{"id":3562,"date":"2014-08-12T14:22:02","date_gmt":"2014-08-12T21:22:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/karmabytes.net\/?p=3562"},"modified":"2014-08-12T14:22:20","modified_gmt":"2014-08-12T21:22:20","slug":"lost","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.karmabytes.net\/?p=3562","title":{"rendered":"Lost"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.coolkarma.com\/dharma\/wp-content\/uploads\/tacolost2.gif\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright wp-image-3563 size-full\" src=\"http:\/\/www.coolkarma.com\/dharma\/wp-content\/uploads\/tacolost2.gif\" alt=\"Taco\" width=\"300\" height=\"337\" \/><\/a>My old girl Taco must be approaching 15, we don&#8217;t really know for certain since she came to us as a rescue dog over a dozen years ago.\u00a0 We suspect she has some type of mild <a href=\"http:\/\/pets.webmd.com\/dogs\/cognitive-dysfunction-syndrome-dogs\"><span class=\"st\"><em>Canine Cognitive Dysfunction<\/em><\/span><\/a> because she wanders aimlessly at times and gets lost on our small patio and barks to come inside an open door.\u00a0 Her hearing and sight are a bit diminished but most of her confusion comes from a mind that can&#8217;t seem to remember what was once familiar to her.\u00a0 And though we will continue to try and help her the odds are things won&#8217;t get better for her as she grows older.<\/p>\n<p>Facing a future that does not hold the promise of easier times can be devastating for tender hearts. Holding on to the hope that things get better may be the only candle in the wind that keeps us keeping on.\u00a0 The dark realization that &#8220;things&#8221; don&#8217;t change can be a bitter pill to swallow, especially when we are in pain, notably when we are suffering, precisely when we feel we have hit the bottom of our existential crisis and we wish the heavens would open and hold out an olive branch for us to grasp and pull ourselves out of the desert storm we seem to be lost within.<\/p>\n<p>My son told me the news that Robin Williams was found dead today.\u00a0 Our first thoughts were some version of ..<i> if the world is such a painful place for such a &#8220;funny man&#8221; how are the rest of us suppose to muddle along?\u00a0<\/i> But we all know that humor masks so much pain, the public smile hides a terrorized mind even perhaps for Mona Lisa herself.\u00a0 I have been in conversation this week at every corner it seems with people who are seeing the <i>history-repeats-itself<\/i> paradigm in their own auto-biography.\u00a0 For my part in the collective monologue I found some old writings (journals) from over five years ago and I realized that I could have written them yesterday.\u00a0 The pain, the fear, the suffering, the dis-ease used the same words even though my external circumstances are 180\u00b0 towards utopia the egoic mind is still dictated by the programming that has always influenced my pain body.<\/p>\n<p>I listened as a dear friend of mine spoke to me about the same thing this afternoon.\u00a0 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=dpNdMIAnKko\">Telling my whole life, with his words killing me softly with his song.<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0 Not only was there a realization of the autopilot persona that bobs and weaves to the ripples in the surface of a pristine lake,\u00a0 but there was such an angry disdain expressed about being human or perhaps the inhumanity of it all.\u00a0 And of course I understood, because I was feeling the same karmic conditioned disdain myself.<\/p>\n<p>I understand the desire to not feel the burden of the double feature we find our self playing the leading role.\u00a0 We want what we want.\u00a0 For some people, there is no escaping the pain.\u00a0 Or perhaps their selective amnesia stops them from remembering even the little micro-moments of bliss that fall like tiny grains of salt into a vast ocean of agony.\u00a0 My mother use to say &#8230; you can&#8217;t give someone salt if you don&#8217;t have any salt.\u00a0 As we each walk one another home, perhaps all we can do is point out the flavor of salt that they may have overlooked.<\/p>\n<p>With <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Postural_orthostatic_tachycardia_syndrome\">POTS<\/a> we are often salting and over salting our food so that we can reduce the symptoms of the disorder.\u00a0 Each of us in some way are looking for that special spice that will make the good times linger or keep the bad times at bay.\u00a0 In<a href=\"Read%20more:%20http:\/\/www.nydailynews.com\/entertainment\/gossip\/robin-williams-found-dead-63-home-sheriff-article-1.1899928#ixzz3A8Lrgl60\"> the article I read about Robin Williams<\/a>, it said that he had entered rehab last month.\u00a0 The comedian was often open about his struggles with addiction and sobriety for 20 years.\u00a0 The harsh reality is the headline hits home for so many of us.\u00a0 My family of origin includes several alcoholic and drug abusing step-fathers.\u00a0 And the very sad part of the chronic illness chronicles is that even when someone successfully <i>recovers<\/i> from their addiction, when they stop using chemicals to escape their pain they can be overwhelmed by the waves of suffering that they now have to manage without any salt.\u00a0 And for the first time they find themselves standing alone with their torment (tenderness).<\/p>\n<p>I wish there was an olive branch that I could offer to help lift someone out of the dark places.\u00a0 As it is, the best that I can do is turn a light on the porch and walk over to my old dog and help her find her way back into the house with a smile and gentle pat on the head.<\/p>\n<div style=\"overflow: hidden; 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