Monday, April 9, 2012

Nobody's Fault


It's Nobody's Fault


It's human nature to blame others when you're feeling down. But that's the time to take positive action.
Whenever you're feeling blue, look within, to find out how you can change yourself and your response to the situation. Whenever you point a finger at anyone else, four fingers point back at you!
It's time to take responsibility for yourself and your feelings.

As parents, we sometimes want to "make life easier" for our children, and often we're willing scapegoats as they lash out at us with their feelings of hurt and disappointment in a situation. However
these are important learning experiences which can shape the way they deal with life.

I wrote this poem/song to get my daughter out of a bad mood, and to pass on to her the values that my mother inculcated in me as a child... Look on the bright side, learn from life,
you can choose your attitude. Finding fault doesn't find solutions!

Maybe you feel downhearted
Maybe you're feeling blue
Maybe you're feeling just plain bored
And you don't know what to do -
It's easy to fret and whine
And it's easy to complain
But you don't have to look far
For the reason lies within your mind
Yes it's nobody's fault
Not your boss nor your dad and mum
Nobody's fault
Not your brother or your best chum
You've got no-one to blame
That you find yourself alone
Yes, it's nobody's fault,
Nobody's but your own.
You can choose the way you feel
Whether it's good or bad
Feel upbeat and raring to go
Or tired and sick and sad...
But don't look outside for the cause
For it lies within yourself
You can give up and say, "Oh what's the use?"
Or "I'll make the best of it!"
Because it's nobody's fault
Nobody's but your own
Nobody's fault
That you find yourself alone
You've got no-one to blame
If you find the world a sorry place
Only you can decide
What goes on in your mind.
Before you moan for what you haven't got
Take a look at what you have
You can see the beauty all around
Hear the music of bird sound
You've got legs to walk tall on God's earth
And hands to do what you will...
Pick up a pen and write,
play a guitar
Or get into a fight.
Yes it's nobody's fault
That you're down or feeling blue
Nobody's fault
That you have nothing to do
You've got no-one to blame
That you find yourself alone..
Yes it's nobody's fault
Nobody's but your own.


So before you exercise
Your muscles in a frown
Turn your mouth upwards at the corners
You'll smile before too long
Don't look for company
When you wallow in your misery
You make others feel good when you feel good
So don't you think you should??
For it's nobody's fault
If you can't fid the good in the bad
Nobody's fault
If you choose to feel sad, not glad
It's time to change your attitude
To life's vicissitudes
So look for the good, and before too long
The good things will happen to you.

Saturday, April 7, 2012

Friday, April 6, 2012

Thorn Effect



Surrounded by prickers, thorns
tugging on my coat, my jeans
lowering myself to the dark small fruit
gathering in, berry by sweet tart wet berry
scratches growing, a burgundy stain
on eager fingertips
A family of five, with pails and bowls,
short on patience, gatherers as of old
of a simpler, primal age,
finding food in the wild, untamed,
uncultivated, natural state
crouched in the blackberry bramble
collecting tiny gems, tasty pearls
swatting at mosquitoes that stalked us
watching for the safety, the whereabouts
of younger, fitful pickers, eager for fruit,
not the quest, the search, under leaves,
under branches, the clusters hidden
shrouded from the view, sight of less tenacious
Gather them in, them all in, for the pie
the reward we seek, at the end of the work
the true fruits of our labors.



by Raymond A. Foss

Thursday, April 5, 2012

Unlock the door


The will to win, the desire to succeed, the urge to reach your full potential... these are the keys that will unlock the door to personal excellence.
Confucius

Wednesday, April 4, 2012

Photography is


Photography is not unlike the sea, which may offer a benign

surface to the observed even as it conceals depths and current

below.” ― Anita Shreve

Tuesday, April 3, 2012

Travel along




“He who does not travel does not know the value of men.” – 

Moorish proverb

Monday, April 2, 2012

Vague shadow


Give all to love;
Obey thy heart;
Friends, kindred, days,
Estate, good fame,
Plans, credit, and the muse;
Nothing refuse.

'Tis a brave master,
Let it have scope,
Follow it utterly,
Hope beyond hope;
High and more high,
It dives into noon,
With wing unspent,
Untold intent;
But 'tis a god,
Knows its own path,
And the outlets of the sky.
'Tis not for the mean,
It requireth courage stout,
Souls above doubt,
Valor unbending;
Such 'twill reward,
They shall return
More than they were,
And ever ascending.

Leave all for love;-
Yet, hear me, yet,
One word more thy heart behoved,
One pulse more of firm endeavor,
Keep thee to-day,
To-morrow, for ever,
Free as an Arab
Of thy beloved.
Cling with life to the maid;
But when the surprise,
Vague shadow of surmise,
Flits across her bosom young
Of a joy apart from thee,
Free be she, fancy-free,
Do not thou detain a hem,
Nor the palest rose she flung
From her summer diadem.

Though thou loved her as thyself,
As a self of purer clay,
Tho' her parting dims the day,
Stealing grace from all alive,
Heartily know,
When half-gods go,
The gods arrive.
Ralph Emerson