For those who read this blog, you generally find material of a more serious nature. However, I felt it was time to add something a little different into the mix. I have an idea for a short story and thought it might be fun to see where it goes without edits or rewrites. Consider it like a tv sit-com recorded in front of a live audience. I encourage comments and hope we can have a fun little journey together. C.L. Harmon He was born Malachi Martín Musgrave, a fitting name it seems for someone such as this peculiar creation. Born…
C.L. Harmon For me, writing a blog with Mindsets and other bits of knowledge and wisdom gained throughout my life is about several things. One of these is helping others find answers or peace. Others include discovery, pursuing understanding about the human condition and helping people to connect with other people among other objectives. My favorite part about writing anything though is that I can do it while hiding away from the world. It’s safe and it’s private. I have become introverted over the years and spend much of my time in thought and alone. Because of this, much of…
C.L. Harmon Many times while watching documentaries, I have heard Jewish survivors say that God was no there during that evil period we know as the Holocaust. Each time I would hear one of them say it, an uneasy feeling would pulse through me. I guess as a Christian who has been taught that God is always with me, it gave me pause and challenged my traditional beliefs. To have endured such evil, perhaps I too would feel the same way as these people. I don’t know. But I do know it bothered me. Is God sometimes absent from our…
By C.L. Harmon When we lose our direction, we lose more than just our way. We lose ourselves. We are tied to our dreams, and it is the part of which defines us internally. I believe the dream is who we are and not that we are someone with a dream. Our dreams are powerful when we are young. They still seem within reach, and the idea of those dreams becoming elusive has not yet become a reality. Life, however, is a thief. As days go by, they blend into a period of time and then into a past time.…
We are these amazing creatures with passions, secrets, knowledge, and wisdom caught up in this essence of life, the only reality familiar to us. We learn to love and then must learn to accept that we lose it. We trust that goodness always prevails and yet ultimately discover that evil often wins the day. We must learn to control anger and violence when we feel passionate that it is warranted. We must learn to forgive when it is not deserved. We are compelled to build and create fully aware that destruction is inevitable. And we must learn and do all…
A sculptor looks at a piece of granite or stone with either a belief that there is a work of art within that stone that he will uncover. Or he looks at it with the belief that he will create a work of art from where there was none before.Although the creation may be the same in appearance as each artisan finishes toiling with the stone, the sculptures are very different to the sculptors. The artisan who uncovers what is hidden learns that he can see beyond what is on the surface. He can chisel each sliver of stone to…
C.L. Harmon There have always been patterns in life that most never give a second thought. For those who do, they only see enough to know there are such patters and not the reasoning behind them. We even classify these patterns in terms such as love languages, personality types, body types, attitude dispositions, among many others. But why are we given patterns when each of us is created to be unique? Perhaps it so we never feel alone. In a creation where each is unique, it stands to reason that we would often feel alone with no guides, teachers or…
C.L. Harmon Happiness is not a choice but a journey. We tend to believe that choices dictate the outcomes of our lives. This is only true to a point. Certainly, there is the cause and effect. But this is only a teacher to help us along as we travel on this journey. We must learn to love. Then we must learn how to lose that love. Everyone experiences this at least once in their lives. We must learn how to accept that loss and to accept that we must live without it. We must come to the understanding that moving…
It is such a simple question. What is our purpose here? The age-old inquiry as to why we are here. Why were we created? We are all different and yet the same, together but apart and yet inexplicably connected in ways we can’t understand. We share so much with each other and though we may never meet others, we still understand that we are a part of them in the cosmic sense. Theologians, philosopher, and poets have pondered the meaning of life as do each of us during trying times in our lives with struggles and loss. Some believe that…
The concept of free will is simple in its definition, but baffling to many of us since the choices we make do not always lead us to the outcomes for which we hoped and believed. How is it that some make choices to pursue specific goals and make similar choices as others to attain those goals, but do not the achieve the goals while others do. I believe this is because of the choices we make with the actual freewill we are given. One of the greatest gifts we can give our Creator, who gave us free will, is to…
It’s often said that we are responsible for our own happiness and that we simply choose our internal strength and will of mind to help us find comfort and joy. I don’t believe this to be completely accurate. Although I do believe that we are responsible for our own happiness to a degree and that choice is a contributing factor in our happiness, I also believe that others play a key role in how we feel as well. Human beings were not created to be alone or to exist in solitude. We are created to learn, live and love with…
So many actions we do, words we utter and situations in which we are part of are seemingly of no significance at the time which they occur. Often they are as a fleeting thought, gone almost as quickly as they came. But to someone, they have an impact. It may be one that we never even learn of, but someone was affected by that action, word or the situation that occurred. It is as though a cosmic pulse is formed which travels far into the subconscious of creation itself and the consciousness of those within this creation. It knows not…
The heart does not lie, judge or justify action. It only asks for that which it desires and then leads us to those yearnings without fear and apprehension while offering us no control over where it chooses to lead. It is our minds which must follow our hearts and our will which must make them do so. Reason can destroy our dreams and squash our desires if we follow the mind, which is capable of judgment and justification. The world in which we inhabit is often corrupt and embroiled in confusion. We think about methods to survive the madness allowing…
My mother once told me a story about a successful man from whom God took the use of his legs. I don’t remember all of the particulars but the gist of it was that the man had made choices in his life that led him to financial success. Apparently, God had other plans for him. Modern medicine could not find the cause of the man’s inability to walk and so the man writhed in bed from mental anguish as all he had worked for slipped away. He was helpless and in despair as nothing improved his situation. Depression set in…
Distance is of varied sources and it is what separates one from another. However, it is usually words, not miles that brings about the greatest distances. One word, one sentence or one misunderstanding is all it takes to make us step back, separating people and making them enemies. When we truly think about this, we must recognize just how close we are to creating a lasting negativity at any given time. We all say and do things without realizing the ripple effect of those actions. They seem harmless enough at the time and so their result seems inconsequential. But this…
It is to be locked inside a cellar. There are noises on the other side of the door; voices and sounds of which most have familiarity. Sometimes there is laughter and other times only quiet. The silence though is most of what rings in this angular and hollow room. It is as an old friend who never parts from my side. It is the noises and the voices from outside this room that are guests at my door, never knocking. I stretch my imagination to match up voices with faces that I have not seen, adding new features each time…
I have written a lot about life. Some have been positive as in reflected in most of the Mindset columns I have published over the years. Other works have been sarcastic, funny and even angry. I have done so, in part, in an effort to try and understand it…make sense of it somehow. I haven’t figured much of it out yet, but I have formulated many theories over the years through my experiences, the Bible, my upbringing and the impact others’ experiences have had on me. I thought I might write about a theory or two in this blog. Now…
Mindset When we think of our lives, our place in humanity and our world, we tend to think of it on a broad scale that encompasses all that we do and experience as an ordinary ritual of sorts. But what if that world we focus so heavily on each day causes us to lose sight of so much more. Consider that all life, each individual entity, is a world all its own, made up of countless functions and processes in constant motion. We must realize that life is happening in each ability, every talent, each characteristic—every second. Examine them as…
By C.L. Harmon The concept of free will is simple in its definition, but baffling to many of us since the choices we make do not always lead us to the outcomes for which we hoped and believed. How is it that some make choices to pursue specific goals and make similar choices as others to attain those goals, but do not the achieve the goals while others do. I believe this is because of the choices we make with the actual freewill we are given. One of the greatest gifts we can give our Creator, who gave us free…
For me, writing has always been a two-fold objective. The first has been to help people. The second has been to make a good living writing. Over the course of my career, I feel I have attempted to do both to the best of my abilities. As time has passed and realities such as paying bills, life’s many responsibilities, concerns like retirement income, health cost, etc. has become ever more important causing the second objective to take on a much more important role. For many, many years, I never lost sight of my first objective. Through the financial lean times,…