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A poem for a random Wednesday: “Forgiveness”
So, we all have encounters with others from time to time, more often than not. And sometimes those encounters can go off-kilter; part of being human, part of the ebb and flow of human relationships. The encounters that go ary can create emotional baggage we carry well beyond the actual effect of the interaction.
One of the biggest lessons for me (the biggest is patience) is to let go of emotional baggage. My means to this end is through forgiveness. Here’s a definition I frequently refer to to help with my lesson:
Forgiveness: “a decision to see beyond the limits of another’s personality; to be willing to accept responsibility for your own perceptions and shift them repeatedly and transform yourself from being a helpless victim of your circumstances to being a powerful and loving co-creator of your reality.”
–Robin Casarjian
With this in mind, and with a fresh off-kilter encounter I’m releasing, I offer this:
Forgiveness
Say you are sorry!
I don’t want to.
You need to get beyond this.
Why do I have to?
It was their fault!
Wait a minute.
What role did you play?
They started it.
They called me names!
It hurt my feelings.
Why did they call you names?
What did you do?
I made a mistake.
It was just an oversight.
No harm was intended.
Say you’re sorry for the error.
I did; I feel bad for that.
But I’m only human and
The name calling hurts.
Can you get over it?
Yes.
Say you are sorry!
Sorry!
©2025 Richard W. Bredeson. All rights reserved.
Happy Father’s Day, Dad: A poem for you!
Happy Father’s Day to all Dads! It’s a day to celebrate me: a proud father of three, grandfather of six and great-grandfather of two! And it’s a day to remember as well; I miss my Dad, Vernice. And I miss my father-in-law, Kenn Robertson.
I’ve been thinking a lot about my Dad lately and how much he gave me. This poem is about his greatest gift. Thank you, Dad!
He Set Me Free
He was hard working, dedicated, disciplined;
Ended school after 8 grades, all As:
His dad insisted he go to work
Farming for his uncle.
In war he wanted to serve in the Navy.
They said “no” – color blindness disqualifies.
Farming was essential then too:
The troops needed food.
A Master Electrician apprenticeship came his way.
He had to say “no” – low pay for too long
Wouldn’t put food on the table
For a new, growing family.
He farmed for Uncle, then Dad, then moved
When war was done, to a farm 20 miles
Away with new wife and son:
A rental, shared crops and cattle.
We prospered through hard work and discipline.
Years went by, son joined in the work,
Another son came along. The farm went
For sale; he bought it for his own.
We worked side-by-side, first son and he.
He pulled that son aside one day and said:
“Don’t get stuck on this or any farm.”
He set me free that day!
Ever and always grateful.
©2025 Richard W. Bredeson. All rights reserved.
My Message from the “Divine Feminine” on October 15, 2024
Rosemary held a “Conversation with The Other Side” on October 15 and I got a message I’ll be working with for a long time. It actually does fit with this blog and at least some of my intention to start it many years ago.
First, here’s the message:
Rosemary: All right. Another poet, another writer another creative. I’m hearing: Just do it. But I also am seeing a future-self asking for something from you, asking for it to come out. It’s not… It may not be a future You. It’s somebody from the future who is saying they want to have study groups to work with the material that you’re here to bring in.
Richard: Yeah.
Rosemary: If you would bring it in, please. And so, sitting on it doesn’t help them in the future. So they’re really asking you to write your poetry, bring your poetry, bring it into books, write books, write blogs, get material that comes through you. You’re one of the… I’m hearing pioneer elders. It’s like a different kind of an elder and the wise man and you it’s like time is running short for you to get everything downloaded that has to come in.
Richard: I know.
Rosemary: So can you please get it downloaded and out, download and out, download and out. That seems to be another theme from tonight. Download it and get it out. Okay. And it may not look the way you’re planning in your head again, another theme. But if it comes into your heart and you just receive it and get it out. Receive it and get it out, no matter what that looks like. Don’t worry about the form on the outside, just like we’re telling the artists. Don’t worry about it. Don’t think through. Just allow, allow, allow. And when you accept, Richard, that you are the elder. that you have been the wise one. I know that you know groups of other wise men, elders, but you’ve been on the path raising your frequency, lifting your consciousness really evolving. and the more you put that out there; beg pardon…
Richard: A long time.
Rosemary: A long time. but it’s not good enough for that to be just for you. And so It’s not even just the poetry. But it’s about the journey, the evolutionary part that men can do it right. That’s the important thing. You can help men figure it out. Yeah. And you’re here to do that.
Okay? All right.
Here is my first response that I downloaded today:
So, the message from the Divine Feminine during the CwTSO on 10/15/24: I am to download content for men and for some men in the future; they are calling for it. And it seems to be more than poetry. “Poetry, books, blogs.” I am a “pioneer elder.” The form does not matter – download and get it out!
So, what is a “pioneer elder”?
I am a man working to better understand what it is to be a man in the 1st quarter of the 21st century. There are many models for this – good and not so good. President Obama vs. President Trump: a very poor pair of examples, but they are clearly modeling behavior of men (not necessarily for men). They are in sharp contrast: a black man who rose to the Presidency from humble beginnings, a scholar, orator, Harvard Law School graduate, Constitutional law expert, family man. We have little insight into his spiritual life. He has seen and known a lot, waged war, indirectly killed.
Trump is nearly the exact opposite.
What are the lessons in these contrasting men? One is the bringer of hope; a forward looking evolutionary who would guide a nation toward a higher standard. His single greatest achievement was “Obama Care” that brought health insurance to 40 million people. He also pulled us out of a deep recessionary period.
The other is the reactionary regressive who would pull us back into the darker times of the 50s, even back to segregation and the repression of women (the first step here was the Dobbs Decision). How is he even a choice in the election of 2024? How did we get here?
There is a lesson we have not yet learned as a nation: desegregation of the 60s was difficult and incomplete. The election of Obama was an amazing accomplishment but triggered an extreme reaction that powered the regression and countered integrative momentum. It gave voice and semi-legitimacy to racial hatred that has been an underlying offense since the founding of the country; perhaps since the emergence of humanity.
Humans have been at each other’s throats for a hundred thousand years (what did happen to the Neanderthals?)!
Yet I hold out hope! I came across this quote while preparing my Qigong class for Saturday:
A human being is part of a whole,
the “Universe.”
Our task must be to free ourselves
from the delusion of separateness,
to embrace all living creatures
and the whole of nature.
— ALBERT EINSTEIN, PHILOSOPHER AND PHYSICIST, TWENTIETH CENTURY
In other words, “what I do to another I do to myself.” What if we lived by that creed? Could it be that simple?
A Poem for Saturday, and the times: “What Might Have Been”
I’ve been quiet for a while during our shutdown, shut-in, staying much more within. Maybe my muse has gone inward as well to reflect. And while it might be tempting to begin to emerge from the inner work, to venture into the wide world again, I’m not sure it is time yet. We remain cautious, immune systems strong but not over-taxed. We remain comfortable and well on the inside!
But there are other ways to reach out; my muse is beginning to rise and wonder what it’s all about. Richard shrugs with concern, some frustration, deeply puzzled about the meaning of so much foolishness. Perhaps the muse has a bit of an answer:
What Might Have Been
The passing of a friend, a brother, a lover
Leads deeply to a pondering:
What might have been.
Wars ending in retreat, defeat, chaos
Demand the heart/mind to question:
What might have been?
Sickness, disease, pandemics
Force reflection on community;
What might have been!
Separation, polarization, fear of other
Rend the heart and soul; I wonder
What might have been…
Anger, resentment, frustration with what is
Soften in contemplation:
What might yet be!
©2021 Richard W. Bredeson. All rights reserved.
A poem for our special day, December 15: Reflect, Project, Be
Rosemary and I celebrate December 15 every year as a remembrance of an awakening we both had many years ago. It was a turning point for both of us. And inevitably, inexorably it was the beginning of now. Here is my poem to commemorate our “awakening” this year:
Reflect, Project, Be
A time to reflect on the past:
This is good.
Viewing where we have been
Informs.
A time to project on the future:
To cast a vision, set a path.
It may wander and veer, yet
The way ahead will clear with each step.
And a time to be:
To be here as two and one,
In shade and sun, moving in step
To the beat of one drum.
Listen for the spirit song
Humming along,
Calling, serenading, guiding
Us home, never alone!
©2019, Richard W. Bredeson, all rights reserved.
Happy Awakening Day, dear. I love you!
A Sunday evening poem: Accept and Flow to Grace
I’ve been meditating on this for the past few weeks; how do we get to that state of Grace? Actually I think I’ve been working on this for most of my life! And last year, 2018, my word for the year was “flow.” For 2019 my word is “grace.”
Maybe I’m finally putting things together! In the Chinese Medicine philosophy and approach the Five Elements govern a lot about who we are, how we live and how our health can be influenced. My Element, my constitution is Wood. The virtues of Wood are clarity, vision, creativity. The primary emotion is anger. And the process to transform anger into the virtues of Wood is Forgiveness!
Another factor in “putting things together” is my fingerprints. Without getting into the details of hand and fingerprint analysis I am in the “school of love” for this lifetime. So, these words, acceptance, flow, grace and love are important to me; I wrote this poem with these key words in mind:
Accept and Flow to Grace
Acceptance:
The magic act,
True magic,
No slight of hand,
No deceit,
Only the pure act:
Acceptance.
Forgiveness:
The magic act
Powering acceptance;
Forgive self,
Forgive Self,
Forgive him,
Forgive them,
They know not;
Only the pure act:
Forgiveness.
Flow:
The magic state,
Birthing with acceptance,
Breathing with forgiveness,
Moving through what is
Only the pure state:
Flow.
Grace:
The true magic,
Flowing from the heart,
Flowing from the mind,
Flowing from Cosmos,
Flowing from Divine;
The only pure Magic:
Grace.
Love:
The True Magic,
The germ of acceptance,
The pith of forgiveness,
The shell of flow,
The seed of Grace;
Only the pure Magic
Grows Love.
©2019, Richard W. Bredeson, all rights reserved.
Relationship Questions, A Tuesday poem for your thoughts
We had dinner last evening with our amazing friends Bob Sima (yes, that Bob Sima of enlightened music fame) and his talented partner Shannon Plummer. Rosemary and Shannon went off to their “Goddess Group” (yes, this blog is most definitely about the Goddess in my life!). Bob and I had a nice long time to catch up and discuss many things, including our relationships with these incredible women/goddesses in our lives.
One of the things I brought up is what we can know in our relationships, especially intimate ones. I had written about this in my Morning Pages a day or so ago. Bob seemed to resonate with my thoughts so I am motivated to offer them here. The poem came out of my thoughts derived from my Pages.
Relationship Questions
Am I committed?
Do I believe she is committed?
Is she committed?
Does she believe I am committed?
Four little relationship questions.
They apply to any intimate partnership.
The answers rest on a shaky platform:
The less than stable human heart-mind.
An individual can answer only
Two of these relationship questions.
There are always two halves to a pair.
Assumptions lead to trouble.
Four yeses lead to bliss,
A committed relationship.
Communications and trust
Are the means that lead to yes.
©2017 Richard W. Bredeson. All rights reserved.
My “New” Manifesto
A week or so ago Rosemary brought several of her long-term clients together for a group VIP day. I was fortunate enough to be included and to do the work with this select group. And we did some excellent work.
Rosemary led us to create our “manifestos” for ourselves. We did some deep work exploring our purpose, our big “Why?” We answered questions like:
“What do you stand for?”
“How does your heart, your soul and your personality come together in this life?
“What is your declaration about this life, independent of any ‘shoulds’?”
We also answered the five questions that Matthew Goldfarb asks in his book, “Corporate Renegade.”
“What are you pissed off about?”
“If you could change one thing about business or the world what would it be?”
“Why do you want to start a business in the first place?”
“Why are you willing to go broke to make this business work?”
“Why are you willing to go for broke to make this business work?”
And then we went to work. Some of us got out paper and scissors, colored pens and fancy tapes, decorating their manifestos with frills and flourishes. I’m a word guy and not overly skilled at the crafty work so answered questions, took note of my priorities and wrote out my manifesto. Here is the result:
ROSEMARY’S INSPIRATION: Who Do You Trust?
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My “two minute” video: Who Do You Trust? |
| Hubble Finds That the Nearest Quasar Is Powered by a Double Black Hole This artistic illustration is of a binary black hole found in the center of the nearest quasar host galaxy to Earth, Markarian 231. Hubble observations of the ultraviolet light emitted from the nucleus of the galaxy were used to deduce the geometry of the disk. (Looks like the Taiji symbol to me!)  |
ROSEMARY’S EXPLORATION: Choose to Live Your Richest Life
Choose to Live Your Richest Life
Have you ever gotten so tired of the way things are going that you say to yourself, ‘Enough!’? Maybe it is your finances or your exercise regimen or your weight or what you eat or a job that doesn’t satisfy you or a relationship that doesn’t serve your highest good. Have you reached a point where you have had enough and you’re ready to choose a different path?
Sometimes things have to get really terrible before we make that choice. You have to ‘hit bottom’ before you start to pull yourself up. Or maybe the Universe has to hit you on the head with a 2 by 4 to get your attention.
I am trying to learn my lessons before it reaches that point. I confess that I don’t always shift in time to avoid the 2 by 4, though. My goal is to help you learn to make the shift BEFORE that 2 by 4 hits you.
Many of my clients come to me because they feel ready to shift but don’t know what their next step is. This is the perfect time to start working on yourself and your personal growth. Others, though, come only after they’ve been knocked down and can’t figure out how to get themselves picked up. That’s okay, too, as we do figure out what to do next.
But don’t you want to avoid the drama? Avoid the ‘I must do something’ scenario and be proactive about making choices in your life?
The first step is to realize that you are always at choice. Even when it feels as if you can’t do anything to make a change, you are deciding (choosing) to stay the way things are.
There is a big difference between feeling that things are horrible, that they must change and knowing what to do to make that change. This is where it is important to ask for help.
Even if you don’t get help from a professional, for whatever reason, at least talk to a trusted advisor or friend. You don’t have to navigate big shifts alone!
Sometimes it is important to find someone to see what you cannot see, to help you find possibilities that, when you are stuck in the quicksand of a messy situation, are difficult to sort out. This is where seeking help is so important. Someone outside of the quicksand can see what is hidden from you and steer you in the direction of what you want instead of what you feel is holding you stuck.
A client of mine recently told me that she was driving along and suddenly realized that that day was the ‘ideal day’ that she had written as her homework from one of our early appointments. She was living that day and loving it! And was thrilled at the difference between when she started the process and where she is today.
You can have the same experience. Stop doing what you’ve been doing that keeps you stuck where you are uncomfortable, in any area of your life. Ask for help. Seek your ideal day. Choose a different path. One step at a time, one behavior at a time, one action at a time.
Your Richest Life awaits you!
Men and The Goddess 