My education loan servicer got back to me about how much my payment will be going up. Ick. I was last a student nearly ten years ago and still I have an embarrassingly high amount owed. The amount of interest I pay to a federal loan servicer is cringe worthy. I really think education is the last thing we should be charging interest to anyone for and am ready to vote the right people in office to make a change. So today's poem is very personal. While I agree that no education is every wasted, I believe our current system cripples graduates' abilities to navigate to adulthood and contribute to the welfare of a community. I would love if nobody ever has a reason to write a poem like I did today. We can do better.
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It was recently my birthday and the influx of new possessions always fills me with battling feelings of euphoria and foreboding. The euphoria because I love not spending money and having wonderful gifts my loved ones showered upon me and the foreboding because I know the influx won't last. I've mentioned before the concept from yoga philosophy of the yamas which are self-regulating practices, the third yama, asteya means non-stealing. It can be taken literally, to not-steal from others, and also figuratively, to not steal from yourself. I steal from myself in many ways - especially when I get that foreboding - I'm just stealing the joy and gratitude that I got from receiving the gift by thinking about the future when those gifts are gone. So, I spent some time today for my poem, reflecting on the lies my lizard brain tells to get me to keep me hoarding.
It's a rainy Sunday here in Minnesota and my thoughts are drifting to the past again. Today I'm thinking about the numerous hours spent as a kid riding "shotgun" on the tractor wheel hub with my Dad while he drove the Allis Chalmers about doing chores.
I love being groomed. I know that sounds weird but really, having my hair shampooed or brushed, getting a massage, or even the ten minute foot rub during a pedicure - all glorious moments of relaxation and luxury. The funny thing is that as a primate communal grooming is very common and I'm certain it releases all the happy endorphins that makes you want to come back for more. From an evolutionary stand point that makes sense - most often when grooming was happening across our evolutionary history, it was probably to remove harbingers of illness - parasites. Additionally, grooming can make you look nicer which could increase the odds of attracting a mate and passing along your genes. Nowadays we don't need to sit in a line and search each other for ticks and fleas (mostly) and yet we still drop hundreds of dollars on grooming services from others. I believe it's those evolutionary responses that keep us coming back for the amazing power of touch. I really haven't researched this much and was just spit-balling so if you have any evidence-based articles you know of, feel free to send them my way.
Future-thinking today. Every now and again I like to let my imagination and optimism, some would say naivete, go wild.
For my 60th poem of the year, I thought I'd take us down the comedic path. I've often had the thought that my glasses make me a liability in emergency situations. Once, when I was a newly licensed driver, I was driving in the winter and my glasses fogged up as I traveled further down the road, my well-meaning mother snatched my glasses off my face to clear them and we nearly careened into the guard rail...I have -6.5 prescription and was trying to navigate by fuzzy colors. See? Liability. I'm like Dennis Nedry in the rainstorm in Jurassic Park or Harry Potter in the quidditch match before Hermione spells his glasses to reflect rainwater. Liability.
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AuthorCreative enthusiast, gregarious naturalist, opinionated humanist, MBA, RYT 200. Amy Kay Czechowicz completed a poetry challenge for 2018, 2020, and half of 2023 by posting an original poem daily to this blog. She teaches yin and vinyasa weekly at Green Lotus Yoga in Lakeville, Minnesota and chimes in here from time to time with musings and rhymes. Archives
January 2024
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