It was not a waste! There is more to come!

by Gus Castillo

By surprise I saw a picture
of when I was a teen.
In the picture I saw innocence,
and what I could have been.

They say a life with mistakes is a full life,
for life is NOT perfection.
They say it is fully lived not when in desolation,
but instead, when in self-betterment salvation.

Notes from Gus: Story behind the poem - A reminder to me to not see the past with sadness – to come to acceptance that this has been, and now is, my life and try to not continue to the sadness. To move my mindset from of one of anger, shame, regrets, the eternal half full glass view…to one of full glass, which is just as true a way to see it. To instill in me that what my mind is telling me, dictates what I feel. To see that my life has lived its course, which I cannot change, and to remind myself….will I continue to look at it half full? Will I waste the last 1/3 of my life this way?  Is that a life truly examined and worth living?  Joy, Happiness, Community, Love...why has my mind not focused on that? Why does my mind constantly see things as only half full? This short poem meant to