Hey, Obama, I Got Your Mandatory Health Care (Right Here)

Life is cumulative and what we do daily results in both our bodies and minds.

I am not a health and fitness fanatic. I'm of the opinion that you can run a marathon every day of your life, eat the best organic food, drink the purest water ... and still your body will die. But I do see value in being as capable as possible while you're alive, without relying on three handfuls of medication per day, designed to artificially do for your body what can be accomplished naturally in less than 20 mins a day.

For years, I've been doing 40 push ups every day. 20 in the morning, 20 at night. This takes a total of 2 minutes out of my day. This has nothing to do with trying to be stronger, or better defined, I do it because this exercise activates glands that excrete toxins from the body.

Recently, I began walking 1 mile a day. This takes 14 minutes.

And that's it. That's all I do. It doesn't sound like much, until you do the math:

40 push ups X 30 days = 1,200 per month.
1 mile a day X 30 days = 30 miles a month.

That's:

14,400 push ups per year.
360 miles of walking per year.

In 5 years, I will have walked 1,800 miles and did 72,000 push ups.

Life is cumulative. What did you do today?



Chad Lilly,
www.innercirclepublishing.com

Good Morning

Pink Floyd's 'Pigs' plays on repeat
while I tweet my not-so-random thoughts
into the stream of Twitter's moving madness
to capture understanding from the inside out.

Coffee.

Synaptic responses fire faster when no thoughts happen,
it's the silence between those gaps where snapshots
of the whole get handed to viewers ... remotely
looking within.

'Know Thyself' reads our every sacred scripture ...
and still we look outside of ourselves
for some far off kingdom to come to us,
or another myth to save us from what we already are ...
and becoming more of by the day.

Aware.


www.innercirclepublishing.com

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How We Change Our Past

"What's done is done and can not be changed." - This is only half true. While what's done is done, it is only our memory of events that become our past, and how we choose to interpret them drastically determines our now. And while we can not change the actual events, or their effects on others, we CAN change the meaning of those events in our lives. Allow me to offer this example:

A relationship comes to a very unhappy ending. We feel hurt, abandoned, betrayed....etc. All of our negative emotions, anger, and fears are rolled into 'bad memories' of that person, where even a mere mention of places, phrases, and songs become a painful reminder of this disturbing time from our past. Painful scenes replay of all the plans that will never happen, those dreams of a shared future, collectively crucified with a single word: Goodbye.

This emotional state can persist for months, years, or even lifetimes.

But for our example, let's assume we meet someone new. And they are even more wonderful and we're even more in love ... etc. Something magic happens in our mind that sounds a little something like this:

"If it were not for that past relationship ending as it did, I would have never been brought to where I am now ... and looking back, I wouldn't have wanted it any other way."

And suddenly those same memories, those same songs, all of those same past events ... no longer hurt. The events themselves have not changed, yet, the meaning we give to them has, and now, everything feels 'better'. (Ever been there?)

I'd like to point out that it is not our new relationships that change our past events, though we tend to use people in this manner to achieve that purpose, but the moment we change the meaning of those same events we immediately experience a different now.

And this is how we change our past.

Chad Lilly,

InnerCircle Publishing

Instant Writing #???????

Unplanned tragedies make the best lessons
and most interesting narratives
for telling later ...

nothing separate
except perception ...

we're all miners digging
for the golden remains of our former selves,
back where ancients were more adept than our modern tech
and the meaning of stars was much more than astrology
birthday party daily general-isms designed to make readers say:
"That sounds just like me." ...
when, really, every soul spans all spectrums
each capable of [be]ing God
through each piece at the same time ... I know,
it gets complicated
and diluted by history, centuries, and churches
who burn the book of life
to keep the true you
from ever being read.


- Chad Lilly Saturday 7/10/2010 10:22 pm pst

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The Black Sheep

Old McDonald had a farm ... EI EI O ... and on this farm there were some sheep ... many, many sheep.

Most were young and fluffy and white and cute and cuddly
and happy as can be with a mouth full of grass
as they spent their time in the sunshine, carefree.

And on this farm was one black sheep.

He had spent many seasons on the farm
and walked with a limp from an
incident where he was bitten
by a wolf when he was only
3 weeks old.

The black sheep was not young,
nor white,
nor cute,
nor cuddly,
and unlike the other sheep
he was not happy to spend
his time in the sunshine
with a mouth full of grass.

And as he was passing a group of white sheep
one of them ask, "What's wrong black sheep?"

"Why are you unhappy here on the farm ...
where we are given green grass to eat
and allowed to spend our days
lounging in the sunshine?"

And the black sheep said,
"Because things are not what they seem
here on the farm ... the farmer is not your friend,
he plans to slaughter you all at the end of the season
and cut you up into little pieces
to sell at the market."

And all the other sheep said,
"NNNNNAAAA NNNNNAAAA ... you're crazy black sheep!
The farmer feeds us and cares for us,
he shears us in summer to keep us cool ...
he works hard every day to provide for us,
the farmer is our friend
and we love the farm."

And the black sheep said,
"The farmer sheers you in summer
to sell your wool ... and allows you to graze
in his field to fatten you up
so you'll bring more at market ...
the farmer and his farm provide these things
because that's how the farmer makes his money."

And all the other sheep giggled and laughed,
"NNNNNAAAA NNNNNAAAA ... you're crazy black sheep!
we don't want to hear your crazy theories
about the farmer and his conspiracy
to slaughter us ... we're happy here
with our mouthful of grass and
spending our time in the sunshine ...
and you'd be happy too
if only you did the same."

So the black sheep walked back to the barn alone.

And the days rolled into nights,
until finally Fall was upon the farm.

And all the sheep were grazing on the last
of the green grass, when the black sheep
passed a herd of white sheep ...

"Hey black sheep, you said the farmer
was not our friend, you said he planned
to slaughter us all to sell our parts at market,
and still---here we are!!!
Happy with our mouthful of grass
and enjoying our time in the sunshine."

And the black sheep said,
"Harvest time is here and soon you will all be led
into the barn to be slaughtered ... and your parts
will be wrapped in plastic and loaded on to a truck
headed for market."

And all the sheep giggled and laughed,
"NNNNNAAAA NNNNNAAAA ... you're crazy black sheep!
we don't want to hear your crazy theories
about the farmer and his conspiracy
to slaughter us ... we're happy here
with our mouthful of grass and
spending our time in the sunshine ...
and you'd be happy too
if only you did the same."

So the black sheep walked back to the barn alone.

And morning came.

All the sheep gathered at the gate
to enjoy their morning breakfast in the field,
only to find the farmer waiting
on the other side ... and a new path
leading back into the barn.

And the black sheep said,
"If you follow that path and go back
into the barn, then a metal spike
will be thrust into your brain
and your body will be cut into little pieces,
wrapped in plastic, and sold at the market."

And all the sheep giggled and laughed,
"NNNNNAAAA NNNNNAAAA ... you're crazy black sheep!
we don't want to hear your crazy theories
about the farmer and his conspiracy
to slaughter us ... we're happy here
with our mouthful of grass and
spending our time in the sunshine ...
and you'd be happy too
if only you did the same."

The gate was opened ... all the sheep rushed
down the path only to find themselves
back inside the barn. In a single line ...
they could not see what was happening in front of them ...
all they could hear was the sound ...

tick, tick, tick, tick, THUD!
And then there was a smell.

And some of the sheep started to get worried,
suddenly they felt something wasn't right ... they felt like running,
but the other sheep said, "Calm down ... everything is fine ...
just think good thoughts and everything will be all right."

And all of the sheep felt so much better.

They calmly proceeded to walk themselves,
single file, through the line into the barn ...

And each stood quietly, while the blunt metal spike
reset to position ...

tick, tick, tick, tick
THUD!

And then there was a smell.

And one by one ... all of the sheep
walked obediently to the slaughter,
each thinking their own happy thoughts
while the metal spike reset
and plunged into their brain ...

then their bodies were cut into pieces,
wrapped in plastic,
and shipped off to market.

And the black sheep walked back to the barn alone.

And the seasons passed
and fall became winter
and then spring ...

and a new herd of sheep arrived on the farm ...

Most were young and fluffy and white and cute and cuddly
and happy as can be to arrive on the farm
to have that next mouthful of grass
and spend their time in the sunshine,
carefree.

And as the sheep were unloaded
from the truck ... they saw one black sheep
standing alone and looking sad ...

and one of them said,
"What's wrong black sheep?"


- Chad Lilly .... unpublished words.

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Look

While Twitter is down
I'll resort back to poems
written with digital pens,
my life's only meaning ... to be a scribe
writing the unseen words.

To incite new verbs
and erase the meaning
of all preconceived adjectives ...
I'll write in new languages
familiar to the souls
of listeners
hearing.

Eyes with vision to see
between the lines of tweets
and into the meaning, deeply reflected
by cosmic eyes from that eternal mirror
reflecting everything back
to you ...

Look.

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A Poet's Alphabet

All
Because
Children
Dive
Eloquently head-
First into swallow pools and
Grass covered battlefields
Hoping to become heroes
In the land of make-believe,
Just in case the world needs
Killers for hire called: Marines to
Locate and neutralize
Make-believe enemies
No man can see---
Only to find
People as scared as themselves,
Questioning their government's
Rules / regulations as they are
Seizing both property and freedom,
Till every person is but sand
Underneath the feet of
Vicious masters
Willing to sacrifice the
X - factor for
You and me to satisfy their
Zeal for more --- greed.

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