I have lived in many places, done quite a potpourri of work, and have known many unique individuals. Amidst the variety that spiced my life an integral part of a significant period of time was writing in journals. This started on San Jaun Island in Washington State in 1975. Through good times and hard times I wrote almost daily for over 20 years, recording observations, thoughts, feelings, dreams (both the nighttime and the aspirational varieties), and experiences; both physical experiences and some more etheric experiences.
When I reread my journals in order to log them and make them accessible I organized a group of entries that were meant as reminders to myself. From time to time I look at these and find myself reminded of things that I had seen so clearly at one particular moment, in one environment, and among certain circumstances in the flow of my life, and am often surprised; yeah, I knew that then.
Some of these reminders, whether regarding actions or attitudes, arose from contemplation and some from times I caught myself engaging in or featuring them and noticed the therapeutic benefit. I say therapeutic, but it is so much more than that. Many of these reminders are attitudes which clean house and give more space for the new and for necessary change.
It is so easy to forget and be swept along. Sometimes by events. Sometimes by the attitudes and agendas of other people we come into contact with. Sometimes by people we never meet but who seem to influence our society and make demands on our lives. But perhaps, mostly, by the pressures we put on ourselves relative to all the external things of one's life.
It will be noted by the shrewd reader that some of these reminders may seem to contradict each other. No doubt there is some truth to that. But each serves, I believe, to stimulate awareness of various aspects of life and various times and places along our paths. I leave them to be considered and applied when they seem helpful.
Many of these reminders mean something to me in the context of my life by just reading the one line title, but in putting this collection together I have expanded on each one a little. In the process of assembling these reminders, I find myself affected; finding myself more reflective. They seem to be having the effect that was the whole point of organizing this group of journal entries in the first place.
My hope is that they can be of some value to others as well.
