Archive for the ‘About Me’ Category
8
Jun
Posted by Mark Schmitz in About Me, Life, Life's Lessons, Lyrics, Personal Growth, Relationships, Song Lyrics, Spirituality, Video Clip, forgiveness. Tagged: Change, Come to Me, F.E.A.R., Failed Relationships, Fear, Forgiveness, Freedom, Growing Pains, Love, Make Peace with You, Mary J. Blige, New Beginning, peace, Relationships, Scared in relationships, Second Chances, Tyler Perry's Meet the Brown's, Video Clip, Worries. 3 Comments
I have been wanting to share this track from Mary J. Blige’s “Growing Pains” CD. By far my favorite song (this week, OK – this month!). Following are the lyrics, which got me hooked first, then listen to the song. Enjoy!
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3
Jun
Posted by Mark Schmitz in About Me, Addiction, Art, Creativity, Life, Personal Growth, Poetry, Recovery, Spirituality. Tagged: Delight in Knowledge, Persevere, Personal Growth, Poems, Poet, Poetry, Robert Frost, Wisdom. Leave a Comment
“”A poet begins in delight and ends in wisdom.” – Robert Frost
Artists deepen our sense of wonder because they have retained the ability to see life with a delighted eye. They know that nothing is too particular or minute to take pleasure in if we give ourselves time to pause and look. The world is [...]
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26
May
Posted by Mark Schmitz in About Me, Life, Personal Growth, Purpose of Life, Relationships, Self Discovery, Spirituality. Tagged: About Me, Age is just a number, Aging, Best Birthday, Birthday, Birthday Party, Birthday traditions, Blogging, Childhood Memories, Getting Older, Lilacs, Seasonal Birthday Memories. Leave a Comment
Tuesday, May 26, 2009 is my 48th birthday. I don’t expect it to be any different than any other day; my friend Keith will pick me up in the morning as he does every Tuesday, and we will go to Joshua Tree. Joshua Tree is a program here in Phoenix, Arizona which provides food [...]
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25
May
Posted by Mark Schmitz in About Me, Addiction, Health, Life, Mental Health, Opinions, Personal Growth, Self Will, Self-improvement. Tagged: Smoking, Smoking Cessation, Quit Smoking, Cigarettes, Tobacco, Asthma, Respiratory Problems, I can't breathe, Breathing, Smoker, Non-smoker. Leave a Comment
“I quit smoking.” — Me
I’ve considered myself to be a smoker since the age of twelve. My cousin Randy and I would sneak cigarettes from our parents and smoke them as we walked to school each morning. Back then, cigarettes cost no more that seventy-five cents from the vending machine at the local bowling alley. [...]
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25
May
Posted by Mark Schmitz in About Me, Addiction, Life, Opinions, Personal Growth, Recovery, Relationships, Self Discovery, Spirituality. Tagged: F.E.A.R., Fear, Flexibility, Rigidity, Story of the Reed and the Oak, Strength, Stubborn, Stubborness, Tolerance. 1 Comment
There’s an old fable about the competition between the reed and the oak during a gale storm. As the wind howled, the oak boasted, while the reed said nothing. The wind became a tempest, and the reed bent down flexibly to the ground. The oak fell, uprooted.
Sometimes we seem strong but we are [...]
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23
May
Posted by Mark Schmitz in About Me, Addiction, Creativity, Life, Personal Growth, Spirituality. Tagged: Addiction, Art, Artistic, Creative outlet, Creativity, Life, Life's Lessons, Personal Growth, Recovery. Leave a Comment
“It is the creative potential itself in human beings that is the image of God.” — Mary Daly
Within each of us is a creative person. Getting comfortable with our creativity often means letting go of tight, rigid thinking so that the spontaneous, artistic side of ourselves can emerge.
Whether or not we think of ourselves [...]
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23
May
Posted by Mark Schmitz in 12 Step Program, About Me, Addiction, Art, Chemical Dependency, Creativity, Drug Addiction, Life, Personal Growth, Recovery, Self Discovery, Spirituality. Tagged: 12 Step Program, Addiction, Art, Art by Christopher Eshenbaugh, Art Therapy, Artist, Chemical Dependency, Christopher Eshenbaugh, Creativity, Life, Life's Lessons, Mask of Domestic Violence, Personal Growth, Reading, Recovery, Self Discovery. 1 Comment
The Mask of Domestic Violence – By Artist, Christopher Eshenbaugh
“Thanks to art, instead of seeing one world (our own), we see it multiplied.” — Marcel Proust
I’ve been looking at the therapeutic nature of art to one’s recovery lately. In our active addiction, we tended to have a single, narrow view of ourselves and the world [...]
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20
May
Posted by Mark Schmitz in About Me, Life, Life's Lessons, Lyrics, Personal Growth, Relationships, Song Lyrics, Spirituality, Video Clip. Tagged: People in your life, Change, Wicked, Kristen Chenoweth, Glinda, Forgiveness, Inspirational Lyrics, Elphaba, Wizard of Oz, Wicked Witch of the West, For Good, Good Witch of the North, L Frank Baum, Broadway Musical, For Good from Wicked. Leave a Comment
I love the Broadway musical Wicked. For those readers unfamiliar with the story, it is based on the best-selling novel, Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West by Gregory McGuire which runs parallel to the classic novel by L. Frank Baum, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.
Wicked tells the story of [...]
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19
May
Posted by Mark Schmitz in About Me, Life, Personal Growth, Relationships, Spirituality. Tagged: Defying Gravity, Elphaba, Glinda, Inspirational Lyrics, Relationships, Together We Are Unlimited, Wicked, Wicked Witch, Wicked Witch of the West, Wizard of Oz. 1 Comment
Sometimes when I blog, I may just share lyrics to a song which is special to me. This blog happens to contain the lyrics to “Defying Gravity” from the musical “Wicked”. Enjoy the video and the lyrics that follow.
Defying Gravity
GLINDA
(Spoken)
Elphaba – why couldn’t you have stayed calm for
once, [...]
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15
May
Posted by Mark Schmitz in About Me, Addiction, Fear, Inner Self, Life, Life's Lessons, Personal Growth, Personality, Purpose of Life, Recovery, Relationships, Self Discovery, Self-improvement, Spirituality, Weakness. Tagged: Addiction, Attack, Behavior, Charitable, Confidence, Defensive, Dogmatic, Flexibility, Forgiving, Life, Patience, Personal Growth, Recovery, Relationships, Self Discovery, Strength, Unworthy, Vulnerable. Leave a Comment
“When people are least sure, they are often most dogmatic.” — J.K. Galbraith
Weakness and fear make me defensive and dogmatic (adhering strictly to something). I often find myself becoming strident and aggressive without any apparent reason. I insult my acquaintances, hurt my friends, and even frighten the neighbor’s children. In that moment, I may feel [...]
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