“The Lens We Choose"
Fellow travelers, let’s look around,
We gather now--on sacred ground.
Not sacred by tradition’s rite,
But by the fire of our insight.
We’ve suffered through our pain and tears,
Through sleepless nights and whispered fears.
We think and feel to get around.
What we carry is more profound.
For knowledge is not just what we know,
It’s how we see, and where we go.
And attitude--our inner lens--
Decides what breaks and what transcends.
A thought is not a neutral thing--
It dances on the winds we bring.
A hopeful heart will spot the light,
A fearful one prepares to fight.
The thoughts spiral to build new worlds
Just like the growth of a nautilus
We must expand or die trying
We filter facts to fit our frames,
Call them our truth, and give it names.
Emotion paints the world we see--
With joy, we think expansively.
With dread, we shrink, we brace, we stall,
We build a cage, then fear the wall.
But when we breathe, and choose to trust,
Our minds grow wide, our hearts adjust.
And action--yes, the final thread--
Can use the thoughts we’ve left unsaid.
To “act as if” is not pretend--
It’s how new stories start, not at the end.
A smile, a step, a brave hello--
Can shift the tide, can start the flow.
But let us not forget the strain
Of holding thoughts that cause us pain.
Cognitive dissonance, that inner war,
Where values knock on habit’s door.
We justify, we twist, we bend--
To keep the self, we must defend.
Yet growth begins where comfort ends.
And truth is not what ego mends.
It’s found in pause, in breath, in grace--
In choosing love in fear’s own place.
Let’s catch our thoughts before they bite,
Let’s speak with warmth, not just with might
.
Let’s build a world where minds expand,
Where hearts and souls walk hand in hand.
Let’s agree now--may we be wise,
Not just in facts, but in the skies
We choose to see the songs we sing,
The lives we touch, the hope we bring.
We’re all one family
Whether we admit it or not
