One Day At a Time

The mantra of ‘take one day at a time’ is good advice for all of us. Life is complex even in the simplest of situations. Jumbling things together makes it worse. A shoelace knot is not undone in haste; calm attention to the direction of the lace in the knot will allow it to be backed off; and then the knot comes undone.

So too other matters all knotted up. Marriages are such. Very simple on the surface but complex with personalities, situations, passage of time, things left unaddressed, tasks left undone. All of these compound to new levels of complexities in need of undoing myriad knots. To make things whole again takes work and attention to detail.

It is true as well with digesting new educational material – math courses, histories, languages and science. Each new fact or issue builds toward the next one in logical course. Eventually understanding fuels self education and expertise. Practiced everyday the new becomes old and use becomes automatic.

Practice playing the piano, or violin, cello or clarinet. Soon music will reward your soul and make more possible – both music and soul! Day by day; moment by moment. The practiced comes to age and deliverance.

I write this as an aging man. I see the world unfolding before my eyes. I engage it. It engages me. I learn something new every day, often every hour. It expands my understanding of most things. And new things as well.

I still stumble using the cell phone but marvel at its connectivity to the world. I cannot master the cable TV. It goes black and I call for help. It shows a menu screen that stubbornly will not disappear and I shut off the TV. Alas, it is still there when I turn it back on. Only help gets me out of this pickle.

I know I am not the only one. Someone else has to bail me out continually on this. So too the blue tooth connection of the cell phone with the car’s computer system. This works most of the time but often it becomes disconnected. I’m told I did something that caused this. I know not what I did! All I know is someone else has to reconnect it for me.

I have other things to think about. At my age I have limits both to time and patience. If I force myself to learn electronic mania then I displace the patience and time for learning something else I am certain has more importance than the electronic stuff.

You may not agree, but this is my coping method for the present.

It comes in handy. I turn on the TV and get news I don’t want. Conveniently the TV locks up and I must turn elsewhere for my attention to be engaged. The internet is a good place so I turn to the computer. There I find more peaceful news; that which isn’t, I move off from and to something more pleasant.

In time I return to the unpleasant and try to make sense of it. One thing at a time. one issue at a time. one nutcase politician at a time.

In Trump time we must all learn to cope. Surely he will run out of nasty funny business so we can begin to fix what he has damaged. Surely the world community knows America is not fixed in the image of Trump. Surely our lifelong friends will know we are in an age of discontent and the fringe nuts really don’t represent the best of us.

Undoing the knot. Everyday. Doing my work. Being kind to another person. Finding something to smile about and even laugh about.

Funny thing; lately I’ve noticed my laughter is more uproarious. Is that because the release of tension is so strong? So built up are my fears and loathing at what is happening?

One day at a time. pull back from the edge of despair. Take a deep breath. Do the right thing. Hug someone. Give them strength and steal a little for yourself.

He is not my president. This is still my country. It is made up of 330 million people, most of whom have good souls and generous hearts. We will prevail. We will get through this.

One day at a time.

February 14, 2017