Did you ever feel like you had enough? Did you ever reach a point in which you have been hurt so deeply that you were not sure how you could overcome? Did you ever break free from someone who meant the world to you, not knowing how you could ever be whole again? Did you ever see your dreams fade from you because someone whom you loved more than anything held you back from letting your inner starlight radiate to its brightest spark? Did you ever trust someone who fed you false hopes? Did you ever long to be loved by someone who did not know how to love? I do not know you and you do not know me. But what I do know is that if you are human very likely your answer would be YES to, at the very least, one of these questions. Looking back at my life, I can tell you that I, as well as my dear friend Wreck whom you will hear very soon about, had first hand experience with each of these unpleasantries. I could walk you through the details; but, I am not here to drag you through any painful memories which would neither serve you nor empower you. Instead, I want to share with you how I overcame it. In this regard, the first words which I wish to share come from my poem “Who You Are” which allude to what I regard as the most powerful harness of our lives, a phenomenon beyond all others, an enigmatic reality constantly present. Let’s call it “your most fickle friend.” From people’s actions, unexpected or undesired events, to the environment you may be subjected to, your most fickle friend’s well being is at constant threat. You may be surprised to know that your most fickle friend is not someone you meet for dinner on Friday nights, enjoy luxurious birthday plans with, or go shopping with on a Sunday afternoon. Your most fickle friend, believe it or not, is constantly in your grin, has a great reputation for being fickle, and will never ever leave your presence regardless of your desires. Yes, it is a friend you will have for life whether you like it or not. Say hello to your most fickle friend MENTALITY.
No life could reconvene what’s lost
No life could reinstate what’s never been
But where there’s power to unearth the dream
Life is a queen, the human mind her diamond gown
The human strength, a fortress.
Where there is power to unearth the dream, hope, peace, healing, or harmony, in other words the goodness which will lead or can lead you to overcoming, life takes a very different form. My dear friend, the so called Wreck I alluded to earlier, recently asked me “But Carmen, there are all these things that happened to me and all these events in which people have wronged me. How am I ever going to overcome so much?” It is true that MENTALITY can be challenged by many things, from people’s behaviors towards you, the arrival of undesirable events which you have little or no control over, to the very environment you find yourself in, at times, by mere accident. Think of mentality as your ship and all the challenges as the winds and currents that hustle the waves under your ship. As long as you remind yourself that you are at the ship’s wheel, you can direct your ship. In other words, MENTALITY can be shaped by one’s inner power over one’s mind (being in charge at the ship’s wheel) which, like a domino effect, turns into one’s strength (the strength to get over the boisterous winds or currents of the storm). Once you are convinced of the great power your mentality has over your life and how you can be in charge of its integrity, your life will never be the same again. You will know that you can indeed be in control to such great extent that you can position your mentality in a way that enriches your overall life in a positive and uplifting way, despite of anyone or anything. “But Carmen, I don’t even know where to begin” reacted Wreck with a lost gaze in his eyes. I felt compelled, to turn next to my poem “Beyond the Silver Lining,” in order to help my friend Wreck realize that before mastering the skill to shift his mentality, he had to let go of the past and focus all of his energy on the here and now.
Let not an end define a new beginning
Transform the past’s great boulders into the present’s canvas,
Embrace through every brushstroke the future’s eyes of hope
Which glimmer toward you, across the vast unknown.
Wreck, looking puzzled towards me, he goes on asking me “But Carmen, how can one find hope in the vast unknown? That sounds about as safe as sailing my sailing ship right into the storm which I am trying to avoid!” Evidently, Wreck had not paid much attention to what I have mentioned in my previous paragraph. (You know, homo sapiens! We seem to have a real problem hearing at times despite listening!) Thus, I felt compelled to tell him that “There are storms you cannot avoid! There are storms which you never knew would be coming! But you still can face them!” Seeing that Wreck needed to see how the power of one’s mental state can outweigh the power of any storm, I turned the page to the ending stanza of my poem, “Despite The Storm.“ But before reading on, I explained to Wreck that every life encounter and experience is an opportunity for somethings and that, more often than not, those somethings are defined by our mentality. I made sure that Wreck heard me well when I said that I discovered that as long as I continue to practice harnessing the power of my mentality and shed light upon my thinking in such a way that I pave a way for my continued betterment, I can continue to see progress in my life. “Your most fickle friend, MENTALITY, is not easy to understand or handle. It takes spending a great deal of time studying it, testing it, challenging it, but you will become best friends in due time and soon enough you will see that it will get to serve you in a positive and uplifting way rather than you being enslaved to its fickleness and the negativity that fickleness tends to attract or, even worse, create. If you choose to foster a healthy relationship with your most fickle friend MENTALITY, you will see that, in due time, things will change for the better,” said I before moving on. “I hear meditation, exercise, and poetry are good ways to foster a healthy relationship with my most fickle friend MENTALITY,” asserted Wreck. “Oh yes, my dear friend Wreck, they absolutely are! Especially the poetry!”
I live my life, to breach the storm,
To overcome, to be, to become,
A sturdy ship
Despite the wrath,
To rise above the highest tide
To overcome, to be, to become,
A better me.
And so Wreck and I continued our deep conversation on MENTALITY when he noticed my recently published book “A Poetess’ First Flight” sitting on my coffee table. He knew that every poem excerpt I had shared with him came from that very book. Wreck was interested in having a copy of it for his own coffee table and I, of course, was happy to share with him that he can find it on my publisher’s website with ease at the following link http://bookstore.dorrancepublishing.com/a-poetess-first-flight/ or directly on http://amazon.com depending on whatever satisfied his fancy. Grateful that I touched Wreck’s life in a meaningful way, I felt compelled to share it with you too. After all, what is a creative work for if not to be introduced to the souls who could potentially be touched in a special way by it?
The END
Carmen A. K.
(aka Carmen A. Cisnadean)