Paperback release

Depression is something that everyone faces in life and can be very difficult to deal with and cope. I wrote this as a collection of uplifting inspirational messages to help that cause. In these pages you will find poems and metaphors that I wrote as I faced my own demons and challenges in life. Sometimes, with tears in my eyes I would pour the words out, and these stories would emerge. Day by day I would rise above the depression that has enveloped many aspects of my younger life. Sometimes from a failed marriage or relationships, other times from the loneliness or health problems that we all will face eventually. From loss of a loved one, to feelings of failure and shortcomings. Life is full of adversity, anxiety, and so much pain that can and will get you down, if you focus on it and allow it to take hold. I am now a firm believer in the power behind positive mental thoughts. After a near suicide of my own, I awoke with a new passion, a realization of my own mortality and that life is precious, and even in my darkest hour there is light everywhere. Make the choice to look and see it. Be a light for others! When we lost Robin Williams I knew that suicide was more of an epidemic than I ever imagined. Arguably the funniest man in the world, was that hurt, that sad? And no one saw it. Yes I thought, there is a need for these up lifting messages and metaphors that many can relate with. So, I have decided to share my life work and inspirations that I have found along the way with hopes it may bring relief to others in need.

Endless Highway

Endless Highway

Driving down the highway but I can't outrun your tears,

you leave me feeling helpless, hopeless, lost and full of fears.

I try and gain composure as I take this aimless drive,

the many miles, hills and lakes just seem to come alive.

Nature and serenity  do wonders for my soul,

they a bring an equanimity and help me gain control.

When life is full of chaos and my mind is quite a mess,

or when I find that loving you is bringing me distress.

When others try and help me but I have to do it my way,

I grab my keys, pick up my life, and drive this

endless highway.

Different

Why am I different, oh what can I say?

'Cause I'm not like you, your belief, and your ways.

You turn and you stare and point in disgust,

you justify anger, abuse and distrust.

What makes you right in your own little mind,

Do we not share this same moment in time.

Is it YOUR space, YOUR land, and YOUR air?

Why must you spew such pain and dispair.

Can you not see that I'm human like you,

So what if I'm different, from all that you choose.

Who cares what I like, my belief or my faith,

It never hurts you,  and I'm not in your space.

Yet still you spread anger, with words so vociferant

Can't we please  get along, its ok to be different.

Violence in Silence - Click picture to read poem

Memories

Memories are the lightning bolts that flash inside your mind,

some will hurt and burn you, while some others leave you blind.

Memories are scars that leave their mark upon your heart,

some will leave you helpless as you search for a new start.

Memories are beautiful, they fill you up with love,

the first breath of a baby that was sent from up above.

Memories so powerful,  we never live without,

they last through all the years and tears, of agony and doubt.

They help us grow and learn, and they will shape our destinies,

the good the bad, the new , the old, we need those memories.

Bully

 Why don’t you like me?

Why don’t you see, I'm a human like you that has feelings

beliefs, tears and fears, like you I bleed, I need and will someday breed.

Yes, I am like you, I am not perfect.

Bully

You call me fat, you say I'm too small too weak or thin, ugly or tall.

You say I'm pathetic, you’ve called me a waist, I don’t need to be here I'm wasting your space.

Well who are you I say? Who are you.

Bully

You take my lunch, pull my chair, trip me and push me and laugh at despair,

Bully

What makes you better than me, why do your friends laugh and scoff and mimic your every move.

Bully are they even friends at all?

You try and be cool, and that is why you are you, and I, am me.

Cool? Well what is cool anyway, is it not a conception of reality, of the time,

the moment, the event, a manifestation brought on by your perception of your entertainment

the very thing that is judged by your peers and mine has two totally different interpretation.

Cool. A word we invented to separate people and distinguish how we perceive an act.

Perception. What you see as cool I see as a fool, what you find ugly I see as beauty, what you see is fat I see as encumbered. You see I can diet but you, yes you, will still be selfish.

Bully

 See I can throw names also, I can judge you as well, and I can be a foundation of hope to others.

See you are not cool to everyone, no bully, you are in fact immature in the eyes of the vast majority of the population, they see your acts as selfish, childish and even ignorant. The say you are weak, while I am just meek and so incomplete, while I look for passion you only see fashion.

Bully

You comb your hair and make sure you wear your Tommy and Nike your Pink and Belaire.

You see me as poor cause I can’t afford to dress for success because I am not blessed.

But take off those brands all that makeup and jewelry, take off the money and you can be like me.

But you are not like me, no you lack compassion, you do not have the decency to look at a person for who they are and not what they have, and you call me ugly.

Bully.

There is hope for you now, if you understand, you must find love, compassion and respect for your fellow man.

We are all individuals and that is truly what makes you, you and me, me.

See you should be thankful that we live in a place that allows that, when others do not. We are not governed to force our beliefs, at least not yet.

So, I plead with you bully, understand the pain, the hurt, the tears, the torment that you cause, every time you laugh push, pull, tease, mock, trip, steal, hit or block. Everything you do to me, is a reflection of YOU. Yes, every selfish act you use, for your enjoyment also brings you down too.

Bully

 I fear you have one thing missing that I do not. And that is Love

Love, is compassion, overflowing with admiration, for the total embodiment of a human being, not what they look like or how they act or even what they wear. But who they are in totality.

See bully you wrap up so much energy in being cool, and mean to others, that if you spent that same energy on love, you would in fact change the world. Why change it in a bad way and bring others down when you can lift them up and help society end abuse, end suffering, end school shootings. Yes, I said end school shootings.

Bully

You change the world now, yes, you do in so many bad ways. Take a look at your own reflection when you look in the mirror today, I urge you, look past the Tommy, the Gucci, the Nike and Prius, the pink or the Gap, the Old Navy, and Adidas, look at the person behind the money? Do you like what you see?

Change.

 Change is coming. Like it or not, be part of it, or get out of the way.

Bully,

an intimidating coward that hides behind muscles and money, often lacking the brains to know right from wrong, and the compassion to even care. Considered selfish by many and despised by the majority.

Bully an image, an illusion, a misconception.

I offer you now the hand to make a difference, the change to make a new start, shed the narcissistic alter ego that has embodied you your whole life and step out into the real world, the world of the hurting and the mournful, of the love and the life that is living. Shed the bully image that is not you, find a friend.

Yes, a friend. Someone that knows right from wrong and will help you change, not encourage your immature behavior,

A friend is someone that will always want what is best for you, and will want people to like you, not mock you behind your back.

A friend will love you and not partake in destructive habits that could or would be your demise.

A friend. Someone that until now has eluded you.

So, shake my hand, take my hand, call me that friend, friend.

Bully… be gone.

Hidden Beauty

Hidden Beauty

If you could see you through these eyes, perhaps you'd finally know,

that beauty seems to follow you most everywhere you go.

If you felt what’s in my heart, each time I hear your name,

You'd give up thoughts of hopelessness, and never feel the same.

You're so much more than what you see inside that troubled mind,

Just lift your chin, find your smile, and leave the doubt behind.

There's so much more than what you feel, of how you are perceived

You feel like you’re not good enough, it’s time that you believed.

Others look at you with love, admire all your traits,

So never doubt what you possess, cause you are truly great.

We are our own worst enemies, perhaps the harshest judge,

we always see our own flaws, yes somehow we hold that grudge.

We all strive for perfection and we want to be our best,

Sometimes it leaves us hurt and lost and feeling so distressed.

But trust that you have beauty and it shines in every way,

each time that you walk in the room, I see it every day.