How to be an Expert at Life

Published on by Tosha Michelle

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If you can’t leap
then fall.

Correlate. Equate.
Arrange. Rearrange
Be an apprentice of the years.

Sometimes breathing is in the
spinning as the still world passes.

It not the heavens that matter,
but how you soar through them.

Teach your broken spirit
how to navigate landmines.

Remember that yesterday is just as
relentless as tomorrow.

Your griefs and sorrows are not
the worst of griefs and sorrows.

Find hope in pain. The new pain,
the old pains that returns.

Teach your heart to be sensitive
to the music of your bones.

Don’t be afraid to tear your
skin away and begin again.

Don’t become immune to
the overwhelming.

Listen to your nude soul’s intuition
Let your mind await instruction.

Don’t concern yourself with the
breakable dawn.

Use your talents, the seeding
of grain to nurture survival.

You are the boat, the canopy,
the light, the decree.

Remember the eternal sleep,
the erasure, always lurks
in the shadows,
ready to loosen souls
and carry us toward some
unspecific light.

Life is all in the choosing.
Come September, come
December, then April
For today, choose to live.
Choose to be.

-Tosha Michelle

136 thoughts on “How to be an Expert at Life”

  4. I love the ending. It is like life is complete chaos, so just live today.

    Also, I like the new pic. (That’s today’s superficial comment of the day.)[That’s a paraphrase of what a kind soul once said to me] 😉

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  7. This is a real breakthrough and has wise, mystic and life giving qualities. It reminds me of Joseph Campbell’s famous quote “Follow Your Bliss”. I will say that one stanza jumped out for me, “Listen to your nude soul’s intuition, Let your mind await instruction”, but I think you already know how my mind works. The most important point is that this just soars to the highest levels and you deserve all the credit for the skill and the self awareness to write it.

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  8. Great advice during these difficult days as we wade through the political swamp and all the talking heads pushing their own agenda.

    I believe our Canadian friend will love your choice of music today.;)

    Sending lots of love your way,
    Ellie

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  9. Of course, I love the whole thing.

    But this especially:
    It not the heavens that matter
    but how you soar through them.

    those lines grabbed my heart in this one.

    Lovely, Poetess. ❤

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  13. I stand in awe. Young wise one.
    “Don’t become immune to the overwhelming” Really struck a cord with me. If not a nerve? Reality check type nerve More of the hope found in pain thing. ♡
    Nicely done. Tosha. This is all great advice.

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  16. Yo dude!
    Great words as per.
    I will take your advice and listen to my nude self! I’m sure he will have some interesting wisdom to impart.
    Nice new look, Bonner…I mean Bono! 😉

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  19. Correlate. Equate.
    Arrange. Rearrange
    Be an apprentice of the years.

    As a mathematician and anagramming enthusiast, I like that line 🙂

    Very well-written btw.

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  22. Powerful and wonderful write Tosha. Love it.
    ” Sometimes breathing is in the
    spinning as the still world passes.”
    –Especially this line.
    Hope you are well, and please have a wonderful evening.
    🙂

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  28. I knew when I read the first line that I knew this one to see that I did:). It is never a bad thing to reblog a masterpiece of yours and this is one and it is quite timely…

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      1. You’re welcome I’m probably sooner than later getting back east to a casino there and getting some training gigs. I’m getting hits

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  31. Wow Tosha, this is really really fine! There are so many lines I loved, too many I’d end up re-writing your piece. Man, you got some smarts there girl. I truly loved this one though:

    “Don’t be afraid to tear your
    skin away and begin again.”

    Oh, and this entire stanza:

    “Remember the eternal sleep,
    the erasure, always lurks
    in the shadows,
    ready to loosen souls
    and carry us toward some
    unspecific light.”

    And, and, and…what a great roadmap for living your life. One of my favorites from you.

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  37. There are so many difficult things to do in this list, as if I weren’t busy enough getting the dishes done, doing the laundry, or watching the new puppy slowly transform himself into the world’s largest termite as he dismantles my home, NOW it seems I have to add listening to my nude’s soul intuition to my checklist of things to do. I am a little nervous about this, I am pretty sure I have a soul, but I never really considered whether is was nude or not, and if so, do they have soul clothing in the L.L Bean catalogue? And how do I know which clothes won’t make my soul look fat? Frankly, adding one more thing to my list (Oh wait! HarveyCat has just informed me that there are actually 17 new tasks in this poem to add to my list!)…. Ok ok… adding SEVENTEEN new tasks to my list is more than a little overwhelming, AND one of these things on the list is to not to be immune to the overwhelming. Oh dear, WHAT is a girl to do? I think I just have to disagree with all the syncophants (Here Harvey – Lona’s cat and sometimes editor and public relations representative – interjects to forcefully insist that he hopes that y’all know Lona is just kidding about y’all being sycophants, and yes she did misspell sycophants intentionally, she think it is a funny way to describe people who are being sycophants at the same time)… yes Harvey as I was saying… all the syncophants (hehe, just kidding) are wrong about you being a force for eternal good and light. I think you are really an evil genius, giving us such a long list of 17 new things to do (18 if you count having to shop for clothes for my soul – I guess I am already doing that on Second Life anyway??? hmmm)….
    Ok, seriously now Tosha. You know I actually love this piece. I have recently started commenting to my patients that we never get to be an expert at life because we are always moving on to a new stage of life, and thus we are always a beginner. Just when we have figured out how to be an expert teen, we get shoved out of the nest and have to become an adult. Once we have figured out how to be an adult, we become elderly and dissipation sometimes sets in and we get shoved back into a nest, and so on, etc. Maybe I should just tell them to be an “apprentice of the years,” that is a much better way of saying it. Always new challenges, always having to start over in figgering how to handle the next stage. But your list is actually applicable to all stages, so I guess you might just be brilliant and you are not just an evil genius after all. I think one of your best insights, gushing with Dhaoist wisdom, is in these lines:

    Sometimes breathing is in the
    spinning as the still world passes.

    I have written a poem called “Stages of Life” that has a symmetry with those lines, I would like to know what you think. It is BTT #12 on my site. I can leave the link if that would not be verboten. Anyway.. love this (And I have really really really loved your recent Raven poem too! Becoming a raven… Now THAT is something to add to my to do list. I even think a Raven could still easily handle Harvey). luvs, Lona.

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