Joy Is

Joy Is

Joy is not the absence of struggle.
Joy is gratitude
Where we can live
Peacefully
In the midst
Of struggle.

© Timothy E. Wahlstrom, July 01, 2024

People are Weird

People are Weird

People are weird.
People are people.
No two are exactly the same.
Not even identical twins.
They have their differences too.
Just like me and you.

© Timothy E. Wahlstrom, May 12, 2024

Emotional Healing

Emotional Healing

Memories of the ocean
The Pacific
The Atlantic
Bring emotional healing.
The smooth squeaky sands at Hilton Head.
The pebbly beach at Nags Head.
The smooth flat waves of Virginia Beach
And Hilton Head
Ideal for bodyboarding.
At Tamarack Beach in Carlsbad, CA.
Black in their wetsuits stalking the perfect wave,
Surfers bob up and down.
Cold in March I wade in ankle-deep.
and watch as the sun melts into the water.

Each new wave
	breaking on the shoreline
Brings healing energy
	to my soul, mind, and spirit
Each departing wave
	carries away pain, sorrows, and loss
Leaving me free to just be 
	again and again.

© Timothy E. Wahlstrom, April 24, 2024

I Walked in Darkness


I preferred the darkness to the light
I wanted to do what I knew was wrong
In the dark
So that no one would know
What I was doing
And I could keep doing
What I wanted to do

I lied to myself
That everything was okay
No one would find out
But, it was a lie
They did find me out
My evil was 
Brought into the light
And everyone saw
Me for who I was
An Adulterer
A Cheater
A Liar

It broke me
relationships
severed
there was no
looking back.
The way ahead
was full of doubt
and fear
and unknown.

How was I to
find the light again?
Would I forever remain
in darkness?

I did find the light again
I began to trust that
God loved me.
That love restored me
And I trusted him
To transform me
With his love.

© Timothy E. Wahlstrom, April 17, 2024

My Underwear

My Underwear

Oh, I,
Sat too long
I sat too long
I sat too long in my chair.
I sat so long
I sat so long
Now I have to change
My underwear

© Timothy E. Wahlstrom, February 1, 2024
I created this sing-song one morning as I stood up from my recliner and felt that I had sat too long in my chair. I did not need to change my underwear. It just rhymes with chair and I thought it was funny.

Peaceful

Peaceful

I meditate to feel
Peaceful.
The more I feel
Peaceful,
The more Peaceful
I feel.

© Timothy E. Wahlstrom, February 16, 2024
I created Peaceful after reading about how meditation on feeling peaceful will give you more feelings of feeling peaceful.

The Ocean

The Ocean
 
I feel small 
compared 
to the expansiveness 
of the ocean.
I feel powerless 
compared 
to the energy 
contained in the 
crashing 
waves.
I feel alone 
in the vastness 
of the ocean.
If you begin
at this shore
where do 
you end?
Looking across
do I see
someone
looking back
at me.
Or is it
my back
I see.

© Timothy E. Wahlstrom, January 27, 2024
This is my first poem of 2024. I was reading The DailyOM when I was struck by the muse and remembered how I felt beside and within both the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. I have experienced swimming with sharks although I was not aware that the sharks were there. I was rescued by my wife, Karen, who gently coaxed me out of the water as the sharks were swimming by very close to the shore and close to where I had been with my Boogie Board.