divisive factions of our nation together in order to
Bring him down, suggesting that feeling inspired to
Freely adopt open minded attitudes of
Altruistic objectivity, based in the Four C's is
Not the only way to skin a fat cat ... and I believe that
History will show that in reaction to Trump's stumbling
Around the Whitehouse, narrow mindsets throughout our nation
Will begin to expand to reconsider details that
Defensive thought processing had inadvertently repressed from
Conscious memory, and once all of the puzzle pieces that
Have been inflaming on-going 'misunderstandings' to
Escalate to explosive proportions have been democratically
Re-examined and re-assembled that's when
Unmet needs will be exposed so clearly as to construct
The bigger picture, which addresses the narrow mindsets
That have caused both houses of our legislature to
Remain mired in quicksand, overlong, and as Trump's
Egocentric attitude acts as a catalyst for
Attitudes based in objectivity to advance forward
I believe subconscious stabs of guilt will bring
Together lawmakers, who'd been divided into
Separate camps to begin to feel need to
Contemplate the bigger picture, thus inspiring
Closed mindsets to open at least enough to absorb
A deeper understanding of the path by which
Common courtesies are necessary to maintain
The emotional clarity that ultimately relaxes
Mental tension, all around, so that rather than judging how you
Think the other side feels, you ask how they feel, because
Very few of us show the depths of what we feel at our core
And thus can the astute nature of seeking solutions with
Compassion, common sense, creativity and clarity intact
Encourage change for the better of such magnitude that dollops of
Comic relief plop spoonfuls of sugar atop closing comments that
Inspire good humored souls to shake each other's hand soundly
And please don't roll your eyes and call me idealistic, because
I can offer you real examples of clarity soaking
The soul of a nation with an out-pouring of humility that
Magically sweeps darkened visions of 'others' out from
Under rugs, and once openly confronted and
Calmly discussed, the prejudicial hot seat evaporates into
Thin air so quickly as to stimulate your imagination and
Mine to wonder if good fairies actually exist!
And now that my think tank feels ready to jump off of
The tip of that clear and yet imaginative wand, which
Sweeps defensively  reactions out of my mind
I feel like doing something that my body has been
Unable to accomplish for many a year ... so
With a spirit rousing Hip hip hooray
Let's imagine me pulling off a cartwheel or two, right here!🤸🤸❗

PS. For years, I've wondered why counselors steer clear of educating
Their clients about the subtle ways that defensive thinking tackles
Clarity, likening 'games people don't know they play' to
A line up of defensive thoughts acting like linemen who are
Meant to tackle quarterbacks to the ground before the ball can be
Tossed, caught and carried into the end zone, where the entire team
Celebrates the teamwork necessary to score a touchdown  ...
I mean, might closed mindsets open with less prying if people imagined
A game of football displacing proactive brainstorming inside their heads?
Hmmm ... Worth thinking about, right?

Or maybe, once 'feeling circles' end in preschool
Teachers of primary grades can be coached to teach
Kids the fundamentals of objective thinking, knowing that
Adult minds tend to be tghtly packed with closed minded attitudes
While kids have open minds, which do not yet resemble cans of
Tightly packed sardines ... Hmmm ... If
Educated attitudes, timing and communication skills are
Everything then teaching objective thinking to
Tomorrow's leaders is not far fetched, in fact
Teaching kids to understand the complexity of
Emotional reactions makes good use of common sense!

1469DDDDDDDD CONGRESS - HOLD YOURSELVES ACCOUNTABLE

Robert Kagan, Sept. 5, 2017
"With the impeachment and removal of President Donald Trump a long shot at best, there is another way to provide the country some protection from our unfit president: congressional government. The idea may seem far-fetched in this era of the "imperial presidency," but there have been times in the nation's history, especially in the decades after the Civil War but also to a lesser extent during the 1920s, when Congress ran the show on many critical matters and the president dared take no action without the approval of powerful committee chairmen.
The clearest example of this, and the one most relevant to the current situation, was in 1865, when a Republican Congress seized control of federal administration of the defeated South from then-President Andrew Johnson. A Tennessean who saw himself as the defender of Southern white supremacy, Johnson refused to pursue the agenda of the Radical Republicans who wanted to break the power of the white ruling class in order to ensure the rights and the physical safety of newly freed blacks. When Johnson refused to compromise, Congress took charge. For some months, Congress wielded  control not only over national policy but also over its implementation by the military.
Congressional power even reached into the Cabinet. The secretary of war, Edwin Stanton, shared Congress's aims and carried out congressional policies in the South, not Johnson's. When Johnson fired Stanton, the House voted to impeach him. Johnson escaped conviction in the Senate by one vote - thus showing the difficulty of removing a president even in extreme circumstances - but for some months Congress controlled the most important national policies and during that time prevented the president from undermining the achievements of the war.

(As) Trump tells US Congress to scrap DACA: 'Get ready to do your job'
There's no reason Congress could not do the same now. On some issues, it already has. On two important policies - sanctions on Russia and health care - a working majority of Democrats and Republicans in the Senate has already thwarted Trump. Another bipartisan majority appears to have formed against Trump's threat to shut down the government unless he gets significant funding for a wall along the Southern border. In fact, on any number of issues, there are enough anti-Trump Republicans in the Senate not only to block the president but also to push their own policies contrary to the president's - as was the case with Russia sanctions.

Congressional government would not have to address every question. On matters where Republicans and Democrats sharply disagree, there could be a truce or partisan business as usual. But on matters where they both see a threat to the nation's interests - from the president's encouragement of white supremacists, neo-Nazis and racist, law-breaking local government officials, to his appeasement of Russian President Vladimir Putin, to his efforts to impede criminal probes - Congress can wield the power of the purse. It can prevent a secretary of state from destroying the United States' diplomatic corps. It can provide support to officials who refuse to carry out irresponsible and dangerous directives. It can find some compromise on a few fiscal matters to prevent a demagogue from undermining the U.S. economy by defaulting on the debt.

All this could be done informally, with different majorities naturally emerging on different issues, as has already occurred. But it would be better if it were formal. In 1865, Congress established a bipartisan Joint Committee on Reconstruction to review and formulate policy toward the former Confederate states. Today, one or more joint committees could be formed to oversee those areas necessary to protect the country from the president's most dangerous excesses - a joint national security committee headed by the chairs and ranking members of the foreign relations, armed services and intelligence committees, for instance. The virtue of this arrangement would be that Congress would not merely react anew to each new threat. It would have a body in place that would be ready to respond, one that carried greater weight than individual committees and would therefore be more effective in deterring dangerous presidential actions.

Could Republicans possibly agree to such an arrangement? The party's leaders should at least think about it. Trump ran against them in 2016 and is now once again firing up his base to attack them. Party leaders do have another option besides being Trump punching bags - depriving him of as much power as possible while they can. It's a risky strategy, but a little bravery in the short term might pay off later. Is there any bravery to be found in Congress? Or as the great Radical Republican congressman Thaddeus Stevens asked in the spring of 1865, "Can't we collect bold men enough to lay the foundation for a party to take the helm of this government and keep it off the rocks?"


Thank you, Robert Kagan, for coaching congress as to how teamwork had strongly united a proactive attitude of decisiveness rather than remaining impotently devisive most especially when past administrations had clearly created crunch time, forcing legislators to band together and make sound use of creative thinking, based in common sense, which proved crucial to maintaining the welfare of our nation as a whole ...

1469DDDDDDD DEFERRED ACTION FOR CHILDHOOD ARRIVALS

Lili Petersen, Sept 5, 2017
"Former President Barack Obama is finally speaking out on President Donald Trump's decision to end Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), and he's not holding back. Obama's statement on DACA, shared via Facebook on the afternoon of Sept. 5, called Trump out for rescinding the policy. Obama called the action a “moral question” and, more straightforwardly, “wrong.”
The statement began by acknowledging that immigration is a difficult, fraught subject, and that good people can differ vastly on how best to fix the system. “But that's not what the action that the White House took today is about,” Obama wrote.

He also acknowledged the about 800,000 “Dreamers” who would be affected by the decision.”Some 800,000 young people stepped forward, met rigorous requirements, and went through background checks,” he wrote. “And America grew stronger as a result.”

On Tuesday, Sept. 5, the Trump administration announced that it would be ending DACA, an Obama-era executive order which protected undocumented immigrants who had come as children to the United States from deportation. The program, which Trump called an “amnesty-first approach” per The New York Times, will be phased out after a delay of six months, beginning March 5 2018. The administration urged Congress to use the time to come up with legislation to replace DACA.
DACA, which began accepting applicants in August of 2012, was criticized as an overstep of presidential authority by some who thought immigration reform should have passed through Congress. Attorney General Jeff Sessions, who offered the public announcement regarding the ending of DACA, called it a “circumvention” of immigration laws and said on Tuesday that “the executive branch through DACA deliberately sought to achieve what the legislative branch specifically refused to authorize on multiple occasions.”

In his statement, Obama pushed back against that idea. He wrote about how Congress had attempted for years to write legislation to create a path for young undocumented people, particularly those who had served in the military and contributed to American society, to stay and earn citizenship. He said,
But most importantly, Obama appealed on behalf of those who would be most affected — the Dreamers themselves. His statement offered a clear and ringing condemnation not only of the move to repeal DACA, but the rationale behind the desire to make life a little more dangerous and a little more uncertain for hundreds of thousands of young people.

Obama also expressed his hope that this time, at least, Congress would act, saying that it was up to legislators to protect Dreamers. “I join my voice with the majority of Americans who hope they step up and do it with a sense of moral urgency that matches the urgency these young people feel,” he wrote:  With the teamwork capability of this Congress, that may be a tall order. But we can hope."


If I could paint a picture (which I can't) my vision of 800,000 faces, tense with stress, would appear, right here.  And guess what we'd see rising up in the middle of this human crush of fear?

We'd see The Lady in the harbor holding her smoking torch ever so high in hopes of being sighted by our legislators' mind's eye.  And as waves of fear convey SOS distress signals directly toward D.C.,, the voters of our great nation would appear to encircle those who comprise the original circle of distress, making a heartfelt shield fashioned of compassionate, strong spirited support, imploring leadership (elected to represent the majority of their constituents) to rise to the occasion and provide for the safety of this innocent throng of good souls by casting differences aside in favor of embracing an attitude of brainstorming toward the construction and enactment of a clear cut law, thus taking redemptive action by re-igniting Ms. Liberty's torch before the passage of six months time ....
Tick tock ...

PS. Just as there's more than one way to skin a fat cat
There's more than one way to paint a picture
And my way is by painting a picture with words
(Guess which song Sinatra would choose to sing if
His spirit swooped down to hold my hand and croon
A tune before the curtain comes down on today's post?)

1469DDDDDD PORTRAIT OF A LADY

Currently, I'm rereading Portrait of a Lady by Henry James (for my book club at my recommendation) and it is this tome, highlighting character development, that inspire my intuitive powers to write—I know not what—as of yet, which leaves me feeling intrigued to see whether or not new insights will emerge as today's stream of consciousness develops into a complete train of thought, one word at a time ...

 About 40 years ago, while reading Portrait of a Lady, an intriguing train of thought came to mind,  catalyzing my self awareness to heighten:  Why (I asked myself) read great literature authored by yesteryear's sages unless my think tank feels inspired to absorb and make sound use of classic insights, concerning every person's need to identify personal flaws and narrow mind sets to which our defense systems, which prove egocentric in nature, blind the conscious portion of our minds?

Though I remember asking myself that question (which reflection suggests must have whet my appetite to hungrily devour hundreds of novels, concerning character development, that are readily accessible upon the shelves of my personal library by climbing the sliding ladder that reaches straight up toward the raised ceilings within my family room and my home office, as well), decades would pass before that intuitive train of thought ignited my conscious quest to follow Socrates' lead in hopes of coming to know both sides of myself in depth so as to carve a path of my own upon which my magnetic attraction to personal growth spurts would employ my vivid imagination to construct stepping stones toward conscientiously working to create changes for the better by identifying negatively focused, self conceived misperceptions, which being subconscious in nature, had influenced the development of negative attitudes concerning personal character traits that served to undermine my ability to achieve certain heartfelt, long range goal in as timely a fashion as proves humanly possible when my mind, nurturing an intuitive, self confident train of thought, coaches my defense system's fear of failure to sit in time out, freeing my smarts to focus on attains short range goals until that illusive, heartfelt long range goal appears within my sights.

And not until that the first portion of that flash of insight illuminated my inner need to graciously acknowledge both sides of my nature did that insight begin to ignite the next until my think tank became adept at spotlighting deep-seated vulnerabilities, which, lurking fearfully within secreted pockets of my subconscious, had undermined my host of inner strengths thus complicating my personality by creating emotional complexities, which proved similar to those that fueled Henry James' main characters to feel and behave in as conflicted a manner as did characters found in Jane Austen's works of literary art, and over time, I employed reflection to see that I, like Isabel Archer, had no conscious clue of harboring contrasting character traits in need of identifying so as to resolve inner conflicts that had so often complicated my decision-making process until my intuitive (but not yet conscious) quest to know myself in depth saw need to seek professional guidance, trained to coach the conscious portion of my mind to identify the main source of mysterious flashes of anger or sadness that surprised no one as much as me, and by way of calling forth my personal trait of humility, my choice to  seek astute professional help coaxed me to peel the self-protective (defensive) layers of the proverbial onion that had obscured a clarified view of what I'd really felt within the deepest sense of my true self at my core where seeds of deeper truths had need to be exposed in order to be planted in fertile soil where personal growth, concerning my truest sense of self, tends to develop, season by season.

And not until my truest sense of self began to muster the courage to emerge in one growth spurt after another, each of which rocked boats that had need of freeing themselves from remaining moored to the dock of undeserved guilt to which my sense of existential freedom had been tethered since the tender age of three, did my self confident self begin to grow to feel so bold as to see why my intuitive powers had compelled my conscious mind to dive head first into the brilliant minds of H. James, J. Austen, Dickens, Hugo, Dostoevsky, Faulkner, Michener, Uris, Galsworthy, Kingsolver, Galbraith, Steinbeck, O'Hara, Gaskell, Potok, Hemingway, Shreve, Joyce Carol Oates as well as devouring countless other novels penned by insight-driven authors in addition to more than one hundred texts, concerning raising well adjusted children in an emotionally complex world in hopes of not passing the classic nature of as many conflicted complexities onto my sons as had been passed by previous generations to me, and the more I'd absorbed, the more compelled I'd felt to read as much as I could get my hands on about characters whose mistaken perceptions served to inspire me to feed my inner need to muster the courage and humility to consciously recognize those times when fate offered me sound reason to set my defense system in time out in hopes of mining my subconscious for secreted information that I'd not consciously wanted to know was true of my most vulnerable character traits, because not until my vulnerable traits had lined up like ducklings in a row did I find my self assessment growing ever more whole. (Whew!)

At this point in time, having worked for decades to mine my mind for scary secrets that I'd kept from myself about myself (and my loved ones), guess what I've found roaming freely inside the deepest crevices within my brain in addition to fears, concerning my self worth, which my defense system had buried alive when I was three?  I found that, over these last 40 years, I've developed many more admirable character traits than my adopted attitude of undeserved guilt had allowed my intelligence to believe as being true!

If you ask why I grew up misconceiving so much about my best character traits, I'd reply:  Not until I'd held myself accountable for raising well balanced children of my own did I so much as begin to seek and absorb knowledge concerning the complex inner workings of the human brain, thus catalyzing my intuitive but not yet conscious mission to identify my negatively focused, self denigrating mind sets, which had tattooed themselves into my subconscious during the months and years following Janet's death, and as those unidentified mindfields were directly opposed to that which I consciously knew to be true of the conscientious adult whom I'd consciously chosen to grow to be, I began to identify inner conflicts in need of understanding, which had consistently wrestled my self worth to the mat whenever my needs or perceptions conflicted with needs or perceptions of others, most especially loved ones and friends.  I also came to see that our defense systems block us from exposing the depths of our emotional spectrum (ranging from empathy at one end toward fury at the other) not just from ourselves, but from others, as well, and that's why so many misjudgment, due to misunderstandings, are cast back and forth amongst good people who, sadly, harbor inner conflicts that arouse their defense systems to raise walls of denial, which block much of the love that each one feels for the others, as if the only safe way to love each other is from afar ... so classically sad, so true, so much of the time, our anger finds scapegoats to blame for unhappiness that actually emanates from within subconscious pockets within our own minds, and here's why that happens, time and again:  Most people have no clue of the difference between primary emotions and secondary emotions, which, sadly, cast disparaging misperceptions upon the character traits of those whose thought processors are trained to channel differently from their own ... in short:  'agree with me, totally, or you are no longer welcome to exist in my heart ...

Hence, over time, did my intuitive need to identify and resolve inner conflict by knowing myself in as much depth as possible evolve, though, sadly, mustering the humility to nurture inner growth spurts had not proved true for HJ's heroine, Isabel Archer, because, she, like most others of her generation, did not have psychological texts and self help books and astute professional (therapeutic) therapists readily available to inspire her smarts to quest to 'know' which contrasting personal character traits had undermined her decision-making process much too often for her own good.  Double Whew!

Socrates, thank you for this brilliant insight, which befuddled your peers: Know Thyself

Homer, thank you for creating the metaphor of Odesius, whose eyes were blind to all that happened around him ... and thank you for coaching us not to 'kill the messenger', who feels need to deliver us from blindness by asking us to seriously consider a wealth of knowledge that our defensive frame of mind fears our intuitive sense of intelligence 'knowing' to be true as each insider points to deeper truths, hiding in subconscious pockets of our minds ...
Shakespeare:  thank you for "All the world's a stage ... the tempest ... and volumes more 
Dickens:  "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we ..."

Woody Allen:  "If a club will have me, it's not a membership I want to join"

(If the statements above and below are not direct quotes, paraphrasing comes close enough)

Helen Keller:  "Life is either a great adventure or else it is nothing"

Gandhi:  "Be the change you wish for the world."

Anne Frank:  "In my heart, I believe people are really good"
Bryce Courtenay:  The Power of One

I believe in The Power Of One holding hands with the powers of many in hopes of catalyzing change for the better once negatively focused attitudes are exposed, so that positively focused attitudes, which prove to be transformative can brainstorm, together, toward understanding emotional complexity that defensively divides loved ones into separate camps, unnecessarily ...

Over my adult lifetime, I've grown to be one of countless souls, whose intuitive need to inspire change for the better (within myself) proves realistic rather than idealistic, and no one will ever convince me to pull forth a smile to 'act' as my umbrella when deeper truth inspires my outpouring of tears to flush out yesteryear's (unidentified) heartache, based in a conglomeration of deeply repressed confusion, fear, anger and the indignant anguish that each of us rightfully feels when loved ones dump undeserved guilt on our heads, all of which represent my readiness to release a flood gate, behind which had been a self protective dam of repressed emotion, and thus do I hope that today's stream of consciousness may serve to deepen our sense of insight as to why my defense system had the forethought to call upon my power of intuition to craft a life raft by way of calling forth my processor's innate sensitivity to creative writing to condense much of what has been in need of discussing once clarity replaces the emotional complexity that obscures the bigger picture from assembling all of the puzzling pieces that have not yet been assembled so that everyone concerned contributes their perceptions in such a non-defensive, self disciplined , positively focused manner that a family that loves each other can actually grasp the main root of a long standing conflict, once and for all.  Whew!

Dare I make use of creative writing to spotlight this personal belief, yet again:
If Jesus (who I believe to be one of history's most insightful prophets concerning brotherhood), arose, today, he'd lower his eyes and stroke his beard while with a shake of his head, he'd fervently implore the world at large to seriously consider these questions, which prove so profound as to plague his mind:  Why have you persisted for thousands of years to react like an extended family who can't get along?  Did I not speak so clearly of brotherhood as to inspire you to (place your defense systems in time out so as to) honor each other's existential differences, all the days of your lives?  What in the devil are suicide bombers?   Where within any version of the Old or New Testament are these abominations so much as mentioned?  And then, being of the Hebrew persuasion, Jesus (who would have recited this soliloquy in his native tongue of Hebrew) would most certainly have paused to calm his ire down before feeling so graciously composed as to invite each of us to raise a glass of Manischewitz concord grape, and then while raising his cup, which runneth over with his hopeful sense of positive focus intact, our host would surely offer us this timeless toast as had been true during the Passover Seder, which sadly, proved to be the sage's Last Supper: L'chaim!  To life!  Followed by:  Shalom!  which translates to mean:  Hello. Goodbye and (live in ) Peace ...

So, if you ask:  Annie, where in tarnation is today's stream of

Intuitive thought about to take us, next? I'd reply:  Let's get real about

Human nature's paucity of accepting differences throughout mankind's history:

Seriously—there's nothing new about terrorism—it's been around forever!
Was it not terrorism that set sail when the Vikings first invaded Britain in AD 793?

Was it not terrorism that cast Christians with lions in Rome's coliseum for mirth?

Was it not terrorism that saw the Catholic Church burning Jews alive?

Was it not terrorism that saw African tribes enslaving other African tribes?

Was it not terrorism that saw Native American tribes enslaving each other?

Was it not terrorism that saw white slavers enslaving Africans as though misperceiving
The holy book as stating:  Mankind, made in God's image, is of only one color?
Is it not true that the terrorist side of human nature continues to burn existential thought
To a crisp within defensive mindsets of all colors, nationalities and religious extremists
Who'd pillaged, enslaved, tortured and raped at will throughout the world ever since
The Clan of the Cave Bears, grasping clubs, felt need to fend off invaders?

Life was messy and emotional reactions proved overwhelmingly complex on all sides
Before I was born, and the same will prove classically true after I'm gone—
So I set my mind to 
Premembering that change for the better, which is also messy, takes
A whale of time, patience, depth of thought and courage to excavate
Deeper truths that each person's defense system blinds us from
Identifying misperceptions about others as well as openly acknowledging 
Misperceptions concerning personally defensive character traits in
Need of serious consideration...

So, if at this point in today's post, you feel need to ask:
Annie, where in tarnation is this stream of

Intuitive thought about to take us, next? I'll repeat:
Tis way past time to pull our heads out of the sand and
Get real about targeting human nature's paucity of growing to
'Know thyself' in depth ... not just throughout mankind's history but
Right now—throughout our nation as hard working young men and
Women have sound reason to fear each next Presidential decree, which
May undermine their human rights in ways that continue
To blow my mind, and being a person who consciously seeks to restore
A semblance of inner peace on a daily basis that makes me ask you to
Seriously consider—what the devil is wrong with people—
Yesteryear unto and including today?

What's wrong with people?  Here's what's wrong:
We need to rein in the defensive side of human nature that exists within
Us, all, which blinds us from identifying how we hurt ourselves while blaming
The other guy, who serves as a scapegoat for the persistence of our pain
And and here's why that's true internationally, nationally and
Within our families, as well:  As long as the defensive side of human nature 
Remains free to lurk secretly within your subconscious attitudes and mine

We'll absorb little understanding of the ways in which
History pleads with us, every day, to conscientiously consider eons of
Negatively focused attitudes, which, emerging from deep within, can clearly 
Be seen since no one has mustered the courage to stop Trump from
Giving license to bullies to shed their sheepskins and flash their fangs
And it's this frustration with mental blindness on the part of seeing people that
Drives me half way to crazy, catalyzing my need to ask:
Is terrorism, running wild through our streets, not obvious when
King Midas sits on his throne in the oval office, openly playing chess
By way of making pawns of law abiding men and women, brought to
Our nation as children, who must feel that they can be cast out like
Yesterday's trash, if our congress has not the courage to

Vote such a callous measure down?  Is it not true that if Trump was
Enthroned as head of state of another nation, we'd judge his lack of
Common decency as so divisively hostile as to devalue our need for
Brotherhood (which doth not mean:  My way or it's the open highway
For you) ... what must a task master do next so as to create
A sense of public outrage that stimulates the communal intelligence of 
Our governing body to overcome a mind that strikes fear into
The hearts of 800,000 hard working souls!  So what, I ask, will
His High and Mighty Ego have to do, next, to revolt the majority of
Both sides of our congress to overcome their power struggles in favor of
Supporting the values of brotherhood, preached to deaf ears, sabbath after sabbath? 

What is Homeland Security doing to combat terrorism that undermines
The safety of the voting public from within the here and now?
And don't talk of legalities, concerning impeachment to me for this reason:
Mustn't heartlessness be declared illegal in terms of presidential leadership?

What else will our congress (of the people) close their eyes to—giving this

Self serving egotist license to soil our nation's communal soul over these

Next three and a half years???  Where is the leader who will wrest the helm from

This compassionless captain (think The Cain Mutiny) who has been set free to

Lord over our nation as a whole—on a daily basis—as was true of Hitler, who
Remained unstoppable until our nation, having been attacked, could no longer
Shut governing eyes to need to enter into WWII—leaving me to ask—
Are my perceptions misrepresentations of deeper truths, or are our souls
Nearing WWIII against the devil incarnate, again?

Our legislators made use of the shield of silence as when
Obama's compassion for hard working people created
The Dreamers' Act' during his administration, and hopefully, today's
Shields of silent inaction will not free Trump's actions to turn back time
If ever it was high time for lawmakers to stand up and courageously
Band together to rock this boat, which serves as the ark that may
Rescue the greater good of the country from twitters' stormy rants, it's
Right now!  Seriously—attitude and timing mean everything—literally
Everything—to shore up the pledge of allegiance that promises
Good people safety from terrorism from sea to shining sea ...
Mother Nature is not the only uncontrolled powerhouse that's hurtling
Hot winded hurricanes that devastate families throughout our nation ...
"If today they come for them then tomorrow they'll come for us"

I've lost three life-long contemporaries, whom I'd loved, this year
Two cousins, both younger than me and, recently, Will's brother, Jeremy

The fact that I awakened, today

With so many infuriating puzzlements, concerning the complexity of

Life, love and irretrievable loss, bouncing

Like jumping beans (spiked like cacti)

Inside my head, you'd think that by now

We, mere mortals, would have absorbed the folly of
Asking our contemporaries questions concerning

Death, which can be answered only by

Those who, having peacefully transitioned from

This world to the next, choose to

Send their spirits on an empathetic mission to

Whisper soothing explanations based in

Experiential wisdom into ears that

Have chosen to turn up the volume on intuitive thought—

Not to worry—I'm not suddenly seeing myself as

Psychic (or psycho)—I'm simply in need of

Busying my brain so grave thoughts of brutality and

Grief struck, irretrievable loss, as well as the 
Defensive nature of human nature that exacerbates family strufe 
Do not mingle so long inside my head as to dizzy
My mind, catalyzing another Vaso-Vagas reaction, thus depriving

My brain of oxygen, causing my head to

Feel so light-headed as to spin my think tank

Like a top, which, upon losing momentum

Sees me fainting dead away ... again!  Well, look at that!

Did you see the stealth with which that quartet of

Dreaded words snuck out of my subconscious into

My conscious awareness without stirring

Any sense of latent anxiety, which, in the recent past
Had laid in wait to pounce upon my sense of
Personal safely by squeezing itself through a crack in
My defense system's wall of denial so suddenly as to
Flatten my connection to logic neath yesteryear's still potent fear of
Feeling myself cast out onto the open highway if
My thought patterns do not fall into line with those whose blindness to
Their own defensive reactions see themselves as victims in need of 
A scapegoat to accept the role of villain in a power struggling game, which
Having come to understand, I refuse to play

And if you ask how such a miraculous change for the better
(Concerning my newfound ability to nip anxiety in the bud) could

Have happened overnight, I'd reply:  it didn't happen overnight

Intuitive thought, knowing my innermost vulnerabilities, chose to

Enlist creativity to brainstorm with intelligence until
My brain, functioning as a well balanced whole, figured out
How best to inject a healthy state of mind into today's

Natural stream of anger-driven insightful reflection, concerning that which
Remains beyond my (retired fixer's) control, thus reassuring my

Spirit (and visceral memory of emotional agony suffered

In the aftermath of Janet's death) that each time

My personal connection to solution-seeking logic feels

Securely tethered to common sense, my proactively remodeled
Positively focused brain structure will continue to feed my inner need to

Recharge my brain's inner balance so as to re-energize
My host of inner strengths to refortify my intuitive

Determination to dominate yesteryear's

Primary (buried-alive) fears, which, left to roam

On their own, deep inside my memory bank, would

Surely have tied my brain into tight knots of enraged

Tension that (in addition to constricting

My circulation of oxygen) might have demanded

Days of mental untangling before brainstorming succeeded in
Straightening my think tank out so as to ensure that my

Processor's thinking cap, once again, feels capable of logically 
Voicing my personal sense of outrage, concernin
The harsh side of reality with my intelligent connection to
Self confident, emotional clarity intact ... Whew!

Though practice may not make perfect

I hope you've been gaining an ever deepening understanding of
My need to review each complex function of the human brain
Repeatedly as I age, because, left to work independently of
Each other, our sense of logic and our defense systems are known to
Directly oppose our connection to clarity, blocking our brains'

Agility to brainstorm toward problem solving as

Would a well organized coach, coaxing his all star team to
Work toward each next success, play by play, inning by inning
Quarter by quarter, and thus do you watch me making certain not to
Free an uprising of latent anxiety or anger, which left to their own
Devices would create a sense of inner divisiveness, serving to
Complicate today's natural output of emotional reactivity by exacerbating

My sense of inner conflict so as to be likely to drive my think tank to
Feel so insane as to cause me to run through the streets, ranting and raving
Like a lunatic in need of locking up—however, as leading myself toward
Insanity is not natural to the intuitive intelligence of my nature—
Time and again—you watch me re-strengthen my sensitivity to

Need to re-organize my inner sense of wholeness in order to
Grasp ever more firmly onto the steering wheel of my life raft thus
Assuring my inner compass's sense of clarity so that with
Intuitive thought at the helm, my brain does not mistakenly release
Yesteryear's repressed sense of PTSD to push my adrenaline button offering
Me naught but another terror-struck ride through childhood's rapids, which
Tosses my adult sense of inner balance to and fro, and having re-grounded

My sense of wholeness in readiness to steady my whole self to confront

Yet another sad reality (Trump's executive decision to bait congress by
Threatening to cast more than 800,000 dreamers' hopes overboard), and thus
Have you watched my think tank re-establish the emotional stability necessary
To empathize with the pain of loved ones and strangers without freeing
PTSD to temporarily capsize my connection to sanity ...

I think that's all I feel need to say, today, suggestive of

The fact that, yet again, tuning into intuitive thought waves has

Offered my conscious awareness the insight to

Spotlight exactly where today's stream of intelligent

Thought felt need to direct my think tank to go so as to
Feel self inspired to take a leap of faith so far over
The waterfall as to save myself from sliding down
The slippery slope into yesteryear's emotionally turbulent
Rapids, where inhaling the pain of others as my own had
Caused my spirit to depress, and though I do not expect
Today's leap of faith to land on the sunny side of

The street as of yet, at least I've transported my current

State of mind to rest nearer to an angle of

Self soothed inner repose, where, having taken care to
Tune into the turbulence of my inner life
My soulfully refueled spirit may more readily soothe
The reactivity of loved ones, whose grief, like Will's, feels
So great a sense of personal loss as to have need to lean
Hearts, heavy with loss, upon my restructured inner strengths for
A while though not forever ... and so
Though today's post began with my conscious mind

Feeling need to exclaim:  HOLY JUMPING SASSAFRASS—again!
We come to see why my intuitive powers repeatedly

Coax my innate sense of courage to converse ever so gently with

Uprisings of latent fears, thus inspiring my heart to choose to

Raise my glass (and my consciousness level) in communal

Celebration of life while, at the same time, I know myself to
Feel personally challenged to maintain my spirit's

Soulful connection with a host of inner strengths in

The aftermath of my brother-in-law's demise until such time as
My inner sense of joy feels naturally resuscitated by way of

Appreciating the good fortune of our family, which historically
Brainstorms toward seeking solutions to complex dilemmas by 
Placing our defense systems in time out in hopes of
Co-creating change for the better for one and all by stoking

Our conscious think tanks with intuitive insights that

Refocus our spirits' inner spotlights toward coaxing darkened attitudes to 

Brightly and freely embrace life and love more wholly than had felt possible
Before we'd experienced depths of sadness born of irretrievable loss—
Regardless of our age—and now, while 800,000 people hold their breath
Our nation awaits our legislators' decision to—lower their eyes and do nothing
Courageous to help our frightened brethren—or rise to the occasion and

Begin to take steps to control this person whom I clearly can't call President
And having relieved my retired fixer's sense of inner tension, I'll choose to
End today's post with two positively focused words—

L'chaim! and Shalom!
PS
If you think I'm going to attempt to edit this potent stream of consciousness
Please think again ... (well, maybe I'll edit a little, because clarity suggests that
People's mental patterns don't change overnight ...)