An old poem of mine

 I wrote this poem about 20 years ago. It wasn't aimed at Buddhism per se (wasn't a Buddhist then), but it touches at watching and inconstancy and the earnest desire for wisdom of another way. Nowadays, it fits really well in some ways and so so in other ways.

You cannot ignore what goes on inside you.

You have to make things
   beautiful.

You cannot sit idly by while your heart dances in agony and delight.

Let me never forget the beauty of inconsistency and limbo within which I exist, that does not demand my awe or pity, but demands my attention.

(I was in a rental room in San Jose, interning at IBM, miserable.)

SHORTY: Alcoholics Anonymous and the Higher Power

 This is a quote from a Roger Ebert article:

The important thing is that you don't consider yourself to be your own Higher Power, because your own best thinking found your bottom for you.  

referring to step 3 in Alcoholics Anonymous (AA)

MORE:

I think the same think applies to how Buddhism works. Buddhism isn't doctrine and dogma that you must follow. It's pragmatic. And, ultimately, it does point at not believing too much that you, on your own, have all the answers figured out already.

It's not actually essential you believe the Buddha to be perfect or enlightened, especially not at the start. You just have to believe in the possibility that the way you've been going about things isn't the best and only way.

And then you work the path. AA has 12 steps focused on alcohol addiction. Buddhism has 8 that focuses on clinging and craving that, ultimately, hurts ourselves a great deal.

AA is for people who used to think that alcohol could solve their troubles or be a reliable path to happiness.

Buddhism is for people who used to think that money, fame, possessions, romance or anything/something external in the world could solve their troubles and be a reliable path to happiness. If only I had ____.

To start to see that those thoughts are a path of greed, anger, and delusion, in both small and big ways, is a start.

Shorty: things needing to be a certain way

 If your identity rests on others being a certain way, what happens if and when they change.