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Joe Langen

http://www.commonsense-wisdom.com


Country: United States

Language: English

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Joe Langen  

My home page presents my writing. I have written four books, Commonsense Wisdom for Everyday Life, Young Man of the Cloth, The Pastor's Inferno and Navigating Life:Commonsense Reflections for the Voyage. I also write a biweekly newspaper column Selections from my books and columns appear on my website.

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    Date / Time:

    Conversations with Calliope- A Cup of Good Cheer


    (Snorkeling in Antigua)

    JOE: Good morning Calliope.
    CALLIOPE: Good morning Joe. How are you today?
    JOE: Chipper.
    CALLIOPE: Glad to hear about it. I was getting worried about you.
    JOE: Why?
    CALLIOPE: Yesterday's post seemed quite morose. I thought you were depressed.
    JOE: Actually no. I probably would not have ventured here again except as an exercise for The Vein of Gold.
    CALLIOPE: The events you described took place many years ago didn't they?
    JOE: Yes they did. For me it was what John of the Cross called the "Dark Night of the Soul." Graham Ledgerwood describes this as "a lengthy and profound absence of light and hope." See what he has to say at www.themystic.org/dark-night/index.htm. Fortunately I didn't get stuck there.
    CALLIOPE: What brought you out of it?
    JOE: Two angels, Gerry and John, who came to my aid, accepted me for who I was and stayed with me while I learned to believe in myself.
    CALLIOPE: You were fortunate.
    JOE: I am still grateful to them for bringing me back to life and teaching me how to appreciate what I have and how to not take life too seriously.
    CALLIOPE: Have you stayed that way?
    JOE: I can't say there weren't ups and downs but I have been able to stay on an even keel and weather whatever life threw at me. Talk with you tomorrow.

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  • Date / Time:

    Conversations with Calliope- A Cup of Loneliness

    (Spring Briers)

    JOE: Good morning Calliope.
    CALLIOPE: Good morning Joe. How are you today?
    JOE: Pretty good. I started on the next assignment Julia Cameron suggests in Vein of Gold.
    CALLIOPE: Which is?
    JOE: Picking out some of the themes from my narrative time line and wring about them in more depth.
    CALLIOPE: And you chose loneliness as the first?
    JOE: I did. This theme keeps recurring in my thoughts ever since I wrote about it last week.
    CALLIOPE: What have you learned by examining it in more depth?
    JOE: I'm not finished yet, but I am starting to appreciate the depth of my isolation.
    CALLIOPE: What do you think led to it?
    JOE: Part of it was my father's treating me as if I was not worth anything, or at least that's how it felt to me.
    CALLIOPE: That would certainly make it difficult to trust others to accept you.
    JOE: Exactly. I also think that moving from the world at large to an artificial seminary environment cut me off from most anything I had learned to value in myself.
    CALLIOPE: Any other factors?
    JOE: My father's valuing commitment. Once you said you would do something you did it. I think I stayed in the seminary for nine years to satisfy him to some extent.
    CALLIOPE: What are the implications of all this for you?
    JOE: That's what I haven't finished yet. Perhaps I will have more to share with you tomorrow.

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  • Date / Time:

    Conversations with Calliope- A New Day

    (Morning- Leroy, NY)

    JOE: Good morning Calliope.
    CALLIOPE: Good morning Joe. How are you today?
    JOE: Good. Yesterday I finished working on my narrative time line.
    CALLIOPE: Any further discoveries about yourself?
    JOE: I think I am getting a better understanding of how my life has progressed.
    CALLIOPE: What has been your pattern?
    JOE: I have experienced periods of feeling competent and alive amid some long stretches of loneliness and feeling rather worthless.
    CALLIOPE: Sorry to hear it. How are you feeling about yourself now?
    JOE: Happy to say, I have overcome the doldrums and feel happy with who I am and what I have become.
    CALLIOPE: Glad to hear it. How does what you have learned in this process affect your outlook on the future?
    JOE: I'm still working on that and will keep you posted?
    CALLIOPE: How about the effect on your writing?
    JOE: That remains to be determined as well. I hope to spend some time on both these issues over the weekend.
    CALLIOPE: I'll be interested in seeing what you come up with.
    JOE: You'll be the first to know. Talk with you on Monday.

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  • Date / Time:

    Conversations with Calliope- Moving Right Along

    (Oatka Festival Parade)

    JOE: Good morning Calliope.
    CALLIOPE: Good morning Joe. How is your narrative time line coming along?
    JOE: Pretty well. I have finished documenting my life line up through age forty.
    CALLIOPE: What have you learned about yourself so far?
    JOE: I am beginning to see how my teenage isolation affected my rush to marry without due consideration as well as my professional and social relationships.
    CALLIOPE: Do you have any regrets?
    JOE: It doesn't help to wish your life had been different.
    CALLIOPE: It could have been worse.
    JOE: Of course. I have seen the lives of people I have worked with over the years. I am grateful to have had as good a life as I have had.
    CALLIOPE: If you can't change what has happened, what will you do with what you have learned?
    JOE: First I plan to try to make sense of it.
    CALLIOPE: How?
    JOE: When I have finished the time line, I will write down what I have learned from the exercise and then look for patterns.
    CALLIOPE: To what end?
    JOE: I hope that seeing the patterns which have developed in my life will give me some hints about where to go next. Talk with you tomorrow.

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  • Date / Time:

    Conversations with Calliope- College Years

    (Fishing Boat- Antigua)

    JOE: Good morning Calliope.
    CALLIOPE: Good morning Joe. How are you today?
    JOE: Still wading through my time line. I just finished writing about my early twenties.
    CALLIOPE: Any new discoveries?
    JOE: I think my realization about not having close high school friends influenced my relationships after leaving the seminary.
    CALLIOPE: How so?
    JOE: I was lonely and desperate to have a girl friend. Since I had no experience in relationships with girls as most boys do in high school, I was like a fish out of water.
    CALLIOPE: How did it end up?
    JOE: Not very well. My first date was set up by a friend who also left the seminary. She turned out to speak no English and my Polish was nonexistent.
    CALLIOPE: Did it get better?
    JOE: I met a nutty girl and one who turned out to be mentally ill.
    CALLIOPE: No one in their right mind?
    JOE: One, but for only for a single date. She was a lovely girl, and we resonated well. Unfortunately she lived in the country, I had no car and could not get to her on my own. The person we relied on for a ride had no sense of what we both wanted and liked to tell jokes and drink in bars. It just didn't work.
    CALLIOPE: Sorry to hear that. Do you think these experiences influenced your writing?
    JOE: I think so but that's another story. Talk with you tomorrow.

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  • Date / Time:

    Conversations with Calliope- Life Context

    JOE: Good morning Calliope.
    CALLIOPE: Good morning Joe. How are you today?
    JOE: Good, but little perplexed.
    CALLIOPE: How so?
    JOE: I have been working on the narrative time line we talked about yesterday.
    CALLIOPE: You mean the structured interview about your life events?
    JOE: Exactly so.
    CALLIOPE: Is that what perplexed you?
    JOE: Yes. When I wrote about my early years I discovered how happy a child I was.
    CALLIOPE: That doesn't sound perplexing.
    JOE: It isn't. When I got to my early adolescence, I realized how lonely and isolated I was.
    CALLIOPE: You don't remember that?
    JOE: I think I buried it from my consciousness. When asked to name my best friend from that time, I couldn't think of anyone.
    CALLIOPE: That's sad.
    JOE: I agree. I can't change anything about it now, but maybe it will help me understand myself a little better. Talk with you tomorrow.

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  • Date / Time:

    Conversations with Calliope- Back on Course

    (Sunrise on the Allegheny River)

    JOE: Good morning Calliope.
    CALLIOPE: Good morning Joe. How are you today?
    JOE: Feeling much better about myself and my life direction.
    CALLIOPE: What brought about such a quick change from yesterday?
    JOE; I wish I knew for sure. Maybe I was just in the doldrums for a while.
    CALLIOPE: Any other possibilities?
    JOE: Several. Admitting I was stranded probably helped. Several good things happened yesterday as well.
    CALLIOPE: Such as?
    JOE: I managed to fix my e-mail problem on my own and turned out not to have a virus on my computer after all. It gave me a sense of accomplishment.
    CALLIOPE: Anything else?
    JOE: I wrote my column for Saturday on Yvonne's life and was proud of what I produced. I also started working on my narrative time line as suggested by Julia Cameron. I feel this will give me a sense of context for continuing my writing at this stage in my life.
    CALLIOPE: You sound grounded again.
    JOE: Perhaps not an apt metaphor for a sailor. Back on course sounds better.
    CALLIOPE: Point taken. I'm glad you are sailing again.
    JOE: Me too. Talk with you tomorrow.

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