Just so we are all on the same page, you do realize we are born with expiration dates right? I'm unclear how people can be shocked by someone's death. I pretty much treat everyone I come in contact , as maybe the last time I see them. I was only caught off guard one time and after that, I realized that "The last time I saw you, might be the last time I see you. The earth is a classroom and students come and go everyday. If you are here, it is for certain you will leave. Living in the moment keeps me from feeling cheated when someone takes exit. I would guess to some it might seem fatalistic, but that to me implies a certain amount of gloom. That is not my case though, there is nothing gloomy about enjoying the presence of someone like it could be the last time I saw them. When my friend Lee burned out on drugs, I took the time to talk with him and tell him everything I would hate to not have said if the death he was sprinting to happened before I got to say them.
 I had a friend who came to my school back in my Jr. in high school. He was only there for a couple of six weeks before he moved back to Dallas. When I lived in Dallas there was always part of me that searched every crowd for his face. A decade later, quite by accident, a fluke, I saw his name listed among the dead from the gay plague. I realized, the last time I saw Larry would be the last time I saw Larry. It was the last death that caught me off guard. He taught me in his death that anyone can be out of here at any time.
 There are still faces, beautiful faces I look for in every crowd, but I know that the love I have for those people isn't contingent on them being in my life or even being on the planet. That love partially shapes who I am and just because a physical story ends, I believe the most interesting part begins when we take exit. The psychical presence of a person is never necessary for me to think of them and allow the part of my heart they live in to light up.
It's all temporary. There is no such thing as permanence. People will die, people will leave your life. Why is this such a surprise to so many people. The lesson is to BE with people when you are WITH THEM. The tragedy, the real tragedy when someone leaves their live is all the time we wasted not being with them when they were here. You don't get those chances back. "  "If you can't be with the one you love, love the one you're with"

" Remember if it isn't practical, it isn't spiritual."
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I don't know if it is human instinct or Clinton instinct to overwork, over embellish and over do most things, but recovery has taught me the beauty and value of simplicity. Even as a I type the word "Simplicity" something inside me says "BORING". When I would go to the sewing store with my mother or grandmother when I was little, there were patterns called "Simplicity", and then there were much shower or ornate patterns by VOGUE. The Vogue patterns required a skill and patience level of a master craftswomen and neither my mom or grandmother has a lick of interest in the Vogue effort level. Even a decade before the disease of Alcoholism, then drug addiction had took hold, "Simplicity" bored me to shit. On a daily basis I have to remind myself to keep it simple, that not everything needs to be over thought or overwrought. The entrance ramp to a peaceful satisfying existence is label "Simplicity". My dad has a garden every year in the backyard of his home. In an effort to grow more, grow bigger vegetables he over unknowingly over fertilized the plot to the point that a decade later the cumulative effect caught up to him. .This past summer , everything he planted burned up shortly after it was but in the ground. He over fertilized to the point that the soil is now useless because of toxic levels of nutrients that in low doses expedites growth but in massive build ups over the years has rendered the ground useless. I can love something to death. I can over fertilize, over water just about anything figuratively. I have to ask myself a dozen times a day, "Is this necessary", "Is this practical" or " Does the next thing I have to say improve the silence or pollute it"?

I'm just days away from the last week of my 45 year on the planet. It's been the best year of my life. Nearly every day I was free of fear and I have carved out my own unique and special path a higher power that gives me the sense of a connection I didn't know was possible.
I ran into a friend the other day and he rattled of all these things he was angry about, mostly the president and the Democrats. I could see his very essence getting eaten up before my by righteous indignation. His ego, in desperate attempt to stay in power, has gone on overdrive making him "right" about things the government is doing. 

In order for the ego to survive it must find things to be "right" about. The ego has to be right and it needs you to be wrong. The thing is, the ego and the spirit can't coexist. I am either being led by spirit or I am being led down the path of misery by the ego.

The single best definition of a "Spiritual Awakening" I"ve heard in 20 plus years of search is that it occurs with the spirit separates from ego. I don't go around needing, demanding to be right on a daily basis. I've had great success letting dumbasses be dumbasses without trading any of my piece with them. Peace is a choice, love is a miracle and gratitude is the fuel for a spirit based life. 

I spoke briefly to a woman who seemingly had something going on for herself. Recovered for decades, helping others and then she let loose on this survivalist, end of banking shit that made my mouth almost drop open. I'm sure if she noticed but I took at least to steps back because I don't like to get close enough to people steeping in fear.

I don't fear disaster, I don't fear catastrophe. I don't think there is a deadly Kodak moment coming for me anymore. From my earliest memories of being 4 or 5 and the phone call in the middle of the night came twice where my parents were informed family had died, I lived in fear. I was so frightened as a child that I don't know how I survived. I stayed awake at night guarding my family in my little kid world. I had not one person to crawl into the lap of and be comforted long enough the fear subsides.

There is a chemical in our bodies called Cortisol that is produced when human is in fear or anxious. The presence of this chemical actually causes the memory to basically burn in vivid detail the things that are happening when Cortisol is flowing. This is why my memories of my scary childhood are so vivid and fresh. 

I do not live steeped in fear today. The greatest thing that recoverying from drugs is that by tapping int the flow of creation I am not paralized with fear any more. The year of my 45th has found me stepping fully into the role of spirit having human experience and living. Living means I accept the fact that there will be easy fun peaceful times and some that arent. Labels are stupid. They limit us. What my ego says is bad or scary, my spirit knows how to use those things to expand, to deepen my faith and understanding..

Expansion. That is the final word I have on my 45 year. My spirit is now larger than fear, it is larger than unforgiveness. It is larger that being right or being pretty. It is larger than the idea that I need to pull of a great magic trick to get everyone to like or worship me. I am connected. My best year comes down to this recipe,,,,,, Forgiveness is for my benefit, what I say about others I say about myself. I don't write other peoples stories today and know one has permission to write mine. Love you when you fall short of the mark and love myself enough to do the same for me. I ask myself often , in a years time will this even be a speed bump, in 5 years will it barely even be a faint recollection. Free to love, free to try and free fail. That which doesn't kill is teaches us. Wisdom is garnered by making mistakes or thank god, learning from the mistakes of others.

My favorite quote is from Actress/Writer Carrie Fisher. "Losing your mind is a terrible thing but once it's gone it's fine, completely fine. There is no longer a part of you left that knows the rest of you is missing." I tried to kill or silence that tiny thread that still knew I was here for years. I'm glad it didn't happen. 

I've been thinking of my friend Rusty that killed himself a few weeks ago. He took an early exit. I'm ot sure if his pain was any greater than the rest of us' is, but I do know it was one of the worst waste of life I have ever seen. Had I had my way for DECADES, you all good have said the same thing about me. I havent had a drink or a drug,(including pot) in four and a half years, and that is remarkable, but the real miracle for me I have stopped trying to prove to myself and the world that I am worthless. I don't go out and try to prove that I am worthy either. I live a life based on integrity, which I learned at Narcotics Anonymous. I keep my word, I do my share, and I try with all my might to be a valuable member of the human race. Today I am asset, to my family, friends, work and to the planet full of people I will never meet. It's a connection I couldn't have comprehended experience.

 I don't believe despite NA/AA statements that "Everything happens for a reason". I do believe we can get what we need from every experience, but if i really believed there was no randomness in the world I would be depressed. The whole "Everyone has a purpose" feels like some ego driven B.S. to me. My purpose is to live here on the planet and not cause pain to those who try to love me, to put back more than I take and to take only what I need. I loved the quote on Facebook by Erma Bombeck that said something like when she dies and stands before her maker  she gets to say, "I used up EVERYTHING you gave me, I wasted nothing". I hope at the end of year 46 I have came closer to giving all away and using up every gift and talent the spirit put it me.

My dream is when the grim reaper comes for me, I have built such a lovely life filled with relationships and laughter that I beg for one more day. I bed for one more hour. I beg for 5 more minutes. I'm closer to that dream than I ever have been but I have to earn those things I mentioned being willing to fight for, that means stepping out of the box I create to keep me safe and taking chances with loving the people I come in contact with. I'm willing and showing up for human duty. 

Show up, do your best, tell the truth and let go of the results. This is advance I got twenty years ago and it helps me to this day. Let go of the results. Follow the voice of the spirit inside and ignore the voice of fear.

HOpe is great , hope is necessary but hope alone will fail you. Action must be attached to hope in order to make any real progress. Hope alone, has an expiration date on itm my personal experience is hope fades. Hope with out action is nothing more than a wish that lingers and takes us no where. When we attach action to hope, we amaze ourselves and the world around us. Give your hope a power source and put it to work............cg

The first cool air is cruel to me
It lands apon my skin and it confuses.
The warmth of your lips and breath
Against mine, under a sky lit by diamonds.
Heart beats and the instant recall.
How could a cool night bring it all back to me
How can October hurt me so, how could October air be so cruel.
I'm still a technicolor fool.

Our perspective often blinds us to the experiences of others. I am not dairy intolerant so I don't really pay much attention or give it much thought when someone mentions they have that issue. I don't need the "Affordable Health Act", so I don't pay attention to the millions that do need it. I have too much food to eat and yet I don't think about the mothers all over the world who wake up thinking , worrying and wondering how will she get food for her kids to get them to live another day. I like my job and I don't often think about the millions of people who go to work in impossible and sometimes life threatening situations for a few dollars a day. I don't like it when I forget that I am just a dot on the big picture . I look across the fields that have greened up since the rain came here and I don't think of the people who can see nothing but gray war destroyed land as far as they can see. Gratitude makes what I have, enough. It makes for an empty life to live by the idea that if it doesn't concern me, it doesn't concern me. I 've worked very hard to become a mindful, thoughtful, aware human, a member of the world's society and when I remember it's not all about me, I feel it. I feel it down in my bones. It feels like freedom. Today I try hard also to be respectful of your human experience, even when it doesn't look or sound a thing like my own.

Do you think it's wrong or egoic to want to be someones favorite person on earth. I'd really like to described as someones favorite person on the planet.

I'm disappointed in myself over last night for two reasons. The first was a coworker who has frustrated me since she started, was over whelmed with part of her job. She half assed it and I ended up correcting it later that evening when I discovered that she failed to do what was her responsibility to do. I stood there watching her early and I could see that she was in over her head and I got a sick kick, out of seeing her struggle. I made sure the supervisor saw the half ass messed she left, I started getting out of my head and it dawned on me , that my duty has a fellow spirit in human form was to ask if she needed help. Shortly after I made a big stink about it I came to me center and saw that I had really failed to live by spiritual principles. I was very disappointed in myself because I knew better but didn't do better. Next time I hope to lead with the spirit.

The second thing I am disappointed in my self was, I let man I don't like, who has no warmth or charm say something to me  and I let my ego get the best of me. He made a comment to me and I felt momentary rage and I just wanted to show him who he was dealing with, by unleashing a powerful barrage if skillfully chosen put downs and insults. I didn't and 5 minutes after the altercation I am steadily trying to plug in principles and perspective so I would not give over head space to a man I could care less about. It was just ego, and what he told me , he meant to get under my skin. So that tells me, I intimidate him in some fashion.

Sharing compassion, forgiveness and tolerance to those you love is easy and there is no particular growth in that. Choosing to apply spiritual principles to someone u dislike or who is trying to attack you is the real test of your spirituality. lol  My ego has tried to pick this issue back up several times since I woke up but I keep chosing to let it go. Just let it go, "don't give over any of your thought space to this man" because the situation is this is most likely the last weekend I will be working with him.

There is nothing I can do to make him any more miserable than he already is and I don't want to rot in the jail I plan for someone else, because that IS the way life works. I am not my mind, I am not my thoughts, I am a spirit housed in a human form with an ego that wants to believe it is the soul.

I tried religion repeatedly and it failed to do for me what I needed it to. You either believe our literature or not. We read every meeting that religion, psychiatrist and medicine won't work. I exhausted all three. The day my psych doctor looked at me and said "Clinton, there isn't a pill on the planet that is going to do for you what you want it to do. The best I can do is get you on level ground enough that if you want to get better you are going to have to do the work". He may have told me that before, but that one particular day was the day I "HEARD" it. I believed him and I have never went to a doctor after having heard of a new depression medication on a tv commercial since. I treat my psych issues methodically but the struggle I have with hope, reason to be here, and purpose are things I personally have to address everyday with methods from NA, AA and string of spiritual practices. None of my problems are magically prayed away. I cannot denounce any of destructive behavior patterns, selfishness, self-centeredness, resentment or cowardice as the work of some mystical evil force. It isn't the boogie man, the devil or satan. I am my own destructive force. I am the only thing that can cut me off from the sunlight of spirit. It would be great if I could shift focus from my defective character and claim an evil force made me steal, take drugs or hurt people, but by saying that I take no responsibility for myself-my actions. The whole nugget of recovery is shifting blame off others, our family, magical spirits and placing it where it belongs- On our diseased thinking and self centered actions. Today I am responsible. I'm responsible for my choices and my actions. I'm responsible for my INTENTION. I'm convinced the reason I flailed about in and out of recovery for 17 years is I kept trying to go to the "default" God of as it was understood FOR me. It wasn't until the slate was cleaned off and I began to put together truly my own understanding of a high power that my life began to take flight. I started pathing a stoned pathway to a loving spirit, my own direct river to the sea. I"m certain that the reason AA then NA have stuck around for decade after decade is the fact it urges you go come up with your own HP AS U UNDERSTAND HIM. All those programs that have hijacked the steps that conveniently leave "AS YOU UNDERSTAND HIM" off will fail for most people in the south because we were told some FUCKED UP CRAP about the creator of all things. Front loaded with boobie traps and land mines , judgmental and punishing, it's hard for us folks in the south that don't drink the Koolaid and nod with the Pat Robertsons and Robert Tiltons of the world. Most religions close people off, put themselves behind walls , draw battle lines of "us and them". Spirituality opens you up , it connects you to everything , it removes walls and erases battle lines. Why anyone would want to put anything as powerful and meaningful as a connection to all things bigger than you in a tiny box and guard it like it could be taken from you is beyond me. I find the more I give this hope and love away, the bigger the return. My understanding constantly evolves and grows and not many days go by that I don't hear something or see something that deepens my gratitude and fuels even more wonder about this Wonderful World and My Connection to it. When it's my time to leave here I hope for two things. First, I hope that I fight like hell for just one more day, one more hour , one more breath and two, that I leave this place a little bit better, a little bit prettier and a little more filled with love, simply because I added that to it. My days of taking for the sake of taking are done, as long as I stay plugged in. The secret of life as I know it is to be thankful for what you have and you get more to be grateful for. Oh, and that the universe rewards effort, it will rise up to meet you when it sees you a trying, and sometimes it uses people to reach out and meet you in your efforts too. God works for us and through us. Don't let anyone tell you who God is or isn't. When someone claims they speak for "God", I back away pretty quickly. When I want to know about "God", I watch animals, I watch the miracle of a seed grow into a tree, or bright pink and green Caladium leaves appear straight out of the dirt from a bulb that looks like a dog turd. I watch a violent thunderstorm appear in 20 minutes from a clear , hundred degree August sky in Texas. I watch an old married man feed his old married wife in a nursing home when her hands no longer can hold a utensil. I see God when a man has walked for miles to buy his child medicine at a convenient store in the heat to discover he forgot his money and a stranger pays for it for him, because he knows how frightening is is to have a sick child. I find out who God is when it is me that is compelled to do for a stranger what they cannot do for themselves. Dorothy in "The Wizzard of Oz" went on her journey looking for happiness. If I can't find a connection a to power greater than myself in my own back yard, then it's me that is at fault. You can find spirit in a tool shed if you are looking for that connection. The best news is, it is in our energy, or composition, our DNA to seek and make this connection. It's the one sure thing we have in common, an innate desire to reconnect with that thing that is bigger than us. It's why we feel so empty and desperate to fill that space with whatever we can find within arms reach. I looked for God in a package store, a pill bottle and a Doritos Bag, to no avail. I did do extensive research in what God is NOT. Breath, Forgive and find a way to enjoy this experience of being a spirit in human form. Find a power sources and recharge as often as you plug your smart phone in to an electrical socket. Step fully into the flow and find out along with me just what you were designed to do before self or circumstance redirected, misdirected our flow of spirit.

People Magazine asked Valerie Harper's, "Why with terminal Brain Cancer would you say yes to Dancing With The Stars" and her reply....."When they asked, I thought, 'Why would I say no?' " says Harper. "When life asks you to dance, you just have to dance."

(I am not a dancer but I really appreciate her answer. When life asked for our participation, we just need to show up, do our best and let go of the results. Life isn't really a spectator sport.)