It’s been a lot of sojourning, both physical and spiritual, these past two weeks.  I have been to only good places, in terms of physical travel.  Nowhere have I been let down, much, by the people around me, or the people I have seen.

Spiritually, I have been blessed with feeling connected to the ancients and the departed souls, in places like the Grand Tetons, Medicine Wheel, Devils Tower, Harney Peak, the Baha’i House of Worship in Wilmette, IL,  Cahokia Mounds, and today, atop El Dorado Canyon.

Emotions have always been my Achilles heal.  As I said in a previous post, I am an acquired taste.  Too intense by half, I have seen plenty of struggle, these many years.  I’ve fallen in lust several times, from teenage crushes and indiscriminate kissing, in my teens and twenties, to fanciful attachments to women, over the past 18 months, which have not gone anywhere.  In fairness, neither have the fanciful attachments that random women have had on me.  It has to be a two-way street, and we all get hurt by one person or another, every so often.

I’ve had two  women in my life whom I love (present tense intentional) strongly and deeply.  One became my wife, my soul mate,and remained by my side until her passing, two years ago.  As I write this, she is nearby, I feel.

The other is one I regard as my best friend, but is one who has a strong, independent life of her own, living far from me.  She impacts my life by her day to day acceptance of challenges, which have been considerable for her, of late.  She has awesome goals for the immediate future, and I support her 100 %.   She is my best friend because she inspires me.

I live alone, for the time being, by choice, because I have needed the past two years to regroup and recuperate from the severe blow of March, 2011.  I have refused to stay isolated, however, and therein lies my survival and recovery.  Full involvement with life in my adopted community of Prescott has helped me accelerate that process.

I have traveled extensively in the United States, over the past 18 months, not as a flight mechanism, but as a means of discovery, both of who I am and what makes our nation tick.  The saying goes, “Wherever you go, there you are”, so running away is a chimera.

The human spirit is, like Abraham Lincoln described his office of the Presidency, of enormous power.  We are made with all the virtues of the higher power.  I have seen people, who have let themselves be consumed by depression, guilt and stress- none of which are intended for us by the Creator, become inspired, recover from their funk at an astonishing pace, and soar in achievement and discovery.  We limit ourselves only by our attachments.

I am not a man of great achievement.  I have helped several hundred, maybe a few thousand, people in my life, both professionally and personally, to get over their hang-ups and sense of limitations, their scarcity mentality.  I was a good caretaker to my wife, in her last years.  With her, I raised a fine, industrious young man.  I cannot walk with a high level of pride, though, because occasionally, people have been hurt by me.  I have, whenever possible, “manned-up” and made it right for them again, but the recovery rate is not 100%.

I   have, over the past two weeks, visited with a variety of people.  I am struck by those who insist they must be isolated because “no one wants me”.  The only answer to curbing isolation is to get out there and live.  God did not put us on this earth to be estranged from our fellows.  He put us here to do great things, as a group, and individually.

I can continue to be of service, whether in Prescott for the time being or elsewhere, possibly as early as next year.  My son is an asset to the United States Navy, now and for at least the next two years.  My brothers are important to the companies for whom they work.  My best friend is in the process of changing careers and resuming activity in a field of endeavor in which she has been passionate in the past.  Each of you, my reader-friends, has a passion, and a skill set, that are needed by somebody. The late Joseph Campbell said “Follow your bliss”.  This was not a pitch to idleness and sloth.  Lao-tse wrote, thousands of years ago, “Do what you love, and you will never work another day in your life”.

Aloneness, with a modicum of privacy, lets us make key personal decisions in a place of  serenity, away from the  welter of public opinion, whether electronic or physical.  Isolation, on the other hand, stunts our growth as human beings.  No one, save the most heinous of felons, is so wretched that he or she must hide from all humanity in perpetuity.  We belong largely together, balancing the dignity of privacy with the need to sound people out, on matters large and small.

These are things that have come into my mind and heart, while figuring out what my place is in the scheme of things and in the life spaces of those closest to my heart.  I only look forward to what lies ahead.  Like my friend, I will embrace life with the passion it deserves.  See you all out there, following your bliss.

( I am not putting this on Facebook.  I would rather have people come here, from now on, for my more personal posts.)