Reaching the Summit

REACHING THE SUMMIT

To know one’s self

Allows us to

Our obsessions shelf

From one moment

To another

Our former habits

No longer bother

When immersed

In actions perverse

We see no hope

Nor the scope

As we with our behavior

Do cope

To reach the summit

In lieu of the plummet

Towards which I was headed

And for a long time dreaded

Washes one with joy

At the freedom it brings

And how the heart sings

Let the celebratory bells ring

We are of nature’s two

The baser one

And the one that is true

We go through life

Searching for

The right thing to do

How can one regret

The lessons learned

From self-neglect

And the attainment

Of self-respect

I look instead

At the road ahead

No longer living

A life of dread

Oh what a sight

A future

I know to be bright

Though truly

I do not know

For my future

Does not yet show

Though through these lessons

Do we grow

-Shiidon, January 2012

I was reflecting on an interaction today.  There is a delivery person that comes in most days at work.  I learned a few weeks ago that she is trying to quit smoking.  I now ask her every day how many, she answers.  She has gone from more than a pack a day down to one or one and a half a day.  I am both encouraged by her success and encouraging to her in my support.  I always make sure to affirm her successes.  It seems that many of us struggle with habits and or behaviors that we don't like but are trapped in.  This poem stems from that thought.