Tag Archives: peace of mind

The Magic

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THE MAGIC

Every sunrise cuts another mark in yesterday.
Every morning finds a way to keep me on my toes.
Walking through the streets of convoluted peace of mind.
Take a left and find the alley where nobody goes.

Sepe and I were talking idols with the hypocrites,
who found it best to keep their ears above the noise.
We dismantled their production of a theory,
and kept the conversation focused on the boys. 

Disappearing acts of friendship keep me wondering
if I’ll ever find the tree inside the seed.
I’ve accounted for the turns that wrapped in circles.
I keep spinning through the hopes of what I need.

Seven midnights keep a tally of the usual.
Doors and latches falling in a row.
Take the key and break into a new dimension.
Find a place where all the pretty people go.

The music finds the magic,
like a needle in a hundred pounds of hay.
Watch your life through single flashes.
Keep the ones you learned to love along the way.

Adolescence Interrupted

…and stop killing animals.

Twelve Years

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12years212 years. 144 months. 624 weeks. 4,380 days.

105,120 hours. 6,307,200 minutes.

These are much more than numbers. With each rotation around the sun, I’m reminded of my station. Every year is a bookmark in a story I never want to finish. These tallies are visual representations of the time spent away from risk, pain, and peril. They are universal stamps of approval, affirming that I made the right decision to carry on with this crazy experiment called life.

It would have been easy to wave that white flag during the downpour. When every ounce of optimism was depleted, when every cell screamed at me to stop, and when the self-inflicted psychological torture far exceeded any physical pain, I could have stepped off the train. I didn’t have to subject my body and brain to an uncertain future on a path laden with land mines.

The impetus to fight instinct came from those hidden recesses we haven’t quite been able to classify. It’s grit and gumption mixed with tireless tenacity, and the sum total of those efforts is twelve years of health, hope, and possibility.

Perspective is a funny thing. A life-or-death seesaw frames the simplest joys as monumental, celebratory occasions. Laughable moments of triumph—like walking unassisted in a hallway or finishing a full meal—demand a chorus of applause. Existence reverts to its most basic form. There is an appreciation for every waking second without pain.

The further we travel from that precarious road, the more comfortable we become taking everything for granted. Health becomes something expected, and pain takes its residence in layers of memory. Stress is assigned to daily worry, future projections, or mundane tasks on infinite checklists. The brain is designed to recover from previous trauma, so it feels easy to forget what is truly important…until we are reminded again.

I rode that boomerang for a long time. As difficult as things have been in this carnivorous city, and as much as my time is occupied by the weight of wonder, there is no comparison to the very real and immediate threat of losing everything.

So I am grateful for all twelve of those planetary revolutions, and I will continue my search for greater peace of mind inside that perspective.

Adolescence Interrupted