It’s All Part of the Plan

It’s All Part of the Plan

            1.   Even the people who believe in Providence are rocked by

                  reverses.

            2.   You might say Providence then becomes, at times, a

                  policy.

            3.   When it becomes policy and life is difficult or even just

                  annoying, it comes under review, and a word for that is

                  doubt.

            4.   A contrary view, one that gives Providence a real name,

                  is that the mature life is capable of finding perfection in

                  imperfection.

            5.   The Providential eye sees all globally, the endless need

                  for variety and flexibility by all, and change therefore,

                  the constant for all.

            6.   So then, there’s a time for safety, and a time for danger.

            7.   A time for hearing when the Word is yes, a time for when

                  it is no.

Sight

He said he would look for . . .

            a hole in the perfect hedge

            a crack in the coffee cup

            a blemish on a beautiful face

            a curtain to the golden summer

            a dog with a limp

            a neck in a brace

            a tar paper shack

            a bike without fenders

            a shoe with a broken lace

            a floor that slants

            a river overflowed

            a book with a broken spine

            a child with a runny nose

            a wilted yellow tulip

            a trembling hand of an old woman

            and find there the Plan

© 2012 Allan Cox, Allan Cox & Associates Inc. All Rights Reserved.

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Do You Hear Eric Hoffer’s Heartsong?

Do You Hear Eric Hoffer’s Heartsong?

            1.   If you’re not familiar with Eric Hoffer, one of our national

                  treasures, Google, check him out on Wikipedia.

            2.   What he does for us here, without any formal education,

                  is translate, interpret, paint, and sing from his large

                  heart.

            3.   Have you seen a field of summer wheat at a red sundown as a

                  sea of fire that enlarges and fills your being.

           

            4.   Have you scooped your hand under the Statue of Liberty

                  and lifted it arm’s length as she lifts the torch?

            5.   Have you shrunk yourself and ridden the wings of the

                  hummingbird, dipping with her to the marigold just

                  before noon?.

            6.   What beckons you when you wake to the mourning

                  dove? When you hear the call, where do you go?

            7.   Tell me, how do the flute and player become one?

Frame

A

longshoreman

on the

San Francisco

docks

says

the frame

of the

glassless

window

in his

tool shed

presents

a portrait

each day

that rivals

the finest

galleries

of the

world.

© 2012 Allan Cox, Allan Cox & Associates Inc. All Rights Reserved.

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How to Receive the Gift

How to Receive the Gift

            1.   I can’t speak for you, but it often seems my best ideas

                  come to me soon after I wake in the morning.

            2.   That’s not just from sleeping on it but is a whole

                  new blast or something else I’d put in abeyance earlier.

            3.   Sometimes the idea comes in a group when I’m

                  corrected for having the wrong idea for the right reason.

            4.   This is an example that a great idea won’t come of age

                  without debate.

            5.   The late Lewis Thomas, CEO of Sloan-Kettering, wrote

                  that new kinds of thinking require an argument

                  beforehand.

            6.   To have thoughts of your own that you care about deeply

                  is performance you owe others and yourself.

            7.   Do remember, to be truly receptive to the thoughts of

                  others is the back-story of creativity.

Idea

An idea—

one that enlivens,

that doesn’t preen,

that comes not

because you’re

abrainababble

but aware

you’re

enquiring . . .

not commanded.

Welcomed.

Received—

alone or

among many.

Is one

that can

give.

© 2012 Allan Cox, Allan Cox & Associates Inc. All Rights Reserved.

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When to Keep it Inside

When to Keep it Inside

            1.   She was an admired officer of her company. It came to

                  her one day that her young administrative assistant lived

                  a happier life than she.

            2.   She sat back splayed in her chair, dazed. How had she

                  missed this and why was it so?

            3.   She didn’t begrudge her assistant; heavens no, she

                  admired her, grateful she’d shone a light, not even

                  knowing it.

            4.   Nor did she need to quit her job to find herself. She

                  had laid bare the façade right where she was.

            5.   No need to make a big deal of it publicly either. Own it

                  inside. Talk just dissipates.

            6.   She sheds something false.

            7.   She reclaims something true.

Silence

The workshop had heft.

I didn’t know

the leader

nor acquainted

with other attendees.

There was the training

and obligatory

small group breakouts,

then it happened—

the peeling—

no, not exhilaration,

the laying bare.

I shed no tears,

swallowed, my

private moment.

Knew.

© 2012 Allan Cox, Allan Cox & Associates Inc. All Rights Reserved.

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