You ever wonder what you're supposed to be doing with your life? And whether your current work meeting, Consulting session, or conference presentation Has anything to do with that theoretical higher purpose? I do ...And sometimes I get extremely depressed And sometimes even enraged Other times I feel a tremendous rush of enthusiasm and elation ...And sometimes I try to be stoic Life can have some baggage — it's all in how ya stow it Everything you have may get snatched away and stolen The matter that you're made of will be scattered like a stone when It gets broken into sand. Understand? Be a Stoic The Stoics were a sect among the Romans and Greeks Who said, Yo, seek peace you emotional peeps! See, everything's a whole and you're only a piece — So don't feel in a hole, or get overly pleased For Stoics conceived the world had a Soul Universal coeternal with its motion and whole So you should make it your goal to come know what your role is And roll with its will. And be chill. Be a Stoic It's for fish to swim It's for clouds to rain It's for mountains to get ground down to grains And it's ours, with brains, when we're crowned or pained To not wild out but be down with change Be a Stoic —even if you lose your purse Be a Stoic — if you lose your whole person at worst Be a Stoic — don't be overjoyed or a jerk Your employer is the universe, you're always at work So if ever you're hurt by the products of chance Just remember it's the universes provident plans — It's your part in the dance that the planet's ensouled with — Don't be like Damn! ...Just be a Stoic Okay... I get what you're saying — Don't be emotional, and stay in your lane and Make the motions you're supposed to make, and roll through — But hold it What if my emotions are my strength, O you Stoics? Ain't evolution powered by our pain and our bliss? Isn't anguish at injustice and the angry raised fist The only way we get our way, when haters make us insist? — Well now I'm getting pissed I'm not supposed to get pissed! These Stoics sound suspiciously like old white men — The Higher Mind we're supposed to follow kinda sounds like... them Take your place in the line — a hierarchical pattern — When in Rome — know your part — are you the slave or the master? Yeah, word It's a cogent critique And the slave role has rarely had A moment to speak — But if we take it more deep Maybe the roles you must seek Are the very goals and dreams That make you wholly unique You define your purpose In the work of the universe Your it's person — you decide on What it's pertinent Work is first And sure it's a job But a vocation as well — 'Cause we're all part of God So we work for ourselves And as far as I can tell This is what the Stoics teach us From Zeno to Epictetus Seneca to Aurelius — Even though we be mere dust There's meaning in being thus Live for each other in peace And receive what comes Stoic — even when you've lost your stuff Be a stoic — even when it's not enough And it all may come to naught and the odds are tough Be a stoic — do your job and your job is love So if ever wonder what to do with your life Or whether there is such a thing as doing what's right Know you'll find it sight when the part that you go with Is part of the whole. Play your role. Be a Stoic ...Or don't But I've found it to be a helpful structure When I'm in doubt In anguish Or full of joy

You can lose track from the moment You can find more than you seek You can go back for a moment You can let it all run free When there's no time to be different And no lie to repeat You can run back, if you listen You can lose track from the beat This is all that you got This is all that you got When I got back with an omen You'd given up on me And you stopped time for a moment To be everything you dream Don't start, babe I got you You're the only sound I see When I run back to forget you I run back to the beat You can go back Don't let anything go awry Yeah, well it hurts like Hurts like you got something in mind Ooh, you can run back You can get it right, you can turn back time Yeah, this is all that All that you can say with your eyes This is all that you got This is all that you got

What's another day When your thoughts are shot? It just feels so tired away Watch the interstate In partial spots All the exits seem so fake All connections will unfurl Cause the Midwest is a small world Accounts suggested In an app I got An old friend they're famous now I've recollected All the thoughts we thought But can't remember what we found Another friend follows their page Cause the Midwest is a small game Some zombie shelters And gas station lots Trucks embedded to their frame A couple Walmarts And a lot of pot Any way to ease the pain All catches of with which I'm fond Cause the Midwest is a small pond Valparaiso Down to Arkansas A mirror where all mirrors meet A corporate country Like a Wild West That somehow makes me feel at ease Home's a complicated whirl Cause the Midwest is a small world