Tag Archives: observations

Generational bonds / connections

Whereas it seems like everything is happening in a small vacuum to me personally, it makes a lot more sense that there is a contingency of people going through the same journey. It is liberating in a way to feel unique. But it is unrealistic, and it may end up leading to nowhere.

We humans set up situations to encourage a feeling of bonding. Like national holidays. It is then that you’re supposed to feel connected. We don’t understand that we are always connected, in deeper ways than that. We don’t talk about that though, in mixed company. Maybe in secret rooms, secret hiding places.

I imagine many things are generational. I am unintentionally experiencing life in much the same way as others in my generation. They like to label generations. But that’s an external label, which doesn’t tell you much about your personal experience of it. I think I am aware of this generational bias, and I try to steer Cody in healthier, better directions, having learned what works and what leads nowhere. I would like him not to have to repeat the same mistakes I made (and still make). Maybe he can’t simply by virtue of his being in a totally new generation. It’s funny – I feel such a bond with him, but in the end he will be living (and has already lived) in such a different culture and world. Even the difference between Naples and Potomac is pretty vast. Plus Potomac in the 70s and 80s and Naples in the 10s are starkly different I’m sure.

Mangle

I have to doubt all things. I have to question. I sometimes wish I had a choice. But I think I know that I don’t, and that I don’t want one. Questioning is my way to grow. The depth that I want to change is probably equal to the depth of my doubts of what I believe. If I were to hold fast to a belief, then I would hit a ceiling of my potential for growth.

I crave beliefs that can withstand my questions. That I can press for answers and continue receiving them. Lately I have come back to love as a source of wisdom and truth. If I love something healthy more than something unhealthy, I can rely on that as a way to sway my actions. I can lean on love. It can handle a lot of my will, or my questioning. We will see if it can withstand it in the long run. Sometimes I have to leave a notion for awhile while I am in a period of doubt, but I eventually am capable of returning to it for further investigation and use. I don’t think this is a problem anymore. It is a sign of engaging in a process. Not sitting still. No one has explained this process to me, not that I can remember. So I am inventing it for myself. Am I taking the path less traveled? I often feel like I’m not. Like I am just a drone, living in the shadows of others. Maybe my way is cloaked like that. It is true for me, but it doesn’t thrive in the limelight. Maybe anyone who bothers to look within the shadowy enclosure will find something beautiful and meaningful. Something that can affect the world in a meaningful way. Maybe my version of kindness and compassion is not destined to withstand advertisement. Of course it is also connected to shame. I wish it was only a good kind of shame, like tastefulness or decency. But it isn’t just that. I am ashamed. And I try to protect myself from the worst of it. I do things to hide from myself. I still hate myself. For whichever reasons. I love people who don’t hate themselves. I adore them. They radiate. They inspire me not to feel that way. Thank God for people like that. Or I’d be lost. I must be wary of that river of hate. Self-hate, that morphs into other hate. And meanness. There are many kinds of meanness. I strive to eradicate them. Once I can identify them.

Peel

Those who may befriend you will simply mirror your level of openness. They will quite aptly sense your propensities and determine from that whether to approach you. I probably don’t give people enough credit for being sensitive to the internal give and take in this world. Signals are constantly being passed around. But they are primarily not conscious.
I ought not bemoan a lack of friends or a lack of fun repartee in chance meetings during daily activities and errands. There is no reason to expect others to be more open with me than I am with them. Or differently open in ways I may yearn for. They do as they see and feel.

originally published on 7/14/08

Blanche

I realize that I have evidence of my recent assumption about the mirroring of those around me. I have friends who seem rather adept in social situations. But when we have discussed their comfort level socially, they tend to say the same thing I say, which is that they are uncomfortable and insecure. This is one reason why we are friends, because we are coming from the same place. And eventually we find our lives have many of the same properties, despite all the superficial differences.
Therefore I can see that, like it or not, seemingly or not, you draw your own ilk to you.

originally published on 7/15/08