{"id":138694,"date":"2024-04-18T16:50:21","date_gmt":"2024-04-18T21:50:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/?p=138694"},"modified":"2024-04-18T16:50:24","modified_gmt":"2024-04-18T21:50:24","slug":"the-view-from-the-balcony-some-things-ive-learned-so-far","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/the-view-from-the-balcony-some-things-ive-learned-so-far\/","title":{"rendered":"The View From The Balcony: “Some Things I\u2019ve Learned So Far”"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Nothing is permanent.
Bad times and good times are the same in that they both pass away.
Gratitude is one of the greatest healers of all.
The little things matter\u2014often more than the big things.
You can\u2019t always understand a situation when you are slap dab in the middle of it.
\u201cThere\u201d is not necessarily a direction.
Integrity still matters.
\u201cLo and behold\u201d really means that when we get off our high horses and come down to earth we see things much more clearly.
It\u2019s often good to walk barefoot in the mud. It\u2019s fun, too!
We say \u201cI love you\u201d with actions more than words, but the words still matter.
Make no mistake\u2014we all make mistakes.
Toleration matters but understanding, acceptance, and compassion matter more.
Follow what you love with all your strength.
Sometimes things wind up being crappy. That\u2019s just the way it is.
Sometimes things wind up being great. That\u2019s just the way it is.
It may seem black and white now, but eventually you\u2019ll see the gray and maybe even the colors.
There is beauty in all things observed closely enough, long enough, and with open minds and hearts.
We can all do something today that will contribute to peace in this life.
True friends are true friends. Embrace them often.
This too.
Forgiveness matters. Strong boundaries matter, too.
Love little babies because they are in the most natural human state there is.
Most guns in westerns hold 36 bullets. Reloading takes about 9 seconds.
It doesn\u2019t really matter where you end up. It\u2019s the work you put in to get there.
There are places we want to go, but it\u2019s how we handle ourselves on the journey that counts most.
Never underestimate the power of a good conversation.
Spirit is always free.*
The closer you look, the more deeply you smell, the prettier and more fragrant most flowers are\u2026most people, too.
Kindness is one of the most powerful weapons against hate we have.
A lot of good can come from shutting up and listening.
We all have a limited time. Don\u2019t spend it overthinking. Spend it living life doing what you enjoy with the people you relish being with.
If I were sane it would drive me crazy.
Reality television isn\u2019t really real.
\u201cFriendship\u201d is a lovely word.
Grace really is amazing.
I try not to relate to some of the songs I relate to.
Short people do have a reason to live.
Sometimes you don\u2019t know you\u2019re falling until you realize you\u2019ve slipped off the rope.
The long and winding road is real.
Spam is mocked-up meat that you eat. The spam in your email eats you.
Appliances break down. So do vehicles. So do we.
We are human BEINGS, not human DOINGS.
Take it easy. You probably didn\u2019t screw it up that badly and you probably aren\u2019t that much of a pile of dung. More times than not it\u2019s only a big deal to you.
Everyone I know goes away in the end.**
And last, but certainly not the least\u2026
You don\u2019t tug on Superman\u2019s cape.***
You don\u2019t spit into the wind.
You don\u2019t pull the mask off that old Lone Ranger
and you don\u2019t mess around with Slim\u2026or Jim.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2026and that\u2019s the view from The Balcony.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

(*Amadaes, **Trent Reznor & Nine Inch Nails, ***Jim Croce)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Randy Weeks is a Licensed Professional Counselor, a Certified Shamanic Life Coach, an ordained minister, a singer-songwriter, and an actor. He don\u2019t mess around with anybody\u2014especially Slim or Jim. Special thanks to D.E. for helping collect these sayings. Randy may be reached at randallsweeks@gmail.com.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Nothing is permanent.Bad times and good times are the same in that they both pass away.Gratitude is one<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":262,"featured_media":118752,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[11902],"tags":[10286,13250,10878],"class_list":["post-138694","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-randy-weeks","tag-randy-weeks","tag-the-view","tag-the-view-from-the-balcony"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/ViewFromTheBalcony-2.jpg?fit=996%2C650&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/138694","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/262"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=138694"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/138694\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":138698,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/138694\/revisions\/138698"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/118752"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=138694"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=138694"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=138694"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}