by Hal Manogue
" I am a writer who came from a sheltered life. A sheltered life can be a daring life as well. For all serious daring starts from within."
Eudora Alice Welty was born in 1909. She was a photographer, Pulitzer Prize winning writer, and a gracious lady from Jackson Mississippi. She dedicated most of her life to writing fiction and her works immediately established her as a leading figure in American Literature especially the American South.
Her words above bring a sense of unity to life; we all live a sheltered life to begin with, for we all start our journey from within. I overlooked that concept for many years, the external world had a grip on me and I fell into the trap of materialism. I was hooked on the right and wrong approach to every situation and there was someone or something that was always causing me pain and aggravation. I captured the daring life by wrestling with judgment and fear, the self-created feelings that arise from being separated from my inner world. I did live a sheltered life because I only lived in one reality, which held me captive because I was too weak to listen to my inner voice. I followed the crowd in order to conform and found myself in a cell of insanity looking for help and wanting permission to live.
Well, that's all behind me. I understand who I am. I appreciate the world I have within myself and explore it everyday. It is a journey of consciousness that brings me to many crossroads and choices. It is a world of probabilities and possibilities where things form into matter and manifest into things. I am a co-creator of my life and each moment is an experience worth living. From my choices I learn lessons and grow from the changes that the lesson teach me. I expand my sheltered existence into a world of color and beauty where there is consciousness in everything. I continue to expand and feel the excitement that living my truth brings me through the interaction I have with all living things. The shelter of unity changes my thoughts and I see without judgment, fear or anger. Each experience is an expression of daring where I guide myself with gratitude and appreciation.
Eudora understood all of that. She wrote about it and lived it. The time to start living is a personal choice. We all do it at different times and in different lives. Some only do it in dreams and others do it all the time. In our diversity we become one, because from that contrast we learn to become grander versions of ourselves; the version that starts from within, the spirit that is having a human experience in order to remember. Remembering is awakening. Awakening is connection. The connection of my spirit to All There is in a web of love that continues to expand and grow as I do.
The sheltered life is the life we all want to experience, for it is real. It is real because I know who I am. In that knowing, I am connected to the shelter of unity, which opens, and I begin to feel the presence of another reality and the concept of eternal life. From within comes answers; from within comes questions; from within comes the consciousness to live both.
Howard (Hal) Thomas Manogue, was born in Philadelphia, and is a forerunner to the Indigo children, a now age term for misfit with an intuitive nature, a desire to know his truth with a gift of giving and sharing. Hal retired from the shoe industry after 35 years of sole searching, and discovered his real soul.
He enjoys art, music, philosophy, psychology, nature and people.
His poems have been published by: Mystic Pop Magazine, Children Of The New Earth Magazine, New Age Tribune, Seasons Of The Soul Newsletters, Lightship News and Writers In The Sky Newsletters. His essays can be found on Hal's Blog and Website: http://halmanogue.blogspot.com/ http://www.shortsleeves.net He lives in Franklin Tennessee.
Hal's new book Short Sleeves Insights: Live A Ordinary Life In An Non-Ordinary Way will be in print in April. Visit any bookstore or Hal's website to get a copy. Hal's third Collection Of poetry: Short Sleeves A Book For Friends will also be in print in April.
" I am a writer who came from a sheltered life. A sheltered life can be a daring life as well. For all serious daring starts from within."
Eudora Alice Welty was born in 1909. She was a photographer, Pulitzer Prize winning writer, and a gracious lady from Jackson Mississippi. She dedicated most of her life to writing fiction and her works immediately established her as a leading figure in American Literature especially the American South.
Her words above bring a sense of unity to life; we all live a sheltered life to begin with, for we all start our journey from within. I overlooked that concept for many years, the external world had a grip on me and I fell into the trap of materialism. I was hooked on the right and wrong approach to every situation and there was someone or something that was always causing me pain and aggravation. I captured the daring life by wrestling with judgment and fear, the self-created feelings that arise from being separated from my inner world. I did live a sheltered life because I only lived in one reality, which held me captive because I was too weak to listen to my inner voice. I followed the crowd in order to conform and found myself in a cell of insanity looking for help and wanting permission to live.
Well, that's all behind me. I understand who I am. I appreciate the world I have within myself and explore it everyday. It is a journey of consciousness that brings me to many crossroads and choices. It is a world of probabilities and possibilities where things form into matter and manifest into things. I am a co-creator of my life and each moment is an experience worth living. From my choices I learn lessons and grow from the changes that the lesson teach me. I expand my sheltered existence into a world of color and beauty where there is consciousness in everything. I continue to expand and feel the excitement that living my truth brings me through the interaction I have with all living things. The shelter of unity changes my thoughts and I see without judgment, fear or anger. Each experience is an expression of daring where I guide myself with gratitude and appreciation.
Eudora understood all of that. She wrote about it and lived it. The time to start living is a personal choice. We all do it at different times and in different lives. Some only do it in dreams and others do it all the time. In our diversity we become one, because from that contrast we learn to become grander versions of ourselves; the version that starts from within, the spirit that is having a human experience in order to remember. Remembering is awakening. Awakening is connection. The connection of my spirit to All There is in a web of love that continues to expand and grow as I do.
The sheltered life is the life we all want to experience, for it is real. It is real because I know who I am. In that knowing, I am connected to the shelter of unity, which opens, and I begin to feel the presence of another reality and the concept of eternal life. From within comes answers; from within comes questions; from within comes the consciousness to live both.
Howard (Hal) Thomas Manogue, was born in Philadelphia, and is a forerunner to the Indigo children, a now age term for misfit with an intuitive nature, a desire to know his truth with a gift of giving and sharing. Hal retired from the shoe industry after 35 years of sole searching, and discovered his real soul.
He enjoys art, music, philosophy, psychology, nature and people.
His poems have been published by: Mystic Pop Magazine, Children Of The New Earth Magazine, New Age Tribune, Seasons Of The Soul Newsletters, Lightship News and Writers In The Sky Newsletters. His essays can be found on Hal's Blog and Website: http://halmanogue.blogspot.com/ http://www.shortsleeves.net He lives in Franklin Tennessee.
Hal's new book Short Sleeves Insights: Live A Ordinary Life In An Non-Ordinary Way will be in print in April. Visit any bookstore or Hal's website to get a copy. Hal's third Collection Of poetry: Short Sleeves A Book For Friends will also be in print in April.
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