Siggy’s Blurbs

WELCOME! I hope you will enjoy reading my blurbs.

In addition to the Blogs, I hope to encourage and inform poets and writers at Siggy’s Cafe For Writers & Poets, www.siggyscafe.com.  Here you will find many pages of articles, poems, suggested reading, and more, plus a special section devoted to my love of music.  Siggy

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Thank God for deep depression!  That may sound crazy but bear me out.  We all have seen the television ads:  there is no doubt depression hurts–yourself and every one around you but there is no magic pill to dispel it although the right medication might help temporarily.  And there is nothing wrong with that.

Just realize deep depression is often a profound indicator that at your core of your being there is something radically wrong.  You are not who you are supposed to be.  You know it and it is exhibited as depression because you can’t tolerate that knowledge and your mind and body is numbed as a result.

I am not trying to make you feel guilty nor do I have the temerity to tell you what you ought to be doing.  There is no magic bullet to lift the depression.  And you can not do it alone.  You need someone at your side–a trusted adviser, a facilitator.

It does not matter who you use.  Your mate is usually not a good choice.  You need someone who is not invested in your life.  The depression can lift given time but it will happen gradually and will require work on your part.

A body at rest stays at rest and will take extra energy to get going.  A basic law of physics but it can  be applied to someone who is looking for answers and is starting to be the person they were meant to be.

It is very difficult at first:  your mind and body is literally depressed and as I said it will take extra energy in the beginning to get going.  There are no easy answers.  You have to explore what is at your core–what you really want to do with your life.

The word for vocation (which is not necessarily your job) comes from the Latin root vocare which means to call.  Your vocation is literally your calling, your reason to be–your driving force.

No one can tell you what your vocation ought to be:  you have to find out yourself.  Someone can guide you in that search but nevertheless yours is unique.

Depression often occurs because you have thwarted your most scared calling.  I am convinced if you start doing more and more each day what your inner most calling is telling you to do your depression will gradually lift.

There are no easy answers.  And the world is full of people who are quick to tell you what you ought to be doing.  You have to find out yourself.  I like the title of the book, “Do What You love, The Money Will Follow” .

It is true the closer your life follows your inner most calling the more successful you will be with your life for you will be happier with your life.  I did not say necessarily rich but successful.  Life is not always fair.

Your deep depression is an indicator your life has strayed from what that little voice inside of you is telling you to do.  To that extent you ought to thank your depression.  It give you an opportunity to right your life.  You only have one life.

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Every person has a need for purposeful activity.  It does not matter if you have a paying job or not.  Even if you are retired, unemployed or even disabled, it does not matter.   Every day you have to find activities which gives you purpose, a reason to get up every morning.

Every person has things in their life that are important, that gives them meaning.  And if you don’t do them, there is a “hole” in your life.  A.ll you have to do to find them is to look around the people in your life who rely on you.

And also there are people in your community who need you.  Asa long as you don’t isolate yourself you will be aware of others’ needs.  Maybe a simple thing you can do to find the tasks around you that are important and give you meaning is do the next thing.

And when you finish the next thing go on to the next thing on your list.  Every person has a need for purposeful activity.  And you will know when you are on the right track there will be a sense of fulfillment in your life.  We are wired to love and help others.  You just have to keep your eyes open.

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It is March 12 and I am looking for my first sighting of a red winged blackbird.  I pass a marsh near my house.  The farmer puts out bird houses for these blackbirds.  They come back every year.

Every time I pas this area I have my eyes open to spot these beautiful blackbirds.  I looked today but I could not see any.  I did not see any with their tell tale red wings but I will keep looking for them every time I go on this road.

I have always loved seeing these birds.  And this is one place I look for them.  I just wonder where they spent their winters and how far did they have to  travel to get here.  I will keep looking for them.  I just think they are beautiful birds.

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When you are young, there is the illusion you will live forever.  Every one knows you will not leave this earth alive.  But we act as if this should never happen.  Death has become the last taboo.

When you become older and your body starts to break down, this illusion starts to break down.  Death becomes more of a reality.  Of course, this may occur when you are young too.

Of course, when you become older and the realization your time is running down it may sharpen your search for meaning.  You might stop spending time on things that really do not matter in the long run.

And spend it on the things that really do matter.  Time is finite.  And death or old age brings this to a head and may force you to face issues maybe you have avoided.

Every decision we make means you can not do something else.  We have to choose.  We can not live without dying.  And the realization of death sharpens that.

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Life is always about balance:  you are constantly seeking your equilibrium.  You may go from one extreme to another.  If you make a mistake (and we all do) , you correct it, which is one way we have of balancing yourself if you want to call it that.

Sometimes we behave in a way which is going overboard:  we may push too hard with a child ( it could a friend) and then take the opposite tack–loosen the reins.  Every action has a reaction and we are constantly having to adjust our behavior with others.

Our physical appetite is a simple example of this.  We don’t eat for awhile eventually we get a message–it is time for a meal (it is called our appetite).  The body is an intricate set of checks and balances.

When we get an infection our white blood cells come to our rescue to fight it.  We have no idea how incredibly complicated our body is until something goes wrong with it.  Then we find out.

Friends make mistakes with others and it is their reactions to our behavior that enable us to modify our behavior.  Life is full of checks and balances.  No one has to ever do any thing alone.  There is always someone to gauge our behavior against.  We don’t live in a vacuum.  No one does.

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Isolation is a bad thing.  Sometimes you have to force yourself to go out.  When you mix with others you gain a proper prospective of your life.  You find out others are dealing with problems–some severe.

It is too easy to magnify your own set of problems.  If you don’t talk to others this is an easy thing to do.  When you mix with others, you have an opportunity to learn about others and even find ways to reach out to other people.

Isolation is always a bad thing.  You think the whole universe revolves around you.  Going out frees you from this illusion.  You find out you are not alone and every one has to deal with something.

People get sick, even die and sometimes have almost unbearable difficulties.  You get an opportunity to share your problems with others.  And the reverse is also true.  You get to share your victories with others and they with you.

You never find this out unless you leave your premises.  It is always good to get out, talk to others.   And reach out to others.  ‘No Man is an island’  in the words of John Donne.

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It is never too late to renew an old friendship.  I received an E Mail from someone I lost touch with.  He did a search and found my web site.  We talked on the phone today for an hour and just picked up where we had left off.  It has been a number of years since we last talked.  Old friends never leave you.  They just fade away although when one wants to be my friend again and the connection is still there I never refuse an offer.  It is never too late.  Only when death comes do you lose the final opportunity to rekindle a lost friendship.  It is never too late.  So pick up the phone now.  And call that person you no longer talk to.  If you have to reconcile a broken friendship, do so.  Everyone’s time runs out eventually.  You may regret the lost opportunities.  No one lives forever.

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I saw my first robin of the year.  I was thrilled.  I was not looking for it.  It appeared under my large pine tree which I can view out of my living room window.  Now I know spring is on its way.  And now I will see if how many I can spot today going into town.

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Sometimes I have to let words my wife say go in my ear and out the other.  I certainly know how absurd I can be at times.  So sometimes I will let her words go out one ear.  If I hold them to her, it causes too many problems.  So instead, I will forget them.  Or forgive them for the effect they had on me.  Sometimes the words uttered were there to get a rise out of me.  In any case I will act as if they never occurred.  This is not a blanket statement to always ignore her but just sometimes.

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It is absolutely gorgeous today.  The sun is shining.  There is not a cloud in the sky and it is warm.  Today is a harbinger of spring.  It is officially less than two weeks away.  One of my dogs was still in the our yard in the right corner.  I called him but he did not want to budge.  He was enjoying himself basking in the sunlight.  It feels great to be alive.

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The subconscious is 9/10 of your perception   Another way of saying that is the conscious is only the tip of the iceberg.  Last night I was watching a film by Tom Hanks called “The Green Mile”.  He is a prison guard in charge of the section iof prisoners who are on death row.

My wife was on the computer  twenty five feet away not paying a whole lot of attention to the movie.  The next morning she told me she had nightmares.

The movie was about the evil in this world.  One of the prison guards and particularly one of the prisoners in that section were depicted as being evil. We absorb around thing around us.

Although my wife was not listening to the dialogue of the movie, she caught its evil tone and it  swirled in her subconscious  during her sleep.  So be careful of the company you keep or what you do or see.  It matters.

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All I wanted to do was watch the birds and listen to music with the volume pumped up but not unbearably so.  My wife would be gone several hours.  I had just come back from shopping,

I had a dinner planned–a new recipe-macaroni and broccoli but I would not have to start it for several hours.  I was tickled pink to see a house sparrow briefly.  I had not seen one in awhile.

The snow birds (slate-covered juncos) were feeding on the ground around out large white pine tree in flocks..  I glanced out the back window:  the bare patches were getting bigger.  It was in the forties.

It felt great to be alive.  I just wanted to be, sit back, stand it does not matter.  It was my time.  I was listening to a fine anthology I put together by the Hollies.  It was much played over the years which is a good sign I did my job of mixing the tunes well.

Another anthology by Steeleye Span(an old British folk-rock band) was next.  I do not play that tape too often but I still like it  And an old(all my music is old) Thin Lizzy album “Jailbreak” was next.

I had no concerns and will rest a little better when my wife get back from her appointments.  Meanwhile I will occasionally glance out my large living room window and see what birds come along.  Maybe even smoke a stogy while life passes me by.

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