Thank you for this inspirational poem Graham. Your poems always come from your heart and this one was exceptional. It reminded me of something my Dad used to always tell me. He said don’t swim upstream. You will use up all your energy trying to make something work or fit that is not meant to be and while doing so you will miss out on the beauty of life or as you said Graham, “the gift”. Thanks again and I wish you blessings on your journey.
He was the wisest man I have ever known. His advice was always simple and practical and given with love. He had the best outlook on life. Thank you Marsha for your kind words.
Graham first of all, great to have you back stimulating us to reflect, to understand our paths, our feelings and interpret what they mean. About 60 years ago, I came up with a one liner that has served me well over the years. “ If you have to force it to fit, it’s not fit to force it”. This poem reminded me of that. Anxiety or worry or vain attempts to try to manipulate a situation only leads to frustration which clouds the mind and inhibits the ability to see the right path or solution. As you said, taking steps back to reflect, to allow your mind to clear and your body to relax pays it forward by rewarding your mind and heart by guiding you to make the correct decision for you not anyone else. Thank you again for mental gymnastics right before bed! I’ll now be thinking of your words as I relax and plan for two surgeries in the next two days. I am at peace with that so my path is clear and present.
Cheers Jeffrey! You write with an eloquence that I do not possess but I aspire to. May God be with you and all your Healthcare providers in the coming days. I will pray for you to have mighty guardian and ministering angels to be near with healing power.
For me it's all about control. How I want to have control over certain situations in my life. But I don't have control. I need to accept that life doesn't work that way. That I need to go with the flow and not hold on so tight. I can't predict the future just like I can't predict the weather.
To lower unreasonable expectations, and just enjoy the journey.
Graham, the poem came this evening as I was sitting in quiet reflecting on my day, getting ready to journal. As I read it and listened as you shared about your inspiration and it’s meaning for you, I thought this is what I’ve been writing about off and on the past few months…finding guidance, accepting that it’s not always my plan and what am I to learn. Am sharing a poem I wrote about whose plan
Whose Plan
Challenges come along
What do I do?
Ignore, avoid, circumvent?
Bargain way through,
Tread water, plunge head first?
Tried all, trials still there.
Take one step at a time
Carefully cross the path
Face each challenge, shine light on it.
Stop, listen in silence to find the way.
Trust guidance to show
God is beside, guiding
The path chosen for me.
I’ve been finding that I need to keep my heart and mind open to listen for lessons, to find guidance, to appreciate the challenges as I can learn from them..even at age 75! Trust my faith as God knows the path I am to follow.
Thanks Graham for the poem, your weekly reflections are truly a blessing!
That’s fine, the poem is my thoughts on how to deal with challenges, I was going through some things at the time...tried all those steps to reach time to stop, listen and path was shown .
Thank you Graham for this and a bit longer life lessons that I’ve been thru. “ I do have to find a place where I can be by myself to find peace,away from my struggles. Nature is best ,in solitude. What has happened to me is a lesson,some days my thoughts are very dark and I won’t think about it today. I’ll think about it next week.Next week comes,I’ll do the same thing. When things go great I feel elated,when things go badly I just want to hide or disappear. Either way I am trapped in a dualistic rat race called life. My reality is I can’t control over all these events that had happened. This event of my life I do not have to this level of control my inner feelings. The downside of this lesson is from my health medical experience,it lead me to anxiety,depression. I need to get this out of my mind and I need to set goals ,aspirations and achieve them. What happened is done and there is not much I can do about it,patience as plastic surgeons tells me to have my face back. So I just need to learn to flow with the bad as well as the good. I have to,take life less personally which is hard,beauty comes from within. I have to tread a kind of “ middle path”without excessive performance anxiety, my thought to do the exact opposite. “ Worrying about my face ?” One day I was talking to God and ask Him what else do you have to throw at me? I remember the story of Job in the Bible . I can just be me and I will be okay, in fact I will be fine. “NEVER FOLD, NEVER LOSE HOPE,NEVER BACK DOWN”.
The lesson of Job's life is so incredible. Stay true to your course Lucy. Your beauty shines forth through your actions. I am very blessed to know you! Also very blessed by your sweet friendship. The encouragement you post every day for others, may it be manifested back to you ten-fold.
Lucy, how strong you are and speak with so much courage and acceptance of life lessons as well as being willing to share your story.! I don’t know you personally (but I hope to get to know you better) and I don’t know what you have been through, but I have learned that you are a fighter and you have a generous heart. Reading some of the things you have written (which are beautiful) gives all of us the inspiration to be more like you! Blessings to you!
Thank you Karen I appreciate you, I had cancer 2014 and I lost half of my face , it wasn’t just a surgeons fault my own body rejected all 4 attempts to fixed it using my own veins, tissue harvest and transposed. God is good it was all his plans.
Thank you Karen I appreciate you, I had cancer 2014 and I lost half of my face , it wasn’t just a surgeons fault my own body rejected all 4 attempts to fixed it using my own veins, tissue harvest and transposed. God is good it was all his plans.
Thank you Lucy for explaining your situation- you are so strong and brave to share your plight. I hope you always keep your positivity and courage. Your entries are always so positive and encouraging. You are a beautiful example of love and faith that is a gift to all of us! I am honored to know you( even though it is virtually). Blessings to you and I look forward to more of your beautiful words that you so graciously share with our THC family!
Thanks Lois. I have similar feelings and I ask myself constantly am I "really" alone? If I stay in touch with the Devine, G-d or spiritual self, I may be physically by myself but never alone.
Graham, just woke up and saw where you shared a new poem. After reading the poem and watching the video. I can say this has happened several times in my life. My pride wants it one way, but if anyone who knows me by now, my faith (in God) always knows what’s best. I agree with you that when I feel guided by God, almost always there is a gentle nudge near the heart area. If I’m going through a challenge, I’m almost always taught something each time which I consider a blessing that maybe I can take and share that with someone that may encourage them. Life is a growing and learning experience. Our pride wants to know why, but it is best as you share to ask, what can I learn or what is this teaching me? That is guidance. Good to hear and have you share one of your poems again. Thank you! Blessings!
Graham, great poem as always. So much to think about and reflect upon. the backdrop of the rippling ocean is so relaxing.
I had a job at our community hospital in the OB/GYN dept for over 32 years. For the first 29-30 years loved it. A great life and work experience. All of a sudden because of various business decisions, things started to change. Not just for me, but all workers. The job that I loved wasn't the same anymore. It no longer was what I wanted it to be. Jobs added with no compensation. So, what can I do? Too early to retire? I had to change my situation or continue to be unhappy. So much I would miss f I left. I have worked all my adult life. For the sake of my sanity, I needed to make a move. I looked into my situation from a financial point of view. Realized, hey I can do this . My husband was already a retired school teacher. He said, "Do it". So, I did, I took early retirement. For me the lesson I learned was to never second guess myself.
The unexpected gift I received was a new part time job in retail management. This job found me, for truly I was not looking. Part time gave me more time to spend with my family, and a job I loved, and I was good at it. A job with much satisfaction!!!
I did this job for 17 yrs., until I was ready to officially retire. Full retirement gave me lots of free time I never had before. So, I was on Netflix. This is how I stumbled onto Heartland. Loved it so much. So here I am today, a part of this great community that our beloved Graham has created. Another gift for me!!!!!
Thank you for this poignant message today Graham. I've spent a lot of time wrestling with my past but I've never tried relaxing into seeking the lessons. This feels immediately overwhelming but as I listened to you speak about it, I was able to relax some because of hearing your confidence in the process. I will try this! I'm sure there's much to be learned. Reframing it into seeking the lessons from it just might be healing. Cheers young man! Thanks again for the power in this poem and for sharing your gift of insight.
Thank you for this , especially today. I was given an answer today that I did not want to hear. I need to rethink my situation and adjust my expectations and thinking. Somehow Graham, through your poetry and wonderfully soothing voice you have a way of helping me be less of a control freak and more able to be still and listen with an open heart ❤️. So happy to hear your health scare ended with good news and sending blessings for continued good health.
First of all, I want to tell you that your return to Tuesday's reflections has me very excited, I like to wait to see what you will tell us.
I'm glad that you are well and excited to move forward.
This week's poem sounded more like a reflection for our life.
I never had control of anything, and I never intended to... In my own life, I try to be in control, but fate comes along and thwarts my plans...
I would say I'm not leader, I'm a follower.
You are a leader... And you know how to guide, very well, everything that is in your plans...
Follows your heart without fear of making mistakes, and inside your mind, is the inspiration that will take you to the Top.
You are a young man, who despite his young age is wise, and firm in what you wants, determined to conquer the world, to free himself from the control of other people.
I find this very commendable...
Today I admire you more than yesterday... IndiaFreitas 🇧🇷 💙
Sending you a thousand stars of light 💫 Infinite blessings 🙏 Cheers.
Welcome back Graham. What a surprise, to open up sub stack this morning and try to get caught up with all the writings and poems, and find a new poem from you, thank you for that. I read the poem, I listen to your video, and I reread the poem, And I did have a situation such as the one you were talking about recently, and the two words that came up to me, were prayer and meditation. As I was driving home the other day, I was praying that God would give me one answer, but Was that the answer? I needed to best fit the situation or was that the answer I wanted. So when I got home So when I got home, I shut off all the outside noises And I had a meditation. And I knew that that I needed to stop and listen to what my heart was telling me. I kept hearing a voice telling me to listen. and I am still listening, and The answer has been repeated to me more than once, so I know how I need to handle this particular situation.
Thank you for this inspirational poem Graham. Your poems always come from your heart and this one was exceptional. It reminded me of something my Dad used to always tell me. He said don’t swim upstream. You will use up all your energy trying to make something work or fit that is not meant to be and while doing so you will miss out on the beauty of life or as you said Graham, “the gift”. Thanks again and I wish you blessings on your journey.
I love this advice from your Dad! How simple yet how true. He must have been an awesome Dad!
He was the wisest man I have ever known. His advice was always simple and practical and given with love. He had the best outlook on life. Thank you Marsha for your kind words.
Graham first of all, great to have you back stimulating us to reflect, to understand our paths, our feelings and interpret what they mean. About 60 years ago, I came up with a one liner that has served me well over the years. “ If you have to force it to fit, it’s not fit to force it”. This poem reminded me of that. Anxiety or worry or vain attempts to try to manipulate a situation only leads to frustration which clouds the mind and inhibits the ability to see the right path or solution. As you said, taking steps back to reflect, to allow your mind to clear and your body to relax pays it forward by rewarding your mind and heart by guiding you to make the correct decision for you not anyone else. Thank you again for mental gymnastics right before bed! I’ll now be thinking of your words as I relax and plan for two surgeries in the next two days. I am at peace with that so my path is clear and present.
Cheers Jeffrey! You write with an eloquence that I do not possess but I aspire to. May God be with you and all your Healthcare providers in the coming days. I will pray for you to have mighty guardian and ministering angels to be near with healing power.
Thank you Marsha I appreciate your kind thoughts and prayers
I love your saying. I’ve written that one down. Thank you.
This poem hit me straight away.
For me it's all about control. How I want to have control over certain situations in my life. But I don't have control. I need to accept that life doesn't work that way. That I need to go with the flow and not hold on so tight. I can't predict the future just like I can't predict the weather.
To lower unreasonable expectations, and just enjoy the journey.
Ditto Christine! Lower unreasonable expectations....
Graham, the poem came this evening as I was sitting in quiet reflecting on my day, getting ready to journal. As I read it and listened as you shared about your inspiration and it’s meaning for you, I thought this is what I’ve been writing about off and on the past few months…finding guidance, accepting that it’s not always my plan and what am I to learn. Am sharing a poem I wrote about whose plan
Whose Plan
Challenges come along
What do I do?
Ignore, avoid, circumvent?
Bargain way through,
Tread water, plunge head first?
Tried all, trials still there.
Take one step at a time
Carefully cross the path
Face each challenge, shine light on it.
Stop, listen in silence to find the way.
Trust guidance to show
God is beside, guiding
The path chosen for me.
I’ve been finding that I need to keep my heart and mind open to listen for lessons, to find guidance, to appreciate the challenges as I can learn from them..even at age 75! Trust my faith as God knows the path I am to follow.
Thanks Graham for the poem, your weekly reflections are truly a blessing!
I’m keeping a book of Tuesday Reflections and included your poem. I hope that was okay. I’m truly inspired by people who can put their plans in word.
That’s fine, the poem is my thoughts on how to deal with challenges, I was going through some things at the time...tried all those steps to reach time to stop, listen and path was shown .
Thank you Graham for this and a bit longer life lessons that I’ve been thru. “ I do have to find a place where I can be by myself to find peace,away from my struggles. Nature is best ,in solitude. What has happened to me is a lesson,some days my thoughts are very dark and I won’t think about it today. I’ll think about it next week.Next week comes,I’ll do the same thing. When things go great I feel elated,when things go badly I just want to hide or disappear. Either way I am trapped in a dualistic rat race called life. My reality is I can’t control over all these events that had happened. This event of my life I do not have to this level of control my inner feelings. The downside of this lesson is from my health medical experience,it lead me to anxiety,depression. I need to get this out of my mind and I need to set goals ,aspirations and achieve them. What happened is done and there is not much I can do about it,patience as plastic surgeons tells me to have my face back. So I just need to learn to flow with the bad as well as the good. I have to,take life less personally which is hard,beauty comes from within. I have to tread a kind of “ middle path”without excessive performance anxiety, my thought to do the exact opposite. “ Worrying about my face ?” One day I was talking to God and ask Him what else do you have to throw at me? I remember the story of Job in the Bible . I can just be me and I will be okay, in fact I will be fine. “NEVER FOLD, NEVER LOSE HOPE,NEVER BACK DOWN”.
The lesson of Job's life is so incredible. Stay true to your course Lucy. Your beauty shines forth through your actions. I am very blessed to know you! Also very blessed by your sweet friendship. The encouragement you post every day for others, may it be manifested back to you ten-fold.
Thank you Ms. Marsha I appreciate you and so do I , I love our friendship.❤️🙏
Lucy, how strong you are and speak with so much courage and acceptance of life lessons as well as being willing to share your story.! I don’t know you personally (but I hope to get to know you better) and I don’t know what you have been through, but I have learned that you are a fighter and you have a generous heart. Reading some of the things you have written (which are beautiful) gives all of us the inspiration to be more like you! Blessings to you!
Thank you Karen I appreciate you, I had cancer 2014 and I lost half of my face , it wasn’t just a surgeons fault my own body rejected all 4 attempts to fixed it using my own veins, tissue harvest and transposed. God is good it was all his plans.
Thank you Karen I appreciate you, I had cancer 2014 and I lost half of my face , it wasn’t just a surgeons fault my own body rejected all 4 attempts to fixed it using my own veins, tissue harvest and transposed. God is good it was all his plans.
Thank you Lucy for explaining your situation- you are so strong and brave to share your plight. I hope you always keep your positivity and courage. Your entries are always so positive and encouraging. You are a beautiful example of love and faith that is a gift to all of us! I am honored to know you( even though it is virtually). Blessings to you and I look forward to more of your beautiful words that you so graciously share with our THC family!
Beautiful poem Graham. It came at a time I needed it,thank you! Have a great night! 🙏🏼
Graham, this incredible poem makes me think that I am set in my own ways.
I have to get the courage to let go of things in my life and have courage to go for it and listen to my heart.
Thanks for the encouragement.
Happy to have you back. Looking forward to next week. ❤️
I totally understand what you mean Lois. I too feel set in my ways. I think living alone doesn't help. 😁
Exactly, living alone is what I am talking about. It doesn’t help.😊
Thanks Lois. I have similar feelings and I ask myself constantly am I "really" alone? If I stay in touch with the Devine, G-d or spiritual self, I may be physically by myself but never alone.
Thank you Linda, for for understanding what I was trying to say.
Exactly, living alone is what I am talking about. It doesn’t help.😊
Graham, just woke up and saw where you shared a new poem. After reading the poem and watching the video. I can say this has happened several times in my life. My pride wants it one way, but if anyone who knows me by now, my faith (in God) always knows what’s best. I agree with you that when I feel guided by God, almost always there is a gentle nudge near the heart area. If I’m going through a challenge, I’m almost always taught something each time which I consider a blessing that maybe I can take and share that with someone that may encourage them. Life is a growing and learning experience. Our pride wants to know why, but it is best as you share to ask, what can I learn or what is this teaching me? That is guidance. Good to hear and have you share one of your poems again. Thank you! Blessings!
Graham, great poem as always. So much to think about and reflect upon. the backdrop of the rippling ocean is so relaxing.
I had a job at our community hospital in the OB/GYN dept for over 32 years. For the first 29-30 years loved it. A great life and work experience. All of a sudden because of various business decisions, things started to change. Not just for me, but all workers. The job that I loved wasn't the same anymore. It no longer was what I wanted it to be. Jobs added with no compensation. So, what can I do? Too early to retire? I had to change my situation or continue to be unhappy. So much I would miss f I left. I have worked all my adult life. For the sake of my sanity, I needed to make a move. I looked into my situation from a financial point of view. Realized, hey I can do this . My husband was already a retired school teacher. He said, "Do it". So, I did, I took early retirement. For me the lesson I learned was to never second guess myself.
The unexpected gift I received was a new part time job in retail management. This job found me, for truly I was not looking. Part time gave me more time to spend with my family, and a job I loved, and I was good at it. A job with much satisfaction!!!
I did this job for 17 yrs., until I was ready to officially retire. Full retirement gave me lots of free time I never had before. So, I was on Netflix. This is how I stumbled onto Heartland. Loved it so much. So here I am today, a part of this great community that our beloved Graham has created. Another gift for me!!!!!
Thank you for this poignant message today Graham. I've spent a lot of time wrestling with my past but I've never tried relaxing into seeking the lessons. This feels immediately overwhelming but as I listened to you speak about it, I was able to relax some because of hearing your confidence in the process. I will try this! I'm sure there's much to be learned. Reframing it into seeking the lessons from it just might be healing. Cheers young man! Thanks again for the power in this poem and for sharing your gift of insight.
It's good to have you back with your inspiring messages!
Thank you for this beautiful poem, there are so many truths in it, especially an alert to the "evil" of contemporaneity - anxiety.
I try to focus my attention on what the Bible says:
"For I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord, plans to prosper you and not harm you, plans to give you hope and a future". Jeremiah 29:11
A hug from Brazil 🇧🇷 🇧🇷
Thank you for this , especially today. I was given an answer today that I did not want to hear. I need to rethink my situation and adjust my expectations and thinking. Somehow Graham, through your poetry and wonderfully soothing voice you have a way of helping me be less of a control freak and more able to be still and listen with an open heart ❤️. So happy to hear your health scare ended with good news and sending blessings for continued good health.
Marion Chapman
Glad to hear your health scare is no longer. Always listen to your body.
Time
Time is an illusion, it is fleeting
When you are young time is tangible
Days are always long
As one ages time begins to fly
If only we could slow the passing
Suddenly I am nearing the end of my time
Monday becomes Friday, where did the time go
I still have much to do
Hopefully my journey will not end soon
I feel my angel above
And I am reassured
Graham,
You inspire me. It is better to walk alone than with a crowd going in the wrong direction.
Graham ↔️ From my heart to your heart.
First of all, I want to tell you that your return to Tuesday's reflections has me very excited, I like to wait to see what you will tell us.
I'm glad that you are well and excited to move forward.
This week's poem sounded more like a reflection for our life.
I never had control of anything, and I never intended to... In my own life, I try to be in control, but fate comes along and thwarts my plans...
I would say I'm not leader, I'm a follower.
You are a leader... And you know how to guide, very well, everything that is in your plans...
Follows your heart without fear of making mistakes, and inside your mind, is the inspiration that will take you to the Top.
You are a young man, who despite his young age is wise, and firm in what you wants, determined to conquer the world, to free himself from the control of other people.
I find this very commendable...
Today I admire you more than yesterday... IndiaFreitas 🇧🇷 💙
Sending you a thousand stars of light 💫 Infinite blessings 🙏 Cheers.
Welcome back Graham. What a surprise, to open up sub stack this morning and try to get caught up with all the writings and poems, and find a new poem from you, thank you for that. I read the poem, I listen to your video, and I reread the poem, And I did have a situation such as the one you were talking about recently, and the two words that came up to me, were prayer and meditation. As I was driving home the other day, I was praying that God would give me one answer, but Was that the answer? I needed to best fit the situation or was that the answer I wanted. So when I got home So when I got home, I shut off all the outside noises And I had a meditation. And I knew that that I needed to stop and listen to what my heart was telling me. I kept hearing a voice telling me to listen. and I am still listening, and The answer has been repeated to me more than once, so I know how I need to handle this particular situation.
Thank you again Graham. Blessings to you……
If your heart could be filled with as much passion as you give out your searching will have found what you’re looking for my friend. V