tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-549963549429593969.post7194352950127701181..comments2024-01-20T06:51:58.729-08:00Comments on Echoes of Tattered Tongues: Memory Unfolded: Happy PlacesJohn Guzlowskihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13052735138993479204noreply@blogger.comBlogger10125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-549963549429593969.post-71677536857823917542007-11-16T02:31:00.001-08:002007-11-16T02:31:00.001-08:00This comment has been removed by the author.Urkathttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17086121300436012432noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-549963549429593969.post-49781161985180269172007-11-16T02:31:00.000-08:002007-11-16T02:31:00.000-08:00This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.Urkathttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17086121300436012432noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-549963549429593969.post-31908762107912171652007-11-16T02:30:00.001-08:002007-11-16T02:30:00.001-08:00It's important that we put aside our beliefs and o...It's important that we put aside our beliefs and opinions and try to be happy in the moment. We have to invite happiness before it will venture to come to us. I'm grateful that your parents could smile and occasionally laugh after what they'd been through. You kids were their hope for a normal life.Urkathttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17086121300436012432noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-549963549429593969.post-53303731355055825802007-11-16T02:30:00.000-08:002007-11-16T02:30:00.000-08:00This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.Urkathttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17086121300436012432noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-549963549429593969.post-62556561276886008562007-11-15T16:05:00.000-08:002007-11-15T16:05:00.000-08:00Hey John, You said, "Sometimes when I'm doing poet...Hey John,<BR/> You said, "Sometimes when I'm doing poetry readings, I get questions about whether or not my sister and my parents and I were ever happy given the kind of experiences my parents had in Germany during the war. I can't talk for my parents or my sister, but I know that there were times that I was happy when I was growing up."<BR/> You probably don't mean it that way, but that last sentence kind of makes it sound like you've had no happy times since growing up.<BR/> For myself, I know that what ever my circumstances are, how I respond to them is my choice. Intense experiences overwhelm us while they are happening, but we don't have to let them control how we act once they are over. We can choose to react to something else. <BR/> Our minds don't really do multi tasking, they only appear to because we can switch our attention from one thing to another and back again at very high speeds. When we focus on one thing, everything else is relegated to the background. It's easy to relive pain and anger from our pasts, but it's just as easy to remember the good stuff. When you think about one memory, it precludes you from thinking about another. It's a choice that anyone (anyone without OCD anyway) can learn. It just takes practice.<BR/> A long time ago I was sick a lot. There were times when I didn't know if I would be able to breath anymore. There were times when I didn't know if I cared if I would breath anymore.<BR/>Here's something I wrote to encourage myself to keep on going.<BR/> SECRETS OF LIFE:<BR/> Nothing is perfect.<BR/> Nothing lasts.<BR/> None of it is personal.<BR/> It’s going to hurt.<BR/> No one gets out alive.<BR/> Almost everything is a matter of degree.<BR/><BR/> So:<BR/> Do the right thing.<BR/> Do your best.<BR/> Prioritize.<BR/> Seperate facts from opinions.<BR/> Verify all facts<BR/> Cultivate useful knowledge.<BR/> Cultivate non-attachment.<BR/> Choose some strong attachments.<BR/> Be cheerful.<BR/> Have fun.<BR/> Play fair.<BR/> Treat others well.<BR/> Stand up for your beliefs.<BR/> Think about what matters.<BR/> Be clean, strong, and brave.<BR/> Listen to others.<BR/> Listen to yourself.<BR/> Take nothing on faith.<BR/> Use the correct words.<BR/> Make your evaluations as solid as you can.<BR/> All the facts are seldom available, so cultivate your instincts.<BR/> Tell the truth when you can. <BR/> Lie only if you must.<BR/> Act decisively.<BR/> Know when to stop.<BR/> Violence and surgery are the last resorts, except when they are not. You'd better know the difference.<BR/> Do what has to be done, especially when there’s nothing to lose or nobody is looking.<BR/> Be here now.<BR/> Learn from the past.<BR/> Make mistakes, but one time only for each.<BR/> Don’t sweat the small stuff.<BR/> Never whine.<BR/> <BR/> PeterAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-549963549429593969.post-88215646431157909752007-11-15T13:46:00.000-08:002007-11-15T13:46:00.000-08:00Here's a comment I received from Wanda Sawicki who...Here's a comment I received from Wanda Sawicki who works with aging Polish women in Canada:<BR/><BR/>John,<BR/><BR/>Thank you for this posting. It's so timely for me, as the latest poem I sent you was about the Polish women dancing, the first poem about something to do with them that shows some happiness. Like you, I've often been asked whether these women are ever happy, because my presentations have dealt mostly with their grief and trauma. I'm hoping that I've worked through enough of that for myself so that the poems on the sweetness of life that can follow or co-exist with post traumatic stress may begin to appear.<BR/><BR/>I'm sending you a song that has helped me a lot in walking between the bitter and the sweet. It's by Canadian Jane Siberry, called Calling All Angels from her CD When I Was a Boy. The whole CD is about the soul's life journey, from becomin incarnate, walking the earth in a human body, loving and hurting and healing, and returning to the realm beyond, perhaps to wait for another turn. In this particular song, the soul has just landed and become aware of its body, and calls for angels and saints to walk with it as it begins to take its first steps. At one point the words go "...if you could, do you think you would trade in all the pain and suffering? Ah but then you'd miss the beauty of the light upon this earth, and the sweetness of the leaving..."<BR/>I hope you enjoy it.John Guzlowskihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13052735138993479204noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-549963549429593969.post-26328234956998335412007-11-15T11:30:00.000-08:002007-11-15T11:30:00.000-08:00My friend Chris Meyers sent me the following:John:...My friend Chris Meyers sent me the following:<BR/><BR/>John:<BR/><BR/>You went to the beach at Ocean City? Is that Ocean City, NJ? <BR/><BR/>My family used to go to the boardwalk at Ocean City every year. We would camp in Sea Isle City in a pop-up camper and once a year we would go to the boardwalk. <BR/><BR/>One time we were just arriving at the boardwalk in Ocean City and somebody was unloading stuff for themovie theatre. A huge bag of popcorn, probably 3 feet in eight, had a hole in the bag, so the delivery guy gave it to us. I'll never forget that big bag of popcorn. I think it lasted the whole summer.<BR/><BR/>ChrisJohn Guzlowskihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13052735138993479204noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-549963549429593969.post-53381283012239640732007-11-15T11:27:00.000-08:002007-11-15T11:27:00.000-08:00This comment has been removed by the author.John Guzlowskihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13052735138993479204noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-549963549429593969.post-64597991712257181272007-11-15T11:25:00.000-08:002007-11-15T11:25:00.000-08:00This comment has been removed by the author.John Guzlowskihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13052735138993479204noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-549963549429593969.post-14027851654638585712007-11-15T00:03:00.000-08:002007-11-15T00:03:00.000-08:00John,Your writing moves me. It is like a warm cup...John,<BR/><BR/>Your writing moves me. It is like a warm cup of coffee on a morning that is barely light and still holding onto the chill of darkness.The Accidental Existentialisthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13646706361986212651noreply@blogger.com