60

60 years of "lessons"

Lesson # 1 -- if your family is supportive and polite, great

love them and be thankful; if they want to control you through shaming you or calling you names

if they want to look down on you (because perhaps unconsciously they are jealous of what they see coming your way) or try to make you feel bad

. . . in the “hope” this will “teach you a lesson”

FUCK ‘EM

don’t waste years trying to understand what their trip is; it is a waste of time

be nice, forgive but after 58 more incidents, all the same

there comes a time to turn the blinking lights off . . . and shut them out

until you do this, your life will be misery

as you will be driven to parade various story lines across the family stage in hopes of “acceptance”

this attitude is bad for you (although good for my own personal “job security” as “The Rock n Roll Psychic”)

. . . if your wool is dipped in India Ink, wear it proudly

but give up worrying about why the other sheep all seem “brighter”

this is the biggest most important lesson there is and it goes down the “soul mates” are here to "twist you into a new path" line of thinking

honestly, though -- don’t waste 40 years worrying about why they think you’re strange

leave ‘em be and find people who "get you"

Lesson # 2 -- if you’re in a “relationship” and it all seems great and then a team of “interior decorators” show up

and I am talking about “interior decorators” for your mind

well if the sex is good hang around a few weeks while they draft out their plans but when they start knocking walls down and building “retaining walls” in your subconscious

just know they don’t have an architect on staff !!

. . . and just like the Three Little Pigs on whom they model their behavior

their houses are made out of straw and sooner than later somebody is gonna huff and puff

and your house is gonna blow over

. . . build a house out of bricks or keep moving on down the highway

but when the first little piggy shows up, all love light and blessings

and then he / she starts rearranging your internal plumbing

. . . trust me, that’s always a bad sign

many of us stay because we think we don’t deserve any better . . . as to “why”, please scroll back to my earlier speech about “THE FAMILY”

and your “family” may not just be your parents and immediate “kin” but peer groups, co-workers, neighbors . . . anyone to whom you willingly give the keys to your self-worth

however back to the Three Little Pigs Give Dating Advice

if you need a relationship to “complete you”, it is pretty easy to predict your outcome: “you’re fucked”

because if you need this to make you whole there is a much better chance of being “less together” later on than there is of finding “wholeness”

Lesson # 3 -- be love and love will show up . . . go out “looking for love” because something is missing within you and sure enough you will find a willing audience

to CONFIRM all the things you want help fixing

this is typically not the highlight of your day

. . . it is a rare bird who sticks around to fix things with you; if you find this angel, consider yourself blessed with the greatest of all gifts

because there is no greater

but the laws of probability are not on our side; fix yourself first

not so much because you’re way out of whack but, more likely, because you won’t value yourself enough to get out before things start breaking

this is also easier said than done and circles back once more to my earlier speech about “job security” as a psychic

and that, boys and girls, is the distilled wisdom of my 60 years

. . . because everything comes down to (a) tuning out those who would attempt to control how you “see yourself”

and (b) valuing yourself in interpersonal relationships and not “allowing” someone to tear you down

because you feel, for whatever reason, you “need them”

there are compromises at every turn -- to make money and “get along” there are “shared responsibilities” and ways of moving through society that are essential

we all need to value the other person and treat them with respect and do our best

. . . but

most people’s “issues” stem from trying to win approval for stuff that has nothing to do with them

and “feeling bad” about it

. . . rather than examining the “root cause” and trying to move on, wiser but not bruised and battered

we all fuck up -- somewhere

find your silver lining and if there are a team of “experts” on your payroll whose only job is to catalogue black clouds

they need to be “replaced”

this is why I am different at at 60 than I was at 20, 30, 40, or 50

I understand who to put on my “payroll”

when you learn that “lesson”, your life will get better

my hair may be gone, my hip may hurt, I may no longer be a pretty boy with 20 dates or have some of the financial perks of times past -- but even giving up all those things

my mind is clearer . . . I don’t waste it worrying about things out of my control

or stress about other people’s “trips”; I see things way more clearly now

and that is a pretty good 60th Birthday “Present”