Everything comes and goes, we all know that. There is the good and the bad about everything. Basically things change. That’s the two sides of the universe, the binary view of it all. Keeping the pathway moving towards the good stuff is the challenge. It’s always easy to close a door, to walk away, to forget, to ignore, to pretend you were never there.

On the other hand the agenda isn’t solely pursuing what is good. Occasionally it is best to keep the door closed – which I suppose can be a good thing in the end. Not everything is worth the effort. Listening to one’s instincts can frequently provide useful direction. It’s one motive for a decision, a source which surprisingly surmounts self-interest and instead provokes a more rational objective. The visceral is not incontrovertibly trumped by the cerebral. Remember too that not everyone wants you back in their life. Those are the hard facts to confess.

Any discussion of the good and the bad usually entails an admission that each alternative is to be expected. More often than not this is construed as an excuse for whatever is bad. But it is only a statement of the choices. It is just as plausible that the good will endure. Personally I employ the occasion of the bad as an imperative ingredient for the assurance of a good outcome; but it is an ingredient only. The final outcome will in my opinion be more successful if there are some hiccups along the way – some spice in the sauce so to speak.

When I look back upon my life I seldom think of the transition of events as being either good or bad. Rather the turns are amusing, sometimes fortuitous, other times moderately unfortunate, but always circumstances for which I am grateful. This is to be expected when conceding that there have been no tragedies in my life. There have certainly been incidents which in retrospect I might prefer to have avoided but for the most part I consider that anything bad always developed into something good in the end.

Misgivings do however arise. Even when rationalizing that certain affairs are better left alone there may persist a melancholy. The pensiveness may be contaminated by nostalgia. This is evidence of the switch from so-called good to bad. In the normal course of events the growth from youth to old age precipitates a great number of changes. It is never good to hang onto the past. In fact a good deal of my contemplation consists of removing myself from the past, not so much as a strategy to ignore or forget it, rather as a tactic to identify a new path in life, an awakening of sorts.

This manifestly indulgent codswallop is itself one of the pleasures of my life. Let’s be clear, the enjoyment of life is no accident, it requires work as does any other success or accomplishment. Nor is it a discredit that in my own prognostications I employ the sometimes unexceptional components available to me. I like to work with what I have. It is an engineering feat which I have always valued both as to its creation and its outcome. I admit the trifling inventions are seldom characterized by what would be labelled brilliant or professional but as proof of the artistic theme there can be no doubt. I say artistic to embrace self-expression, resembling that which is inventive, perhaps modestly imaginative.

So where am I going in this panegyric of the good and the bad? There is a point, be assured! It fulfills an obsession of mine to adjust my life in its entirety. It normally begins with a brief assessment of my parental heritage and then graduates to my sister and my closest relatives and loved ones. It is a preoccupation I cultivated formerly by prayer. In fact even to this day I recite the denominations by a form of prayer, not because I belief in God but rather as an automatic submission to a greater power. Really, the universe is too astounding to dismiss the possibility.

I feel it is no indignity to confine myself to more earthly concerns. I am a hedonist and materialist at heart! There are just too many sources of pleasure at hand to deny their appeal. Not that I omit to see the poetic nature of these less than spiritual absorptions. It is not without considerable effort that I have succeeded to establish a pleasant playing field for the sport that is living. Though I would not pretend to be particularly politic when it comes to associations, I certainly relish the opportunity to interact with those whom I value. I see it as a challenge of its own, a retail experience of involvement and discovery. Everyone is looking for return on their own investment. The only additive of which I can be accused is French roast or espresso coffee. At times the addition of sunshine constitutes a sublime complement.