What Really Matters:There is No Them

The Inspiration:

A famous life coach and author, Stephen Covey ,

promoted and practiced a popular exercise

where one would imagine their own retirement dinner or 

funeral and think what words that family , friends and colleagues 

may use to describe you- your life. 

I would use forms of this exercise with corporate clients and 

college students alike. (total at least a 1000 plus.) 

It was very rare that respondents would use words

that described professional achievements or attachments

to things...i.e. jewelry , homes, boats, cars etc , or 

financial wealth, career success , ego and status etc etc.. 

The most prevalent words and descriptions and responses

include : loving ; caring for and helpful  others ; friendly ; peace filled ;

ethical; integrity; truth-filled; collaborative, creative, risk taker..

(concern for the common good) and spiritual.

Discussions would ensue about the reality of the world we live in, 

the awareness of personal imperfections and and how and 

when we exhibit those essential personal qualities we discussed 

as to how we may want to be remembered .

It would become clear that these are the aspects of our journey

that really matter.

-----

The Writing:

What Really Matters: There is No Them

We are here to exist in relationship with 

all creation;

everything and everyone is of the mystical 

divine majesty.

We are here to be authentic contributors -

to respond and to serve,

wherever and however we can - 

sometimes by lending an ear,

sometimes by lending a hand,

knowing when to speak,

and when and how to listen.

At times, it is simply a matter 

of just sitting in grateful silence.

At times , it is leaping into the fray 

to offer something- somehow- to someone 

whose heart is weary.

At Times, it is sensing

when a smile is needed,

or when a shared tear 

is the greatest consolation .

And at times it is taking 

that modest gift we carry

and offering it to the great play   

lifting the spirits

of wandering souls.

Remember this: 

it is  not -

it has never been --

- about just you or me  alone.

it is, and always will be,

about  us.

There is no them

- JF Sobecki

-----

Poetry (and such for your Contemplation)

(Please click on link below each picture to see video)

Some things are just worth repeating.

For What Binds Us - Jane Hirshfield

https://youtu.be/MQb5g5CISn4?si=-pSB5Ze75P4grn08

"What will your verse be? (Dead Poets Society)

https://youtu.be/-7OE6bDfM2M?si=aXHOD2UcdPp2ypfD

----

Music: and such for your listening inspiration

(Please click on link below each picture to see video)

Invisible - U2

https://youtu.be/HqqDExc8TF4?si=RxkDeme1M8K_z0MT

Get Together - Youngbloods

https://youtu.be/7xGxQXmu7Os?si=g72Ij5-1-JbP_Acf

How Can a Poor Man Stand Such times and Still Live 

- Ry Cooder

https://youtu.be/LI0BtL_6Y50?si=lT_p15RHvppJY3H2

-----

Coda: Something further for your reflection 

* The World Bank states that in using a poverty line of $6.85/day 

for middle income countries is estimated at 3.5 billion people , 

or 44% of the world's population, live under that poverty line.

* Research indicates that even with significant differences

the major religions and spiritual practices around the world 

they share the following common perspectives and themes:

- Compassion and love - how we treat others

- promote human welfare and reduce suffering

- Practice loving kindness all ways

- All life ( existence) is connected.

- A good life is measured by your kindness to others

- Seek truth, wisdom and understanding

- Be grateful , present and aware of each moment

- There is a higher purpose in life than materialism

- Service to and care of others ( especially those 

   who cannot help themselves)

If you or someone you know needs help

Search and connect to support. financial assistance, food pantries, 

medical care, and other free or reduced-cost starts here:

 https://www.findhelp.org/

"We sanctify all we are grateful for"

- Anthony DeMello

Have a blessed and Healthy Thanksgiving!

AMDG

Copyright All Rights Reserved 2025 JF Sobecki LLC

Morning Matins: Breathing Under Water

 "We are the drop of water rising up , joining with the drops

in a cloud until in a blink of the cosmic eye the drop falls

returning to the expansive sea from whence it came...back home."

- Adapted from a Buddhist teacher

"Every moment and every event of

every person's life on earth plants

something in our soul. For just as the wind 

carries thousands of winged seeds, so each moment

brings with it germs of spiritual vitality 

that comes to rest imperceptibly in the minds

and wills of everyone. Most of these

unnumbered seeds perish and are

lost, because we are not prepared to receive them: 

for such seeds as these spring up 

anywhere except in the soil of freedom, spontaneity and love.

- New seeds of Contemplation. Thomas Merton

Inspiration :

Waking in the morning can be a most mystical gift.

Sometimes rest and sleep do not arrive as we intend.

It can be restless, filled with passages into rabbit holes

that make Alice's experience seem like metaphors 

while other storylines contain some hidden truths

or fears sparked by exaggerated interpretation 

of the real.

Yet, when the wandering brain and body

signal it is time to return to the world's vibrancy, 

there is no conscious awareness of the science that fuels

the moment of morning's reverie.

Sometimes - just sometimes -the divine 

gift of epiphany

arrives in that dawning without warning or 

prophecy.

    The wonder returns.

The Writing:

Morning Matins: Breathing Under Water

Crickets chirping and morning bird songs

proclaim humble sweet gratitude.

Dark shadows of night evaporate

as the gleam of the forthcoming 

brilliance begins to wash over

resting silent landscape.

The last flowers of summer

submit an offering of one final 

proclamation of blessedness.

Nature's tranquility, evidence 

- of the mystical

caresses with waves of grace.

A rekindled spark of a sanctified sanctuary

gifts the constancy of unconditional love 

with gentle cosmic winds of mercy.

The sound of soft rolling waves on the shore line

sweep away the footprints of authentic

prayer-filled pilgrims, 

gulls and  scampering sandpipers.

A red bead of sun peeks over the horizon illuminating

and warming the waiting third planet

as she moves on in her journey.

 

Yet some insecure sentients deem this sanctuary

imperfect, 

contriving plans to disrupt the grandeur of 

the great cathedral.

The morning matins of wayfaring strangers

as if breathing under water,

conjure tears of deliverance - 

fearing the universe's divine majesty

as it may abandon everything -

starting anew somewhere else in the great expanse.

- JF Sobecki

-----

Poetry (and such for your Contemplation)

A Day

I'll tell you how the sun rose-

A ribbon of a time.

The steeples swam in amethyst,

The news like squirrels ran

The hills untied their bonnets,

The bobolinks begun.

Then I said softly to myself,

"That must have been the sun!"

But how he set , I know not.

There seemed a purple stile

Which yellow boys and girls

Were climbing all the while

Till when they reached the other side,

A domine in grey

Put gently up the evening bars,

And led the flock away.

- E. Dickinson

Sandpiper - E. Bishop

https://youtu.be/y23xgttkUs0?si=qCr2NdnDdY3jlEF6

----

Music: and such for your listening inspiration

(Please click on link below each picture to see video)

Morning Has Broken - C. Stevens(Yusuf)

   (Dawn at White House- Jesuit Retreat ,St. Louis, Mo)

https://youtu.be/e0TInLOJuUM?si=RmHWvT8OKbtn1DoO

Morning - Beck

https://youtu.be/UvKbBkiYN9Y?si=ifkK07uI5rNCcnHn

New Morning - B. Dylan

https://youtu.be/99s-B9YoGPA?si=Qwm_FNQYMI8TEEQ7

Light of the Clear New Morning- Conspirare

https://youtu.be/TkrIQ0XEeFU?si=XpLWYqJivM-0iOkj

-----

Coda: Something extra special for your consideration 

and reflection ( wait until the end)

Intention and Kindness - W. Dyer

https://youtu.be/vmGQev-obBk?si=mKnKJQ7JwTV0DJ8p

AMDG

Copyright 2025 All Rights Reserved JF Sobecki LLC

Humble Contemplation and the Art of Ageing

 

"You cannot travel the path until you become the path itself."

- Buddha

"Three things in human life are important. The first is

to be kind. The second is to be kind. And the third is 

to be kind"

- Henry James

"Coincidence is God's way of remaining anymous"

- (Att) A. Einstein

"Remembrance is a form of meeting"

- Kahil Gibran

"It is not how much we read or accumulated that matters .

It is how we have lived , loved and served"

- (adapted) Thomas A' Kempis

Inspiration :

While organizing a series of "legacy projects" ...sort of selecting 

bits and pieces of my life journey to date for my grandchildren

as "something to leave behind. "

      Something happened.

While trying to organize different chapters of my passage.

Pieces of a long lost puzzle magically appear falling into place

by the power of a cosmic source.

Memories once lost begin to resurface like a river busting

through a dam overwhelming the heart . Unbridled emotions :

smiles, tears , gratitude , humility , joys , faces, places ,events

and the changes and the losses ...the glass once half full overflowing.

 Mandala

_________

The Writing:

Humble Contemplation and Art of Ageing

Meheil, the ever-present angel of inspiration whispers,

"Who knows where the time goes? You have many stories

and the one's you recall are the one's that sanctified you.

Learn from them . Share them as others may remember.

Release the ego. 

Release the desire and its shadows.

You are here now . Every thing  and everyone has purpose.

Life's purpose is to be completely yourself 

without pride, without reward,

without the hunger for recognition.

This moment is reality. 

The path that brought you here  -

the joys , the sorrow or indifference --

is the mandala of your arrival,

- soon to be swept away.

Every beginning has an end and every ending has 

a new beginning..."

- JF Sobecki

-----

Poetry (and such for your Contemplation)

Oh me! Oh life!

Oh me! Oh life! of the questions

of these recurring.

Of the endless trains of faithless,

of cities filed with the foolish,

Of myself forever reproaching myself,

( for who more foolish than I, and who more faithless?)

Of eyes that vainly crave the light,

of the objects mean, of the struggle ever renew'd,

Of the poor results, of the plodding

and sordid crowds I see around me,

Of the empty and useless years of the rest,

with the rest me intertwined,

The question,O me! so sad , recurring---

What good amid these, O me, O life?

                                  Answer,

That you are here ---that life exists and identity,

That the powerful play goes on, and you may contribute

 ---a verse

 - W. Whitman

Swimming , One Day in August

It is time now , I said

for the deepening and quieting of the spirit

among the flux of happenings.

Something has pestered me so much

I thought my heart would break.

I mean the mechanical part.

I went down in the afternoon

to the sea

which held me, until I grew easy.

About tomorrow , who knows anything.

Except that it will be time again,

for the deepening and quieting of the spirit.

- Mary Oliver

----

Music: and such for your listening inspiration

(Please click on link below each picture to see video)

Dear Time - J. Browne,S. Martin, A.Brown,J.Hanna

(my current theme for my daily reflections)

https://youtu.be/v_yJFbvOkXs?si=0chTmtTqkmWBDs5Z

Who Knows Where the Time Goes- Fairport Convention

(R. Thompson)

https://youtu.be/OkOB57UcYk8?si=Fg3VcdOkmy7ABfCs

Memory Lane - V. Morrison

https://youtu.be/gRbsj2HooGw?si=lMt92LdKVJyEl_lH

To Leave Something Behind - S. Rowe

https://youtu.be/mSgnC5eQ5u0?si=BsWxOJ-S1JhCUZCK

-----

Coda: Some extras for your reflection

The Circle Game - T. Rush ( J. Mitchell)

https://youtu.be/dURdp9tXa6k?si=zTw2dzFkxpCv2GQo

The Biggest Regret of an 80 year old - G. Mate'

https://youtu.be/K0yqlInedZM?si=qUfcAJchfLnXhzWE

(Happy Birthday - G)

Remembering Labor Day --- for all those who work, have worked.

and want to work ....

AMDG

Copyright 2025 All Rights Reserved JF Sobecki LLC