W-O-M-A-N....

As a woman, I have to contemplate, from a distance at least, not up close and personal with a feminist view, but at the very least... where have we placed ourselves as women today?

Yes, we are daughters, sisters, mothers, etc, etc... but beyond that, in society, we have allowed ourselves to become objects for nothing more than the sake of making money; we will 'dummy-down' so as to fit in with our male counterparts and not to intimidate; we will sacrifice our self-love to be loved and even worse, we give away our 'love' so willingly and freely that it becomes the norm and more so the oddity when you hold on to it dearly. For me, it is numbing when I see it and when I experience it, because no matter whether I end up alone for the rest of my life, I care not. For I will not settle, I will not accept less than I deserve from a man, from a job, from a life that could be everything I know I need. I am a woman.... strong, empowered, beautiful and completely happy with just being me. I am sorry if you feel that makes me full of myself or even worse, *gasp* lol borderline of being a feminist, but in my mind's eye- that makes me a force to be reckoned with. I say for anyone in my life- either be with me or for me, but don't be a door to me... I have dreams and goals... hop on or stay behind, just don't impede my stroll!

Beyond the men I had to leave, and to be blunt, the females in my life I have seen, I really wish I knew more women that were not content in giving it up to just live it up, not settling because the loneliness begins to press, not coming to terms with what you're given, but wrestling with what YOU WANT to be living.

Are you her? Does she reside within the woman that you are.... buried beneath a few layers down deep?? Let her out. What you dare to dream, can be.... step up... step out.... arrive with you.... be true!

You are a W-O-M-A-N.............................. woman.

The Power of Thoughts

By Remez Sasson

One day, a yogi and his disciple arrived to the big city. They had no money with them, but they needed food and a place to stay. The disciple was sure that they were going to beg for their food, and sleep in the park at night."There is a big park not far from here. We can sleep there at night", said the disciple. "In the open air?" Asked the yogi."Yes", responded the student.

The yogi smiled and said: "No, tonight we are going to sleep in a hotel and eat there too".The student was amazed. "How?""Come and sit down", said the yogi. They both sat down on the ground and the yogi said:"When you focus your mind intently on any subject, it comes to pass."
The yogi closed his eyes and started to meditate with full concentration. After about ten minutes he got up and started to walk, with his disciple following him. They walked through several streets and alleys, until they arrived to a hotel.

"Come, let's enter inside", the yogi said to his disciple. They just set foot in the entrance, when a well-dressed man approached them. "I am the manager of this hotel. You look like traveling swamis and I believe you have no money. Would you like to work in the kitchen, and in return I'll give you food and a place to stay?" "Fine", responded the yogi.

The disciple was perplexed and asked the yogi: "Did you use any magic? How did you do that?"
The yogi smiled and said, "I wanted to show you how the power of thoughts works. When you think with full and strong concentration about something that you want to happen, and your mind does not resist the subject of your thought, your thought materializes."

"The secret is concentrating, visualizing, seeing details, having faith and projecting mental and emotional energy into the mental scene. These are the general prerequisites. When your mind is empty from thoughts, and only one single thought is allowed to enter, it gains a very great power. One should be very careful with what he thinks. A concentrated thought is powerful, and exerts a very strong influence."

The disciple looked at his teacher and said: "I see that I have to sharpen my concentration in order to be able to use this power."

"Yes, this is the first step", responded the yogi.

Makes You Wonder...

Series of events that unfold.. the mysteries of a life told...

like a story book with no end, new moments always to begin.

The beauty of complexity, the journey towards a destiny...

filled with moments that make you wonder.

The road less traveled, the actions that cause change to swirl ...

in a moment, a lifetime.

The highs and lows, the uncertainty is how life flows...

still searching for light amongst dark... waiting for that spark.

Moving over ground, no particular answer found...

Moments that make you wonder... what is the destination?

Forgive me for my hesitation, but the things I'd love to forget...

loom overhead and I find no matter how heart wrenching,
I must keep my stead.

Back and forth... searching for what I seek...

praying for a sneak peak of the series of events already in motion...

taking it to that next level, no indication is clear...

Makes you...

Wonder.

Wondrous Moments

Wonder.

Cataclysmic Moments.

Wonder.

Profound Moments.

Wonder.

What yet is to be discovered from deep within... a new journey I begin.

It Begins & Ends with YOU...

In speaking with a friend today who is dealing with a painful loss and heartbreak because of circumstances beyond his control, he expressed to me that he is angry with God. Allow me to preface this blog with I believe it is every person's right to 'feel' as they need to, especially in times of sorrow. I do not judge and as I have conveyed in other blogs, sometimes your heart takes over your mind; there is no reasoning to find... you just know how you feel and nothing more.

As is such, this blog is not directed at his feelings, but more so that his turmoil began the wheels turning in my own mind, about how much weight we place on God for changing, managing and curing all our problems. Don't get me wrong, I am certainly one to say, 'Let go and let God' because I do believe a.) in a Higher Power and b.) that speaking what you need and desire can bring it into existence, but at the same time, does it not require effort on our part? How many times can you find yourself in the exact same situation and cry out for help, when you haven't very well helped yourself? Albert Einstein once remarked, "Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results."

I know I have had my fair share of issues that have reared their ugly head in my life, but if I give honest consideration to not just the immediate, but the events leading up to it... I can usually see where I contributed to it all going astray. If there are things going on in your life that are negative, chances are you're not doing something right. This is the hard reality I had to face 4 years ago and even still now... when things go wrong, as they often will, I have to consider... what led up to this situation? It is easy to want to blame someone for our hurt, our current demise, and I guess God is an easy target since he doesn't 'talk back' in the literal sense, but how often can we really say that when things go wrong, we do some serious introspection to change future outcomes? Are your problems of your own doing?

Don't get me wrong... tragic things befall us all. I am not speaking of an untimely death of a loved one being your fault, nor am I saying the car accident you got into, you willed into your life because you aren't doing right. But the other stuff... the stuff you COULD have prevented if you were taking care of business.... yeah, you can't be angry with God when you didn't care enough to take care of you and yours. He can only do so much, the rest is up to you. Praying for that guy to start treating you right, isn't going to happen... you have to leave that joker who shows you no respect and seek a MAN that knows a woman's worth. Just praying for money to come flowing in, or someone to help you get a job, a degree, an opportunity- whatever... isn't going to happen! You have to work for it, seek it, earn it or look for it... it's up to you!

Now, I am not discrediting prayer by any means, because I believe that when you're heart is in the right place, when you are doing right and seeking to find, they are answered. There are too many miracles that I have witnessed or heard of in people's lives not to believe that there is a Higher Power looking out for us all, but in the end it is up to us to start the process and finish the race. We are resilient creatures, and stronger because of our battles that we win in life, but to blame God or anyone else for that matter, or to try to justify your current situation and allow yourself to sink to a level of sub-par, is just unacceptable! Some people may disagree with my theology, but the fact of doing for yourself and not blaming your slights in life on others, is tried and true! There are too many people in this world with less- ability, money, love, opportunity, etc - for any of us to be complaining about what we aren't getting or what we need to make it happen.

You want change in your life? You have to be the change... it will always start with you.

Fervor... Is It Only Child's Play?

Where and when exactly do we lose our fervor for life? The carefree attitude that we use to all have and feel at a tender age? The idea that anything was possible and all you had to do was believe! The "HERE I AM" attitude, which children seem to ooze- they don't contemplate if something will make them look silly, they usually laugh at themselves in the process anyway. You know what I am talking about... If you wanted to dance and sing when you were young- you did it! You didn't think about, 'what if someone sees me?!!' YOU WANTED them to see you! If you wanted to make your friends laugh, you thought putting straws under your lip and pretending to be a walrus... as stupid as you looked, was funny! ... same thing with an orange peel and smiling... you did one or the other at some point in your childhood, right?? Come on... you know you did. LOL My point is- at what juncture in our lives did we begin to care so much about what other people think and say about our actions and thoughts? Is it really all just an exercise in futility? I mean, really!

I guess that is why children are wondrous creatures and babies are beautiful to me. We all arrive with this inner peace- a true happiness to just be. In the beginning we all live life with this free spirit and not a rule book; evolving, developing and becoming who we were given life to be! It's only as we get older that time tries to tire us, wear us down and make us forget just how beautifully special each of us are! Children, whereas, haven't been soiled with the pressures daily life throws our way and they've yet to lose any of themselves in a career, worries, or relationship. They are purely unadulterated.

Granted, as we become adults there are certain understood social graces of tact we use and guidelines which we follow to live our lives. Being a kid has it's advantages, but also it's downfalls as we age. You know, belting out a song and dancing in the middle of family members or friends, may have attained you some laughs, but I am thinking NOT so much in the Boardroom. Or perhaps telling an acquaintance their breath smells horrible (kids seem to have blunt honesty down pat), while it may, is not exactly the best way to win friends and become successful in life. So, yes, admittedly there are things we just don't do which guide us on this path, and we learn what is and is not socially acceptable at a more mature age. More or less, I would assume it's mainly so they don't lock you away though. LOL Let's face it- orange peels and straws are not really the table toys they once were at 7! But giving up your zeal for life and not taking stuff so seriously... where did that go? When did people begin to care so much about the status quo, they forgot to remember their internal happiness? The simplicity of being happy; of arriving everyday with YOU. I say being happy is key and whatever that happiness is for you- then do it! IMHO, there is an inner beauty that exudes when you live life with guidelines and not a rule book.

People will always see things differently than you. That is why we are unique individuals... it takes a lot of us to make the world work and keep it interesting. However, the next time you think you can't... voice your opinion, go on that interview, wear those crazy digs, change your career, etc... because someone will tell you different, might not like you, or think one way or the other about you?? Step out, smile and arrive with you! Be happy with where you are today because you won't be there tomorrow. Everyday is an opportunity for growth and change and yes, aging. Though aging is loathed in our society, there is something to be said for it- truly it is how true beauty... not the superficial... not the kind money can buy, but when you take chances and glow doing it... is attained!

It is up to us, as we go through our evolution of sorts, to not allow what time would love to steal. You have to tap into that person of long ago and keep a reminder of what once was and what you dreamed to be... you were born for a purpose! Don't lose your fervor... seek it till you find it again and restore what you once dreamed. What are you waiting for??? Get Living!!

Catch Your Breath ... Tie Up Your Laces!

Life runs quickly often at a maddening pace, making some fall and blunder and leaving most to appear without grace... catch your breath, tie up your laces... no time to stop, to falter, keep excelling, going farther.... heart break, lessons learned at every turn.... old lives given to new, rebirth as plentiful as the morning dew.... catch your breath, tie up your laces... keep moving forward, seeing new faces... reinvent, infuse your heart's desire in every possible place... focus not on what is lost, but on what is to be gained, no one ever said it won't tug and strain... catch your breath, tie up your laces... ups-downs, moving over ground... constant change, sometimes it's sunny, sometimes it's dark... strolling, running, gliding... alone, coupled, crowded out... too much, too little.... leaves you to laugh, cry, scream and shout.... catch your breath, tie up your laces... struggle and fight for excellence, never doubt, have a moment, but not to lose hope or faith... this is a race... catch your breath, tie up your laces... this is life... catch your breath, tie up your laces... and cross the finish line, experience serenity divine.

What if...

What if you could go back... what would you change? You can't, but what would you- if you could? Everyone says they don't regret, they wouldn't change a moment of circumstance!? I disagree... I think this is the luxury that we try to afford the soul- to ease the hurt, to mend the hole that sits in our heart when we lose what we thought we had a grasp of in life.

Pondering... contemplating- What if everything you were doing before switched up, you mixed up, you threw out? What if everything you once knew had changed so dramatically that it changed you in season, and in turn, you no longer recognized the path you once ventured out upon? The course and direction of your path became somewhere along the way lost, misguided and now recognized as such. Would you continue on the path because it's the only way you have known for so long? What if this path is full of uncertainty, possible failure, but in present tense- bliss? What if this new path, though full of ups and downs, could just possibly set you back on track to a true sense of you? What if all this was true.. what would you do?

What if what once was is no longer? No longer what you thought existed does... absence does not make anything grow, but a sense of loss.... a sense of longing for what one can have not. To stand peering at a door closed is to realize all hopes have gone with the last bit of air pressed beyond the jam. It's a tragic way to live life, to allow it to consume you, to take and take till it breathes in all around you its stank breath of failure. What if you shook it all off... started anew.... became what you felt and really believed what you know? To realize the door that closed was not your door anyway... the door that closed was upon someone else as well... your door is just 4 doors down and is open, waiting on you to finalize your journey. What if this was all true... what would you do?

It will always be easier to give up than to look up, to sit down than to take a stand, walk than to run. The movement you decide to make at each turn determines where you'll land in a hour, a day, a year, your lifetime- keep moving... even if it's not the right move... keep moving.

Peace.





Tracy Chapman, "Change"

L iving I n F ull E voultion...

I take a moment to ponder my choices made some times in haste, decisions delayed, friends and lovers lost and found... life moving so quickly, no grass grown on my small piece of ground... things all become brilliantly transparent... looking back.... hind-sight.

We all travel on this course- LIFE- Living In Full Evolution... mind, spirit, body... never standing still. They say have no regrets, but contemplation produces a place that I cannot help ponder of what could have been or should have been done... constant change mitigating life.

Where I have been is why I am who I am now... sometimes life has caressed me, sometimes it has thrown me about... while I would possibly change some of my choices I cannot. I must move on. All of us have our own stories... our own "battle scars" of life making us hunger for the best LIFE has to offer.

Wondrous creatures that we are... resilient, steadfast in this course of LIFE. Strange twists.... fate? GOD's hand? ... I meditate upon free will.... the ability to do as one pleases. But free would indicate that we are not affected by our choice, that we are not imprisoned by the outcome- good or bad. Choice is not free... it comes with consequence... it comes with a product... good or bad.

Living In Full Evolution of Mind, Body, Spirit... I choose how I spend my years here... all I have is time... time to navigate my course, my decisions that guide me along the way will either bring sweet delicious fruits of my labor, or it can offer the bitter abundance of this harvest- depending on my choices.

I choose to run this race of LIFE with resilience, with determination to make the time I have on this earth the best I possibly can. I choose to Win this race of LIFE. Because this gift given to me was given freely, but it is not free, my friends. LIFE is on loan and when it is time, there is no one that change that fact.

Nothing in Life is free.

It's Your Paintbrush...

Ever had a moment where your world felt as if it was closing in on you? Pushing you to the brink of your very existence, where you'd scream, 'COME ON ALREADY??! ' Of course you have.... and if you are reading this and saying, nope, not me... consider yourself VERY fortunate and... would you like to trade places??? *wink*

Life keeps pushing us because if you didn't have the spirals of life, you would never experience the ecstasy of elevation. Ever have a moment where you had a breakthrough?? OK... now, close your eyes and think back to that moment... you can feel it, huh? That surge of emotion.... of accomplishment... it's what a smile 'feels' like.

There is something to be said when you look outside and it's grey, but the sun is still shining in your mind. It's knowing that to get to your rainbow, there had to be rain for the sun to shine through. In my opinion, happiness is truly a state of mind... hear me now... I know easier said than done, but when you dig deep and put a positive spin on even the negative, you still win. If something is not how you wish it to be, all you have to do is change it. Now, I am not implying that change is easy. It can be heart wrenching, losing your ground, shifting amongst two difficult situations- the wrestling of heart against mind, but it can be done.

See we are each equipped with a special something inside us... it's what Wayne Dyer so accurately calls, "Divine Capacity"... which I love. We are such spiritual and beautiful creatures... we have so much strength and depth to each of us, it is merely waiting for each of us to tap into it. Often times we allow the external to mess with our internal and I guess that's the difficulty that each of us face... rising above it all. At some point in life, we either realize our strength and harness it's power or we eventually allow the storms to wither us to the point that we cannot any longer struggle against the external forces.... we lose hope... we become fearful... and thus, we lose our willpower.

Let me give you another way to look at this....

Take a summer storm in its full rage... thunder, lightening, swirling winds... it can be frightening and all out disconcerting, but after the storm... the calm that lulls in.... the crispness of the air, how pure and clean it all feels tells us all is ok. We have weathered the storm, so to speak. It's the same with life... you have storms that whip into your life, they can be frightening, you may even lose some power, but you know that it will be over soon and from that storm, you will be purified... you will start anew and life will be crisp... allowing you a clean slate.

The only thing that EVER holds us back from our dreams, needs, desires, wants is OURSELVES. Each of us has to learn how to tap into what we know to be our reality, and then figure out what it is we truly want. Once you KNOW what you want... that's clarity and clarity brings you empowerment. Empowerment to change what it is that you don't like about the canvas of your life.... it's YOUR PAINTBRUSH... you choose what piece of art you want to possess. If you are always dappling into the dark colors and expecting to see brightness upon your canvas, you got it twisted. It's time to take a look at your clarity of life.... cause I am thinking, something is not quite right. What you want, you must think.... what you think, you will be. This goes into many realms in life.... negative energy, draws negative people, places, things.... positive energy draws the opposite, obviously. Don't believe me?

Look at many people in our culture that rose above what life handed them and peer into their world after the time in which they conquered. You'll see amazing things that occur when you rise above. No one will tell you that it was easy, or that they don't have problems still, but it all really comes down to HOW BAD DO YOU WANT IT??? YOU HAVE TO BE ABOUT IT... tap into your "Divine Capacity" and hold on for the ride. It may take you spiraling down, but don't give up because the elevation to new heights and breaking through your challenges brings ecstasy and the purest satisfaction that no one can steal from you. Once you got it... IT'S YOURS for the taking FOREVERMORE.

Peace.