Posted on
27 March 2021 by
Iain under
Thinking Out Loud
Well… Are You?
Release the chains, I can’t reach
I don’t hold the key?
They’re heavy and the impede me every day
I can’t help you carry them?
Can you call for the keyholder, I want to speak with them…
I’m sorry I can’t, they don’t seem to hear me
Can you not shout louder, I need them now!
It is not my volume that is the problem
Then why do they not hear you?
Because they don’t want to hear the truth!
What! I don’t understand what you’re saying?
Those chains that weigh you down so much…
What about them?
They’re not real
Trust me, friend, I know how real they are, they are with me every day of my life… Why would you insult me like that, do you think I am lying to you?
No, you are not lying to me, just yourself…
What do you mean? Talk straight and not in riddles!
As you wish… Those chains that stop you from reaching what you want and that weigh you down and impact you so much are not real, physical, chains. They are your beliefs about you and about how the world is.
You are the only keyholder for those chains, but you don’t want to hear that, you want it to be someone else!
If what you’re saying is true, then why would I want it to be someone else?
Because then it wouldn’t be your responsibility to release yourself by questioning the validity, truth & real value of your current beliefs…
You could carry on blissfully pretending to yourself that these chains are not your doing and that you must suffer your life this way because that’s just the way it is, and above all else, it’s not your fault!
So you’re saying that this whole situation I am in is simply the way I think and not a reality – are you mad?
No, please don’t get me wrong, it is a reality, it is your reality, but it is not the true reality, it is just the one you have made for yourself, and pretend it contains things that happen to you that you don’t want so that you can feel better about what you don’t do because it’s not your fault after all…
So, if this is all true, answer me one simple question then…
Ask me anything, but I cannot promise that you will like the answer!
What is this ‘true’ reality you mentioned, what does that look like?
Ah, the perfect question and one that I can answer easily – the true reality represents the blank canvas of our life and that we are the painter with a myriad of brushes and paints at our disposal at all times.
So, what does this true reality actually look like…
Whatever you want it to, it’s all about choice… Your choice
(Silence)
May I be permitted to ask you a question?
Erm.. sure
Are you keeping the chains?
© Iain Merchant 2021
Posted on
20 March 2021 by
Iain under
Thinking Out Loud
Yesterday is Ashes
Gone, passed, spent, history
To be remembered, celebrated or mourned,
recalled, recounted, revisited, revered, reviled,
distorted, embellished, demonised & made legend!
All of these options are available and, in the reality of life,
different people will choose differing paths
Yesterday is ashes…
Ashes flitter away on the wind with their gossips attached, and once flying, they cannot be collected back in – such is the perverted nature of gossip!
It doesn’t need to be true, in fact, pure and simple truths are a bit too tame for a good piece of gossip. Something with a surprising or, better still, salacious twist, will be much more engaging…
Yesterday is ashes…
The spreaders of gossip lap it up like dehydrated vile creatures at a river’s edge, with a thirst they can’t quench!
Once they leave the river, their soul purpose in life is to poison the ears, minds and hearts of all they can, with no mind for truth or any such notion of propriety
You know some of these people by
Reputation
Sight
Name
The Mirror!
Yesterday is ashes…
Today your fire burns brightly with your thoughts & actions, creating the ashes for tomorrows vultures
Tomorrow’s wood is being piled in readiness through your desires and plans.
Yesterday is ashes… and the breeze lively
© Iain Merchant 2021
Posted on
15 March 2021 by
Iain under
Thinking Out Loud
Sorrow
Thoughts drowning in their own tears
Feelings lost in a maelstrom of emptiness
Yearning for what could have been
Gagging on the bile of what is
A desire to step back in time
A wish to undo what was done
To un-say what was said
To un-dream what was dreamed
Sorrow operates in all tenses
If affiliates itself with the verbs
It stalks your days & nights
It bleeds your strength & soul
Sorrow is an outcome, a result
Certainly not a plan or goal
It is a consequence of input
It is not always avoidable
Sorrow is also a teacher
A Sensei of the truth
A torch along the path
A song amongst the screams
Lessons come in many forms
Experience the desired outcome
Foreknowledge the thinkers’ goal
Understanding through reflection, the need
Walk your path
Stand true to yourself
Fear not the critics
Be at one with your truth
Be at one with your sorrows
© Iain Merchant 2020
Posted on
9 March 2021 by
Iain under
Thinking Out Loud
Thoughts
My thoughts can travel to the corners of the World
They require no Passport or Visa
They require no tickets or bookings
They require no flight plans to be made
My thoughts are the very definition of freedom
Yet my thoughts seem constrained by my mind?
They are constrained by:
Imagination
Self-Esteem
Self-Worth
My Culture
My Faith
My Lack of Faith
My Homelife
My Dreams
My Self-Belief
My Hopes
My Wishes
My thoughts should be free, but they are not!
I have imprisoned them but pretended there are no bars
I have lied to myself, and I have believed my own lies
I have built an inner world of self-justification
It’s time to organise a jailbreak
It’s time to remove the imagined bars
It’s time to release the fake shackles
It’s way past time, to be honest
Let the sirens wail loud and long
Let chaos reign in the corridors
Let every thought run for freedom
Let every thought:
Turn its face to the unfamiliar Sunlight
Hear the promise of freedom call
And run to the horizon and beyond
Let them fly
Disappear beyond the vanishing point
They will return with new stories
New images
New sounds
New aromas
New feelings
You will be reborn in their freedom
When their freedom is reborn in you…
Today is the perfect day for it…
© Iain Merchant 2021
Posted on
5 March 2021 by
Iain under
Thinking Out Loud
Exhale
A seething torrent of attitude and ego
Neatly wrapped in twisted self-affirmations
Delusional blind-spots of care and consideration
Wreaking their havoc in innocent sentences
A dog with a bone, you just can’t let go
Your echo rarely one of peace
Your impact never as discreet as you think
Your true attitude shouts between your words
A keen willingness to demean or belittle
Assuming soft tones will disguise the knife
This, like any bully, has its source deep within
A lack of significance could be at play here
If caught out, you will invariably act offended
How could anyone think that of you
Back of hand at forehead in false shock
Drama lessons may be handy here
I care about people and I put them first
I walk with a higher power and they see my heart
How dare you insinuate that I could be like that
Shock and horror will deflect all blame elsewhere
You have only fooled yourself
Do you think nobody else knows?
Do you honestly think you have fooled them?
No, no, no… But you have fooled yourself
Superior intellect is a self-belief
Psychological roots have their history
You know where this has come from
You know why this is here
Once in a while you will clash with another
Someone who isn’t prepared to roll over
Someone who can read between your lines
Someone who is prepared to speak their mind
You won’t like that mirror
You won’t like what you see
You will pretend it’s not true
It’s not you, it’s them of course
Let’s face it, it’s always them… right?
Self-preservation is the key here
You need to maintain the illusion
You need to believe your stories
You need to see no blame in you
The cycle will continue
You keep feeding the wrong Wolf
You see fault everywhere else
You affirm your place by assigning blame
All anyone else can do is exhale!
© Iain Merchant 2021
Posted on
28 February 2021 by
Iain under
Thinking Out Loud
Balance
Ups & Downs
Ins & Outs
Front & Back
To & Fro
Wax & Wane
Ebb & Flow
Right & Wrong
Good & Bad
Light & Dark
Peaks & Troughs
Here & There
On & Off
Tomorrow & Yesterday
Future & Past
Parity
Symmetry
Equity
Harmony
Own your choices & your outcomes
Evaluate Yesterday
Navigate Today
Blueprint Tomorrow
© Iain Merchant
Posted on
24 February 2021 by
Iain under
Thinking Out Loud
Viral
Exponential touch through shared space
Unequivocal in focus and goals
An audit trail of diminished hosts
I am like the wind…
You can only see my impact, but never me
Immunity an unknown factor
Community my ideal hunting ground
Unity in distancing my nemesis
Opportunity is all I need
I am the separator of herds
I am the perpetual slayer of giants
I have been here before and worked the streets
Albeit dressed in different clothes
You were hypnotised by my power
You were levelled by my will
Name me whatever you will
I am no pathogen of peace
I am microbial malice
Our battle has begun again,
and I do not sleep…
Thank you for being my travel companion
© Iain Merchant 2020
Posted on
20 February 2021 by
Iain under
Thinking Out Loud
Anchored
The question is not whether you are anchored…
The question is where you are anchored?
Are you anchored to a memory
In the hope that it can be revived?
Are you anchored to a possibility
That requires you to wait in the past?
Are you anchored in a yesterday
That is destined never to be relived?
Locate where you are anchored honestly!
Don’t be fooled because you’re afloat
That does not mean you’re moving forwards
Harboured boats have the sense of movement
Yet they can always be found in the same spot
Every single day
Reach into your soul and speak in tongues
Converse with your heart in the language of truths
Make peace with your past and bid it farewell
Accept it can be your home no longer
Bathe and dress in your travelling clothes
Gather those things you need for the journey
Leave all other things where they belong
In the library of your past
Look back at your delusion with kind eyes
Forgive yourself for wishing for what was
Be grateful you experienced what you miss
With self-respect, turn and search the horizon
The future will never lay behind you
The promise of tomorrow is not in any mirror
The lessons you take from yesterday will feed you
The choices you make today sculpt what will be
‘If Only’ must be converted to ‘What If’
Change the grammatical tense of your life
The delusion illusion must be shattered
Denial no longer accepted on board
No longer can you stand hand on tiller
Looking longingly out to sea
Whilst you only travel in your mind
Remain tethered to the dock
You’re a vessel built for journeys
Exotic experiences lay just out of sight
When did you last display sufficient courage,
to lose sight of the shoreline?
You are where you’ve been
Repetitive cycles of ‘nothing changes’
Treading water is existing, not living!
You have become your own lie
Do you have the courage to sail?
Do you dare to leave harbour?
Do you have what it takes?
Do You?
If you don’t, then this is the point in the poem where you reinforce the self lies that you hold so dear…
This is where you nod intellectually at the metaphors and parallels in your own life, as if somehow, thinking has ever equalled action.
This is where you find your own justifications for why you must stay in port, and nod in agreement to your own subterfuge…
Or
You could take a deep breath, wave fondly to the comfort zone you have been basking in, untether yourself from the harbour wall and…
Weigh Anchor
© Iain Merchant 2020
Posted on
17 February 2021 by
Iain under
Thinking Out Loud
CoD
Some people flow through life with ease
Riding in the slipstream of their forebears
It is always calm in the eye of the storm
Never buffeted by the maelstrom outside their bubble
The rest of us must navigate the weather systems of the world
The hail, monsoons, and tempests that life offers up
We must walk straight into the wind
Bent so far forward we are unable to see what’s ahead
Hanging on tight to what we love
For fear we might have it torn from our grasp
Legs burning from the strain
Face machine-gunned by sharp stinging rain
Soaked to the skin and getting colder
Survival of life as you know it at stake
No sign of a break in the storm
Every step is a choice and a fight
Every rest a loss of time
Time is precious and perishable
The best thinking lessons are about attitude
Attitudes are either chosen or excepted
Attitudes do not guarantee outcomes
Attitudes do guarantee your approach
Your thinking shapes your impact in this world
Defines how smooth your passage will be
Do you create many vortexes wherever you go?
Or do you glide in a contoured fashion through this space
Are you sleek but never slick
Frictionless rather than fractious
Silky but never sickly
Smooth rather than smug
Attitudes, not platitudes are what is needed
Thinking with humility and sharing knowledge
Inviting all to see what you see
Sharing all that you understand for free
Ubuntu has a meaning for you
This is no secret to keep to yourself
Let the world know the simple truth
Learning will allow you to shape your form
Every single day one truth is paramount
The attitude you choose totally determines your…
Coefficient of Drag
© Iain Merchant
Posted on
14 February 2021 by
Iain under
Thinking Out Loud
Manifest
Juxtaposition in play always
To manifest Vs it is manifest
Easy to confuse through desire
Law of attraction Vs attraction of a law
Delusion of self, a road well-travelled
Litany of self-lies raining down
Visibility impacted by closed eyes
Open hearts creating the unseen sights
Waking dreams signpost the way
Desire is a strong guide
Ambition can be a willful deceiver
Determination an honest thief
Drive, a metaphor not an instruction
Everything comes at a cost to someone
How high you climb is not the measure
How many breaths you take is not the gauge
How many came with you is worth noting
The moments that took your breath are the gift
A treasure chest of achievements or moments
choose your focus carefully, for it may blind you to all else
Achievements have moments, but moments are eternal achievements
Do you want to be remembered for, or remembered by
The arc of a life is the trajectory of the soul
True love is the rarest of flowers
Glimpsing it is a gift for few
Nurturing it, the honour of life
Recognising it, the purpose of the third eye
Speaking in the tones of the world
Intonating with the cadence of care
Inflecting adjectives to soothe the heart
resonating in the timbre of time
Viscosity of time, which slows when you’re gone
I manifest myself & I mirror my inner truth
I magnetise my soul to bring me suitable food
I am the attraction for that which I feel
My life is the screen onto which my truth is projected
Am I really impacted by what is?
Or am I impacted by my perception of what is…?
The latter is the truth of life
The former is the lie I sometimes believe
Your perception and framing are how you manifest
The law of attraction is more ‘The rules of distraction’
Self-denial of the facts is the keyholder here
To manifest, you must understand how you are manifest
The secret… It is no secret, and it never has been
The ‘hard truth’ is the title you are searching for
Blind-sided facts you hide from yourself
The whisper you ignore in the quiet moments
The page of life you try to leave unturned
The sleep you are in is deep, and the dream is bright
You pick up a book to seek answers
Yet you only look in a mirror to primp
An articulate sentence offers clues to your quest
Yet the looking glass affords you no insights
The book you need has no cover, just a frame
You are also required to look, not just see
Your true self will emulate your moves as you study
Given time your truth will reverberate through the silver
This is the only book of your truths
This is the garden of your arable soul
This is the land you need to till
This is the home of your fertility & growth
Who taught you to manifest what you want
Whilst often ignoring what you need
The well of life is not a gift shop
You are not simply passing through?
Forget the secret and live your truth
Replace attraction with chemistry
Find your mirrored book of truth and read it carefully
Decipher your truths not your dreams
Manifest who you are
&
what you need will find you
© Iain Merchant 2020
