Over the years, I have followed the exploits of fellow shipmate and Privateer,  Jeff MacKay. I have always been impressed by his high standard of fun, and of the many projects that he and his family are involved in. My best Pirate Hats come from him, His son Wilde is very much like my Grandson Cody. A True Class Act.

So when I opened up this post this morning I was struck by how much that is so. His thoughts on encountering adversity is very similar to the ones I expressed in last week’s Blog, in CaptainscancerCrisis, titled “A MERRY TIME, BE HAD BY ALL”, I know you will find this enlightening “CrackerJaack”

JEFF MACKAY   The other day I got a personal message from a facebook friend, that was strikingly similar to others that I’ve received over the past couple years. This friend was obviously hurting. He was complaining that his life pretty much sucked. Job issues, family issues, health issues, nothing was going right. He then commented that of course I wouldn’t know anything about this kind of life, that I have everything perfect.

I said to him, let me tell you about 2011-2012.

My Family and some of our very close friends were supposed to be part of a reality TV show about Pirate Reenactors,. In fact we had talked many of our friends in the pirate community into being a part of it, inviting them into a shared dream. After great amounts of time, energy and some of our own money invested, the opportunity fizzled out, creating great rifts in relationships. We were accused of all kinds of wrong doing behind our backs by former friends, terrible things were said blaming us for circumstances beyond our control.

Within a few months we signed on to help produce another reality show, only to have our contacts and our preproduction work stolen out from under us.

That year, we also committed to several Pirate related business deals where we traded custom pirate hats or flintlocks, swords, costumes and other props and artifacts in exchange for various goods or services only to have the other parties not follow through from their end.

We then agreed to support a fledgling Pirate Festival, and we moved our entire household, businesses and family, up rooting our life based on promises of employment and a new life that all turned out to be the blatant dillusions of pathological lier.

And the biggest blow, my mother was killed in an Automobile accident, totally unexpected, totally before her time, devastating our family…

So, We do know about loss, and about suffering.

He then said,” I didn’t know the details, I heard very few things. You and the family are always smiling, and happy. You are always saying nice things and posting uplifting pictures and stuff… I didn’t know.”

I said, We could look at 2012 as a black hole of negative events, IF we chose to. We would have every right to, and we’d have friends that would be empathetic, and still more who would help us wallow in our self pity. And I dare say there would even be haters who say we deserved it.

OR, we could look at 2012, as the year that we participated in helping create a Pirate Museum, the year we took part in too many charities to count, the year that we hung out with our best mates The Fosters every weekend creating new, fun exciting Pirate and Mermaid events, dance video’s, calendar shoots, and actually got to become much closer to many of our steadfast pirate family.

In early 2013 We put together a video expose of all our events of that 2012 year and it is still AMAZING what we accomplished. That Joy and love shared with our family and friends, creating together that is what 2012 was about.

It wasn’t about failed plans, broken dreams, lost friendships, lies or even death. These are heavy things, dark things, These are things that do not serve you. Meaning it does no good to hold onto them. Holding onto them weights you down, and makes you… broken.

It is a choice, and I don’t mean to sound flip when I say that. Choices are not always easy, but IT IS A CHOICE. I put it very simply… Light or Dark.

How does this event, this thing, this action, this person, this food, this whatever make me feel?

If there is a Question, there is a choice and it is mine to answer.

Want to be healthy, want to be happy? Always Choose “The Light”.

I focus on the light, on the things that serve me, my family, my friends, even my extended facebook friends. Things that make me happy, bring me joy, show me love compassion, empathy, caring these are the things that uplift me, that serve me.

Anything else is not worth it.

Anything dark, or negative, hurtful, belittling, condescending, lies, anything that holds you down or makes you feel trapped is not good for you. Let it go.

Choose the light, Focus on it and the other will slip away.

The better practiced you get at recognizing your choices, the easier choosing the right path becomes. And the More right choices you make the harder it becomes for the dark to hang around.

So, that’s it. That’s why I am almost always smiling, that is why we do the things we do, why we create, why we have fun, why we love.

Thank you for indulging me, if you read through this all the way, maybe something in it will strike a chord in you. Maybe one of my facebook friends will find some comfort in it, or see things just a little differently now. I hope that it helps a little…