Some terrific writing from my friend John Burton. A must read!
You Gotta Let Go To Embrace The Flow…John Page Burton.
just keep following…….
Craig
FollowCraig: You Gotta Let Go To Embrace The Flow…John Page Burton
1
Category Archives: Uncategorized
FollowCraig: So Fast!
…..and you’re still following
So I’m here at home watching a television show about our digital age while writing on my iPad. Later I will review this story on my home computer, edit and then post on; Twitter, Facebook and so many other social media sites using the “Internet“. Would I have ever imagined years ago, when we only had a black & white television, phones with dials and connected to the wall with springlike cords, typewriters (not electric) and the list goes on that I would have an iPad? Not in a million years! So Fast, in just over 45 years or so much has changed. just the other day someone shared a photo of an Internet minute. Have you ever looked to see what happens in only a minute on the Internet? It’s astounding! Life does move fast, it has for me that’s for sure. Now at 60, my children are grown with families of their own. It still seems however like I am still in High School, the world is moving faster than ever and I still love being in it and everyday opens up to a new and thrilling future. Yes we do live in a more and perhaps better connected world and it seems as if we are traveling the speed of light. However when I hear others say we are moving to fast and we must slow down, I wonder what that really means? To me slowing down is not the real objective but rather to keep up, continue to learn, stay connected with the world, engage in life. The wonder of being older is that rather than slowing down, we can look back and reflect on our experiences. Use that knowledge to keep moving forward. A lot does happens in an Internet minute, but experience happens throughout a lifetime. So stay strapped in and hold on!
You’re still reading, I’m still writing, so please keep following…..
Craig
Related articles
- FollowCraig: ?Peace? (followcraig.wordpress.com)
FollowCraig: ?Peace?
….and your still following
I’m a child of the 60’s, a baby boomer! The word peace had such a different meaning back then. The war in Vietnam was raging, the Beatles were riding in a yellow submarine and Tim Leary said just drop some acid and drop out! John Lennon’s song “Imagine” perhaps is the rare remnant of that turbulent time that transcends our generations? We now think of peace as being comfortable in our own skin. I would love to see us all fight for peace in the world like we did back then. I for one have reached so deep for such inner peace that I have often forgotten about the real struggles in our world. Perhaps the real inner peace we are searching for comes from helping others find theirs? Suppose everyday, we just reached out to one new person who could use some help, a hand up or a kind word? Would that not really give us “Inner Peace”? I guess I still have some work to do, how about you?
you’re still reading, I’m still writing, so please keep following…
Craig
FollowCraig: Bad Date
Your still following…
All the fabulous lights below as the plane was landing in Las Vegas about 7:00 pm on a Friday night. Normal for me as I was living there and traveling for business. It had been a long week and I was tired. So out to dinner, (party of one) then a little Jazz music at one of my favorite haunts, nice! Then it happened, she was sitting at the end of the bar, big smile, great eyes, a flashy Las Vegas beauty! I was so shy and she so wasn’t! I think that’s how it happens? You see, I was just finalizing my divorce. So, I was sure ready..Right! It had to written all over me? “Available!” That night was the beginning of what I warmly call “My Long Bad Date” You see, my personal self esteem, my own insecurities and all those years without faith and standards led me to what were to become the greatest life changing events I would ever experience. I married that Las Vegas beauty after a couple of very turbulent years. Oh we fought about everything, she gambled, spent and drank every dollar we had. Everything that was wrong between us became my fault. All I could see was that one beautiful beginning, and I did everything possible to hold it together. In time I grew to fear her, her outbursts of violence and her incredible cruelty to my family, friends, employers and me. My understanding and compassion for abused partners in relationships became crystal clear. It sneaks up on you and attacks the most vulnerable part of your soul. A dear friend later told me; “Craig” She’s not a bad person, but a sick person. Then one day, I just could not take it anymore and I gathered all the courage in me, my faith in God and left. All I had was a suitcase, an old Buick and a few hundred borrowed dollars. You see, I had stopped drinking a couple of years before that day, developed a faith in God and began setting standards for myself. How often have you heard “No Pain No Gain?”, so true! So, that faith and fear pushed me to go forward, just go! That was several years ago. Today I am very free from that abuse and fear. I live a wonderful life and face everyday with joy of the unknown. All I can say to those who suffer in silence the pain, fear and guilt of abuse is; You can change it! It will be, OK! .….more of my journey ahead..
You’re still reading, I’m still writing, so please keep following….
Craig
Related articles
- FollowCraig: Oh! “****” STOP!!!! (followcraig.wordpress.com)
FollowCraig: Oh! “****” STOP!!!!
…and you’re still following
So one day I am driving along in my car, listening to the radio, just happy as a bird! Suddenly some fool in front of me slammed on his brakes. So after some very fast reaction on my part I was able to STOP! Everything in the car went flying and I of course yelled some very colorful metaphor that would surely make my mother curl. This happens to all of us from time to time, then you pick things up, slow down and go on. That’s what happened to my life at about 51 yrs old or so. It sounded so easy, people around me, support groups I was part of told me “Craig” you can change everything, every problem right now. Just STOP! No one told me the junk in my life would just keep flying like it did in that car? However, just as in the car, the junk did stop flying and I picked it up, tossed some bad stuff out and started again a little bit slower. This is how life works. If we really, truly want to change, to have a better life, perhaps follow a dream forgotten; Then we must stop, pick things up, slowdown and move forward! It took me so long to get that. If you have some experiences with this in your life, please share!
I’m still writing, you’re still reading, so please keep following….
Craig
Related articles
- FollowCraig: “Miracles” (followcraig.wordpress.com)
FollowCraig: “Miracles”
…and you’re still following
As I wrote “ Demons are Green! “ not long ago and how that experience led me to A.A., I was reminded of many miracles in my life, this is a story of one. A few weeks after accepting that I was so powerless over my life, proof was on my doorstep. I was now a commission only car salesman living in Las Vegas, NV. What a place to stop drinking? To paint a picture of Craig at that time would be that of a 350 lb man, very broke, lost most of his friends, family was staying clear, divorced, living with a very difficult girlfriend! Now living a new “Born Again Life” Right! However I did have one friend, a new friend, a fellow friend of “Bill W.” His name is: Bob “D”. So here is what happened, I went to work on a Saturday morning, stood outside all day and worked very hard to sell a car. When the end of the day came and I walked to get in my car to go home, it was gone! My car was gone! It had been repossessed! Oh, my what was I going to do? My boss was kind enough to loan me a car for the weekend so I was not without, but what was I going to do Monday? I was in such panic, such worry. Later at home I was on the phone to my only new friend, Bob “D”. After all my tears and crying on the phone he said these words to me; Craig, when you get off the phone; “Get on your knees, thank GOD for everything you have and everything he has taken away; ask him to take on your troubles for tonight and give you a nights sleep.” I assure you “Bob” said to me; “Craig you won’t be walking”, GOD will be certain your needs are met. Me the ever-living skeptic said sure Bob! But I thought, oh what can I lose by trying this prayer thing? So, my knees went to the floor and I handed my troubles to GOD to watch over as my friend said to do. MONDAY: Now the worry is back and I go to work. By then it seemed everyone around me knew what had happened a I was being asked all day about my troubles. Then the MIRACLE! Our car dealership had taken in trade an older Cadillac earlier that day, a very pretty white one and a very nice car but to old for the dealership to sell. When I asked my boss about it, he was willing to sell it to me, but I had no money! However, he said to me “Craig you can & could pay for it out of your next two paychecks and drive it home today!” As I am writing this, tears are running down my face as I remember just one of so many MIRACLES in my life! My friend Bob was right, I was not going to be walking. That car became my GOD car and that led to a Greater MIRACLE that was to occur some years later..More to come!
I’m still writing, your still reading, so please keep following…..
Craig
12 Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous – 12 Step Recovery.
FollowCraig: I am “Housewife”; I am Man!
…..and you’re still reading
I grew up to believe women were to be wives, mothers and housewives. Men were to be the kingpin of the household, the BREADWINNER! The MAN was in charge! So you can only imagine what it was like as I became a husband and father in the late ‘“seventies” My new wife already had a career and a child? She was very capable of taking care of herself and sure didn’t need a MAN to be in charge? Well, perhaps that was not true either, see she was raised that the husband was to be the head of the household as well; and only due to course results in her life, she found herself a divorced mother and having to work and support her little girl. So as it turned out my new wife needed a MAN, a husband! I needed to be a MAN and be that guy! So I took on the role, we worked hard together, raising our family and adding one more (my son) a few years later. Our first years were good, we had children and “I Never Changed Diapers!” You see times were changing, household rules were changing, the definition of family and marriage were changing. Wives worked, mothers felt that the roles, raising children and the chores of home should be shared. Great concept if only I hadn’t been thrown into expectations I was never taught to believe. So I worked and played; she worked and worked at home and raised the kids and took care of me and on and on…So about becoming “I am Housewife; I am Man”? You see relationships are work too. We spend so much time working on our own self-centered interests, all the important things in life often are not attended too. That marriage ended for me after 25 years for just those reasons. Had I paid more attention to being a partner at home, an interactive attentive father, addressed my faith and not been so set on how I believed things should be. Who knows what relationship I would have today with my children and others in my family? Over the last 10 years or so I have learned to be a partner at home, when dinner needs cooking, when trash needs to be taken out, when the house needs cleaning, when the pets need walking or the garden needs attending; I have learned to “Just do It”. The results have been astounding! My life today is peaceful in so many ways, It’s beyond description. In one of my upcoming posts I will talk about the “Three most important persons in every relationship”
So I’m still writing, you’re still reading, so just keep following….
Craig
FollowCraig: Millionaire
Are you a millionaire?
When I was a kid a TV Show titled “The Millionaire” caught my attention. This anonymous man would give a million dollars to someone each week and the story would begin. I just loved to see how lives would change? For some it was a gift and for others a curse, much like those who win the lotteries today. So are you a millionaire? Really we all are. We have been given the gifts of life, of choice, the gift of being able to give. You see it’s not about money (not stupid here, money is not a bad thing.) It’s just that “God” (not a bad word?) has given us so much. Our choice is only what to do with the gift!
I recommend a really great little book “The Richest Man in Babylon” If you don’t have it, go to your local library and check it out or link below to buy it.
The Richest man in Babylon<img src=”https://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=followcraig-20&l=ur2&o=1″ width=”1″ height=”1″ border=”0″ alt=”” style=”border:none !important; margin:0px !important;” />
I’m still writing and you’re still reading, please keep following….
Craig
FollowCraig 