Luke Crawley
Stories (7)
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Hook, Line, and Sinker
The more I think about how I came to adopt my beloved cat, Fitz, the more I think it was just meant to be. I won't pretend to know the exact day I adopted this friendly feline: not because it's not important, just because I have a hard time mentally tracking dates. It was sometime in late November of 2019. One of my good friends from work had heard me talk many times about wanting to have a cat to bond with in my recently-moved-into apartment, but I'm sure I'd also told her that I wasn't quite ready to adopt yet. It was financially doable, but I generally try to have a safety net of emergency funds. Perhaps I just needed a little push to take the leap of solo pet ownership. I'd almost always had a cat around staying with my mother, but it had been some years since enjoying the longstanding presence of a cat companion. And I'd certainly never been the sole caretaker; I think that was the real cause for hesitation. Anyhow, it came to be that while I was out with my friend we ended up visiting an animal shelter. She had two cats of her own already, and I think she was just really excited for me to have one for myself. I didn't yet realize that her goal for the evening seemed to be putting me in the environment most suited for me to give in to committing to adopting a new pet. We just "ended up" at the adoption center to "look" at the animals, but it wasn't a zoo. I knew this was a trick, and I certainly fell for it.
By Luke Crawley5 years ago in Petlife
Return to Peace
I'm thinking maybe this article could heal a little hurt. Many times in our lives we inevitably tend to get hit with something we call grief. Time and time again, as I process it myself and see others around me dealing with the same circumstance, it occurs to me that the process of handling our grief takes many different forms. I'm sure many of you are familiar with the typically accepted five stages of grief: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. Some suggest there are seven, and others even say there are twelve. The truth is, there is no right or wrong way to process grief; it is a fully personal experience, and only you are able to determine what is best for you. However, that doesn't mean that another person's perspective cannot be helpful. So, here I sit in an attempt to explain how it affects me on a personal level, and how the death of a loved one ultimately transmutes into a form of comfort on a deep level.. eventually.
By Luke Crawley5 years ago in Families
I'm a Cancer
June 21st, 1993. I was born on the day of the Summer Solstice, the longest day of the year, and I've always thought that was very cool. However, I didn't even realize I was a Cancer at least until my teens, I'm sure. For the longest time I thought I was a Gemini; hey, the dates are pretty close. Whatever that meant for me as I occasionally checked my horoscope seemed quite alright; there were some things I liked, and some things I didn't like so much. See, that's the thing for me about horoscopes and other things of the sort that are meant to hold some intangible meaning (Numerology, Mayan Signs, Chinese Zodiac Signs, etc.): Even under the misinformed belief that I was a Gemini, I still found value and identified with much of what I would read about "my" star sign. No doubt, like many others, if I didn't like what my sign had in store, then I would sometimes see what the other signs had to say. I did generally relate to what I'd read, though, and sometimes I even felt really moved and motivated by it. But it seemed no different than a slip of paper in a fortune cookie with a nice thought and some lucky numbers. Either way, I never really put much stock into what was supposedly in store for me because it seemed preposterous that such general statements could possibly apprise me of what was to come during my days, weeks, months, or years.
By Luke Crawley5 years ago in Futurism
The Man Who Dreamt of Abundance
"Charles . . ." An unknown voice whispers to him as the darkness of closed eyes gives way to openness and light. 'What is that voice,' he thought, 'I've never heard anything like that.' The tone was smooth, low, compassionate, wise, and unavoidably irresistible to heed. "Hello?" uttered Charles. "Who are you? What is this place?"
By Luke Crawley5 years ago in Futurism
Encouraging the Elevation of Wellness
As we enter this new year following the woes of the year passed, I think it's important to consider what really promotes wellness for each of us individually. As I see it, each of us truly live in alternate realities. Now, one might argue against this and propose that we all live in the same reality, but I'm suggesting that our personal realities are based on more than our outer conditions. You and another person, for instance, may both be in a pitch black, soundless room, but does your reality, your total experience of that room, not differ from that of the other person based on your internal perception of what occurs in your mind and body in that moment? You might be comfortable; they may feel unnerved. Objectively, it's simple: you both are simply in a room without external stimuli, but, subjectively, the potential difference of internal circumstances strikes me as two unique individuals experiencing different realities at the same time. I often see others being primarily affected by the events going on around them, and, depending upon what those occurrences are, that experience of life can range anywhere from very favorable to very miserable. My point is that, upon reflecting this past year and even my whole life up to now, it's becoming increasingly prudent to pay just as much, if not more, attention to what is going on within myself if I'm to experience a more enjoyable reality, and the intent of what I'm writing here is to inform anyone reading of what my reality consists of on a daily basis in my endeavor to reach for a more enjoyable existence in this perpetual flow of countless experienced moments.
By Luke Crawley5 years ago in Longevity
