February 28-B, 2023

Squaring ourselves up
with how things are
is a part of our daily
practice routine.

"This is how things are,
and this is what I can do about it,
and that's that!"

Every day for the rest of our life.

How things are changes,
and what we can do about it changes,
but "that's that" remains constant over time.
Coming to terms with "that's that,"
and allowing that to be
because it is
is the real work of growing up.

Compassion for ourselves
and grace for welcoming
a new configuration of "that" each day
is steady fare for maintaining
our balance and harmony
through the matrix of time and place.

Talking about it
with the right kind of audience
helps most,
writing about it with ourselves
as the only audience available,
helps next most,
getting lost in drugs/sex/alcohol
(distraction/diversion/denial),
helps least.

"Coping strategies" are a must
for avoiding the Scylla and Charybdis
of hopelessness and depression,
and provide a large portion of
"What we can do about it."

Things will always be better
than they could be,
never as bad
as they might be,
and never as good as 
we wish they were--
leaving us to deal with how they are
as best we can,
day to day.

I wish us all the best of luck with that,
and the hope for
"Fair winds
and following seas,"
and the willful determination
to meet the day on the day's terms
and do our best with it,
regardless of the state 
of wind and sea!

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