LIVING IN THE SPIRAL

Simple Things

2009-09-09T19:25:00.019-05:00

To find the beauty in simple things really isn't all that hard. If someone asked you about butterflies you would think, yes they are beautiful. Sunsets, The beaches of , well any beach, everyone would agree they are beautiful. Slowing down long enough to spend time in beauty is the key. Much easier said than done for sure.

There is so much to accomplish in this life. So much to do, so we can enjoy life. Balance is what it's all about, right? That's what we are all striving for. Striving for it in how much we work, shuttle kids to ball games, and spend time with friends. We strive for it with our spouses, our families and our hobbies. There are a lot of lives that run at break neck speed, most that run faster than mine, but we are trying to find that balance, so the sweet stuff doesn't get by us before we see that it's gone. I sure don't want to wake up one day to find that the finer things, the things that really matter have passed me by.

I think that will always be true however to some degree. I try to move through this life slower, spend time with family and friends. I share in great conversations around campfires quite often, spend time in reflection, and try to really engage the people along my path. Still it all goes too fast. I did slow down long enough to photograph the cricket shown here and spent time really marveling at how beautiful and intricate it is. I wish I did it more often. Life is a blur. We've heard it all our lives and now many of are sensing its truth. Savor the freshness of the morning, hug your loved ones like it's crucial for your survival. Look an elder in the eye and listen to his stories. Watch for just a minute the wonderment of a small child. The sweet stuff is around us all the time This is what I tell myself, I just don't listen as often as I should.

The Reluctant Christian

2009-09-04T11:12:00.015-05:00

For a long time when people asked me if I was a Christian, there must have been a puzzled look on my face as I searched for a way to answer that question. The word Christian comes with so much baggage and expectation and much of both of those I didn't want anything to do with. I always tried to look at my faith through the eyes of someone who didn't necessarily believe, or at least didn't follow a Christian faith.

I think what man has done to Christ is pretty amazing and many times comical. Sometimes intentions were good but many times God was just used to fill personal agendas. I wonder when looking down at the way some faiths are being lived out, if God is just shaking his head in a puzzled sort of way thinking, "y'all have missed it". I think God gets the whole human experience in all we do, as we bounce along the bumpers of life trying to connect, to find that harmony, that union.

This maybe a big limb for some people, but I'm not even sure we can disappoint him. The whole right or wrong thing. Perhaps there's a bit of sadness when we make a decision that takes us out of that harmony, but even those are good to learn from. It's always a journey as we move along the spiral, sometimes closer to our center, sometimes further away. But if we are intentional in our journey of faith, only being in harmony will feel right.

I have read about many forms of faith from Buddhism to Christianity. From Native America to Hindu. I think there is one Creator, and he gave us all a way to see him through our own cultures. . I am a member of a church and I find many good minds there and ones that allow me to expand mine. I hope my thoughts and beliefs will continually take shape as I grow older. For me, the walk and life of Christ is what I'm drawn to. It's what makes sense and is what captures my heart. Most everything else that humans attach to that is suspect and up for grabs. Anything I don't have to earn and is full of the purest love is for me. I believe we are all in this together and God shouldn't be expected to fit in any one box. So with all of the embarrassing TV preachers, the confusion of trying to make sense of it all, I am happy to live within the mystery, and more comfortable in being the reluctant Christian. Trust your heart.

Latitude 30.46, Longitude 87.19

2009-07-21T18:11:00.015-05:00

Northern Gulf Coast. Panhandle. Florida. White Sands. Pensacola. Always home, always. It is here that I was born. It is a connection to land and water that will never change. It is in my DNA.

I recently stood on these shores, connecting to all that makes me who I am. It's a good feeling to be "home". Everyone has a "home". It's not always where they were born. Some discover this home late in life. It's that place, I guess, that just makes you feel at peace, connected, well, at home! Home is where you get your strength from, that well deep inside you, blended with however you relate to the Creator, that helps you stay centered and in harmony.

Pensacola is Americas first settlement. Spanish explorers brought their ships into what they called the "best port in the Caribbean", some 450 years ago. They were met by Indians that had been here thousands of years before, the Panzacola Indians. So as we all know Columbus, DeSoto, DeLuna, all those folks didn't really discover anything in the true sense of the word. They just found a land they had never seen. I feel the connection to those before me and honor their part in the shaping of what I see. History in Pensacola as well as other places didn't begin with the written word, so I grew up with only part of the story. In my spirit I want to honor the whole story, from the Creator thru every people that left their mark and raised their families, and turned the soil and watched the sunrise. We are all connected and we are all related, people and land. Mitakuye Oyasin! We are all related!

It is good to connect with home. The parts you like and the parts you don't like, for they both have influence on shaping the way you see the world. I am happy to share my home with my family. For some of my family it will be the home of their heart. They will ingest and breathe it as their forefathers have. They are in the line. They are in the land and the water. I think we should all connect with that place we call home. I hope you will embrace yours, wherever that is. Mine just happens to be at Latitude 30.46, Longitude 87.19

Aloha, GS

THE POWER OF MUSIC

2009-06-15T23:06:00.024-05:00

I am sure open to people enjoying whatever pursuits that bring joy into their lives. I'm even happier that I to can pursue the things that move me. Lets take music for example. There is something for everyone and somewhere deep in my soul I don't believe one form is better than another. OK, I'm lying to a degree. Maybe I'm just so consumed by what moves me. That has changed through the years which I look at as a healthy form of growth!

I have my desert island favorites without question. Jackson Browne, Bob Marley, Willie Nelson for sure. I don't know how I could possibly limit it to just a few. I guess I'm really glad that "desert island" is pretty stupid to begin with, or I'd need a really big island to also fit Roger Miller, James Taylor, Al Green, Don Williams, Jimmy Buffett, John Prine, Stevie Wonder, just to name a few. I think it's a beautiful thing that music moves people, I mean really moves them. For me it's kind of like life's blood, I just couldn't live without it.

When I first moved to Nashville in the late 90's I still listened to some of the country music that was being played on the radio. People told me that living in this town could change you and they were right. Maybe it's me getting older but I don't think the Country Music I hear now relates to me at all. I can still do a little Alan Jackson, some George Strait, and I'll always give a .new John Anderson song a spin. Lee Ann Womack just flat out kills me.

As a person that considers himself a writer at heart but would be reluctant to make that claim in the company of the folks I'm about to talk about. Being in Nashville and having the opportunity to hear some of the worlds best writers cut their musical souls and bleed all over the paper still moves me to no end. I'm not sure most folks realize how vital and how brave and healing it is for writers to make that journey. I found guys like Kevin Welch and Bruce Robsion. Guys being true to their soul, not worrying about the money, or at least not letting it get in the way of their art. There's a line of writers like that, Kris Kristofferson, Roger Miller, all the way up to the new poets like Davis Raines, Sam Baker, and Walt Wilkins. Once you taste that, once you experience something that real it's impossible to return to the stuff that is force fed to us on the radio.

Recently I had the good fortune to see Davis lay down some of the best written stuff this town could handle, as well as Mark Winchester put stories in song that are not meant to be consumed but savored like something you don't want to lose. I ended my week at high church watching Walt Wilkins move an entire room, lead an audience through their hopes and dreams, doubts and beliefs. It was honest, soulful, and in my humble opinion, is what music should be all about.

It's out there, the good stuff is. Let it move you again. Whether it's James Taylor, Miles Davis, or Mozart, keep it in your world, keep it pumping through your veins. It's mighty fine medicine.

And in the words of Bob Marley, "Don't worry about a thing 'cause every little thing is gonna be alright"...

Faces

2009-06-12T09:09:00.040-05:00

I have long been fascinated with faces. Just think about it after you're done chuckling! Aren't they amazing? They tell such stories, such mysteries. As I've become older and I see my own face beginning to take the shape of its next stage, it makes me think of the time line. I look at pictures of people who have made the full circle here on earth, and now have begun the spiritual circles that will never end.

The ones that were physically shattered and damaged here and will forever be beautiful and healed. I see the hopes and dreams of young people before, as Jackson Browne so poetically wrote in "Too Many Angels", "And upon their angel faces, life's expectations climb, where the moment has preserved them from the ravages of time". I also wonder how the photographs freeze us and perhaps in a way that was just one sliver of a moment but not the full moment. We then thread our dreams and thoughts into the photograph that is before us.

I see the infant in her Mothers arms totally dependent on her for her very survival. The teenager who has so much and yet still needs the wisdom that only comes with time. I see the 20 somethings geared and set to take on the world and to leave their mark. As the next stages came to me and I began to father my children, I found them teaching me much about myself or at least what I thought I knew about myself. I love the peace and contentment of my elders who have learned to let go of what isn't important and to embrace what is. I saw the hollowness in my Grandfathers face in his last days. I was looking at the shell of a man scared yet preparing for the fuller journey.

I'm not really sure what all of this means. Perhaps it's a reflection that time comes for us all. That maybe we are to make the best of each day we are given. To understand that no matter how much we think we aren't taking this life for granted, the acute clarity of life will reveal itself in our own crossing over.

So no worries, for what good do they do. Engage, love, and relish in the beauty of it all. Those are the steps for me although I fail daily, but it is no reason to stop walking or finding love in the faces in my life.

SACRED SPACES

2009-06-08T07:46:00.010-05:00

What does the term "Sacred Space" mean to you. It surely doesn't have to be only one thing. There are sacred spaces in conversation and in prayer. Sacred Spaces are often in your mind and in your thought process.

When I started thinking about it, my first images were of physical places. Those places that I hold dearest in my memory. Places where life happened, where unexpected and unplanned conversations brought me closer to people. I've had many of those times around a campfire over the last 20 years. I've had them at home on "my" beach.

There is one place that seems to tug at my heart more than others though. It's a little kitchen at 121 North M St, in Pensacola, FL. My Grandparents kitchen. It was cozy, kind of like a cocoon. It had paneled walls and indoor/outdoor carpet. There was an old radio on the top of the refrigerator that seemed to play nothing but Gospel music from an AM dial. Through its screen door I would smell the scents of the morning time. The smell of the Gulf Coast mixed with the paper mill and fresh cut grass that blended so wonderfully with the smell and sounds of grits, eggs and bacon frying in her old skillet. Many evenings and late night found us in conversations that I still hold close to this day. These were holy moments in Sacred Spaces to me. The memories of many things that can't be recaptured. They are gone now and someone else is making memories in that house that my Grandfather built and cared for, for over 50 years.

I'm making more memories however with my children, creating more sacred spaces in conversation, in listening, growing with them. The realization and reminders of my own short comings and mistakes cause me to reflect and have moments of understanding. I have created a space at my house that I affectionally refer to as my "Hogan", after Navajo terminology. It is a space that I have already shared some wonderful conversations about journeys and lives and memories.

I hope we all can continue to see and create these Sacred Spaces in our lives. My wife has created wonderful Sacred Spaces in her gardens, places where she helps bring things to life, where she thinks and lets her soul flourish. They can be anywhere you wish them to be as God is everywhere and in everything. I've included a couple of pics of Sacred Spaces for me over the years, where life has been shared and the spirit of God made me glad to be right in that moment.

What Do You See God In ?

2009-05-26T20:25:00.012-05:00

As a child I was always told that God was the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end and everything in between. That's what they said, but I never really saw much evidence of them believing in that. At least not that way I came to see it as I got older. As I continue the journey looking, searching, and occasionally glimpsing peace, I find it in life's moments. It's usually the small moments, the ones that I used to maybe smile at but never really thought about seeing God in. A few years ago I wrote the lyrics to this song, and so far it comes closest to how I feel.

GOD IN EVERYTHING

I saw God flying 'cross the sky

He was a red tail hawk soarin' high

When he turned into a teardrop

He was fallin' from my eye

I saw God flyin' cross the sky

Now and then I really feel the winds blow

That holy spirit stirs my ragged soul

Remindin' me I'm not alone and

Without pain, I'd have never grown

Now and then I really feel the winds blow

I see God in everything

In a strangers smile and broken dreams

From open arms to fields of green

I see God in everything

He's that mighty river flowin'

Everywhere my achin' hearts goin'

Livin' in the soul of everyman

That's one thing that I've known

He's that mighty river flowin'

I see God in everything

A black hearse rollin' n' angel wings

Wooden crosses to prayer beads

I see God in everything

In a gentle kiss on a moonlit stream

Children's laughter and when life stings

I see God in everything

It's a conditioning, sometimes an effort. But I feel God in a strangers handshake, in catching an older persons eyes, in watching friends walk together. Sunsets, rain showers, mourning doves,music, and friends. He's there in it all. Hopefully I can be in the moment more and more, right where God is. I'd like to know where you see God.

PERFECT WORLD

2009-05-23T18:37:00.005-05:00

I wrote this song with my friend Milan Miller. I has been received warmly and writers that we greatly admire think highly of it. That's the finest compliment I can think of. If your interested you can hear a version at this link, and it can be purchased on i tunes, under Jon Bryd's CD called Bryd's Auto Parts. I hope you enjoy it!!

http://www.nashvillemusicpros.com/profile/GlennSimmons

In a perfect world

My tongue wouldn't scar your heart

I'd say all the little things I forgot

And tomorrow wouldn't hurt

In a perfect world

I'd have nothing to hide

My troubles would all be cast aside

and I could turn the tide

In a perfect world

But it ain't that way

A little rain falls somewhere everyday

People walk away from their lives

Even on sunny days

In a perfect world

You'd still be standing at my side

You wouldn't have to look beyond these eyes

To find your dreams

In a perfect world

But it ain't that way

A little rain falls somewhere everyday

People walk away from their lives

Even on sunny days

In a perfect world

I'd hold more than your memory

I'd lock the gates behind you and me

We'd find our dreams in a perfect world

Just you and me in a perfect world

Forever we'd be in a perfect world

Men and Mentors

2009-05-22T16:56:00.007-05:00

So here I am living in 2009. United States. Nashville Tennessee. The information age as my friends say. Before you the ink of your signature has dried on the credit card receipt, the new gadget you have, something faster, smarter, and cooler has already hit stores somewhere else. We live in a world of externals. How you look, what you drive, your zip code, the car you drive, all of that "stuff". We don't tend to look however on the inside.

In a broad sense it makes me wonder what my culture and what I am passing along to my children. More specifically, what do I teach them in regards to being men. Do I encourage them on the path of stuff or the path of spirituality, and not that the inevitable blending isn't all bad. Do I encourage a job and money or maybe "life's work", "a calling". I've seen those folks that seem to be doing just what they were put here for. They make me envious to be honest. It makes me wish I had been led in that direction.

So I don't have any big answers. No huge definitives for my children. I ask them to search and be free to follow a life that is full. One that keeps them circling in good spaces and asking questions that bring them closer to themselves and their Maker.

They are on their own journeys and will find their mountains and valleys, darkness and light. I hope to give them a glimpse of what it means to be a man. Among the bumps, bruises, and scars, they will see a man of dignity, engaged in his walk. One with faults but is continually striving to grow everyday, and to put his faith and dependence in things that are timeless.

The Spiral

2009-05-18T17:13:00.004-05:00

When I first entertained the thought of marking my body in a permanent way with ink I had many thoughts to process through. First I would want something that meant something to me. I love Dolphins, I really do, I just didn't want one tattooed on my body. No skulls and crossbones or crosses. No pictures of Christ crying or cartoon characters. None of that seemed to make sense for me. Despite the global use of the spiral to promote everything from coffee to underwear, it always had a lure for me.

It was ancient and mystical. It was Native, organic, and held a million meanings thru countless cultures. The spiral, has signified the direction for water. The plane between the physical and the spiritual, the journey of life. The Hopi believed the center of life was where you were born. When life was perfect. I've been told the spiral is one of the earliest symbols for human spirituality.

So there it was. The spiral. That's what I would have tattooed. Oh yeah, next hurdle...where would I have it placed? I'm at an age where physically I'm not as taut as I used to be, if you know what I mean. With grace and mercy I hope to live for many more years and I don't see a sudden rise in my physical tone. I had to find a place that would age gracefully !! No biceps, no legs. I thought of my back but who would see it? So I settled on the inside of my forearm. Small, moderately discreet.

Yes, I had friends and family that just shook their heads, like it was some passing fancy. I guess they think only old wrinkled bikers or ex Navy guys have them. Whatever!!

My spiral has a small twist to it. On the inside of the spiral there is a cross. My way of seeing it is that when you are born you are at the center of the spiral, the closest to God I may ever be. Throughout life I have moved along the path of this spiral, this journey, down many roads. As the journey has continued I find myself on a path moving back to the center, back to God. Back to the Maker. Back to harmony with myself and everything in my world.

The tattoo is a reminder for me everyday to move closer to the center. It is also a reminder that

everyone is at a different place on their journey. I hope for patience as others are patient with me.

Permanent markings can be very en powering just as public professions of faith can be. I've you've thought about one, don't let the nay sayers bother you. Enjoy !!

A SIMPLE PRAYER

2009-05-18T10:34:00.003-05:00

I wrote this on Easter morning. Without a doubt it is a prayer. A reaching out. A longing to be in a different space, to be the man I'm trying to be. I suppose it's all part of the journey in finding ones self amidst the wreckage of life. The time when looking for the answers, the real answers takes you inside yourself, inside your ego and that quiet desire for it all to revolve around us. I am many mornings from this being me, but I am aware that I can no longer find peace in the ways of old.

A SIMPLE PRAYER

Give me good ears and an open heart

Make my tongue slow to talk

Maybe then I'll truly hear

The spirit of you calm my fears

It's a simple prayer I pray today

I'm not asking to wash my problems away

I just want to feel you in the everyday

It's a simple prayer I pray today

Make me quick to love

Take my desire for the push n' shove

Make my touch gentle like the lamb

I don't want to stay the way I am

It's a simple prayer I pray today

I'm not asking to wash my problems away

I just want to feel you in the everyday

It's a simple prayer I pray today

Change will come from deep inside

And the love will shine where I hide

Glenn Simmons