Beauty is Everywhere...

I travel the same route to my gym several times a week. Yesterday, I saw this for the first time. How long had it been there? Had it always been there and yet I’d overlooked it? Was it just done a day ago? Surely I hadn’t not seen it….right?

How often do we go through life forgetting to see the wonders around us? Beauty is EVERYWHERE! We must learn to take the time to see it.

Queen Ifrica - Far Away (OFFICIAL VIDEO)

Sometimes you just gotta envision what you wish to manifest.

Learning to Live with the Minor

I will spare you the details of this past week’s drama, but suffice it to say that drama combined with the event I’m about to describe may help you as much as it has helped me.

Monday, as I was rushing to get ready for work/class, I ran down stairs with my shoes in hand. As soon as I hit the bottom step, I dropped the shoes and went directly into the kitchen to try and to get some food together for breakfast and for the rest of the day. As the microwave purred away I ran back across the den to grab my laptop and bag. Just as I reached for the bag a horrible pain shot through the bottom of my foot; I’d stepped on a binder clip! I didn’t have time to nurse my pain so I just hobbled back across the den with my bag in hand and threw my feet into my shoes to rush out of the door.

Because the shoes I had chosen to wear had been worn once before, I felt it a little strange that the right shoe seemed to be hurting the sole of my foot unlike it had ever hurt before. It wasn’t enough to pay attention to, but it was enough to occasionally make me think of my foot throughout the day.

When I finally made it home later that evening, I removed both of my shoes—as is my usual ritual. When I took the right one from my foot, I noticed a small round stain in the bottom of the shoe. I didn’t pay much attention to it but I did wonder where the stain had come from. After all, these were new shoes! I didn’t spend too much time worrying about it and went on with my evening. I enjoyed a little relaxation and then turned in for a well-rested sleep a few hours later.

The next morning during my daily bubble bath, I noticed that the bottom of my right foot was a little sore but I didn’t pay much attention to it. I went ahead and got ready to tackle my new day. Later, when I returned home and kicked off my shoes as usual, I decided to finally look at the bottom of my foot. Imagine my surprise when I noted a small puncture wound surrounded by a blue bruise!

This whole time that I’d been ignoring the minor pain, I’d actually been allowing a small wound to go unnoticed and untreated. I sat down to think—not only because of the wound, but because of some other things that were going on with me. And here’s what I came away with: If we do not take the time to reflect on those small things that nag at our skin, at our emotions, at our heart—then they can develop into bigger things that are not as easily addressed. What if I had gone even longer without actually looking at the bottom of my foot? The wound could have become infected and caused all kinds of issues—all because I did not address my initial minor pain.

Sometimes we allow people to offend us in minor ways never taking the time and responsibility for telling them how we feel. Often, it’s simply because we ourselves have not taken the time to interrogate our emotions and the reasons for them. What usually happens when we do this is that the tiny, minor irritations build and fester inside of us until our reactions to something equally as minor are blown way out of proportion. Then, we lash out uncontrollably and illogically. We hurt others around us because we have not addressed our own discomforts.

I am learning to speak my truth even in the small moments of discomfort. I am promising myself to address even the most minor of irritations so that when the time is right, I can handle anything that life throws at me.

Peace, Love, & Light,
tdp

My nightly affirmation for the next 7 days....

Baby Suggs Holy is one of those literary characters that exists beyond the written word. She is a timeless sage, whose spirit is not contained on a page. For the next seven days, I will read the following sermon (from Toni Morrison's Beloved) so that I can remind myself of what living life fully is really all about--loving one's Self.

“Here,” she said, “in this here place, we flesh; flesh that weeps, laughs; flesh that dances on bare feet in grass. Love it. Love it hard. Yonder they do not love your flesh. They despise it… No more do they love the skin on your back. Yonder they flay it. And O my people they do not love your hands. Those they only use, tie, bind, chop off and leave empty. Love your hands! Love them! Raise them up and kiss them. Touch others with them, pat them together, stroke them on your face ‘cause they don’t love that either. You got to love it, you! And no, they ain’t in love with your mouth. Yonder, out there, they will see it broken and break it again.What you say out of it they will not heed…What you put into it to nourish your body they will snatch away and give leavins instead. No they don’t love your mouth. You got to love it."

"This is flesh I’m talking about here. Flesh that needs to be loved. Feet that need to rest and to dance; backs that need support; shoulders that need arms, strong arms I’m telling you. And oh my people, out yonder, hear me, they do not love your neck unnoosed and straight. So love your neck; put a hand on it, grace it, stroke it, and hold it up. And all your inside parts that they’d just as soon slop for hogs, you got to love them. The dark, dark liver - love it, love it, and the beat and beating heart, love that too. More than eyes or feet… More than your life-holding womb and your live-giving private parts, hear me now, love your heart. For this is the prize."

It's All About Choice

The past several years have been chocked full of emotional highs and lows. Although for quite a while I blamed others for some of my misfortunes, I have come to know that everything that happens to me is a result (more or less) of my own choices. When I allowed myself to overlook red flags in my path, when I turned a blind eye to my own instinct and intuition, when I closed my eyes to the blessings around me and became distracted by the woulda/coulda/shouldas, I was choosing to allow drama into my life.
I give thanks to Spirit, friends, and family that things are MUCH different now. Not necessarily because there aren’t still difficulties in my life—but because I have now allowed myself to deal with them with all of my senses. I no longer make decisions from over-rationalizing or from over-analyzing, but from allowing my logic to be directed by my heart. I feel openly and believe that I am my best me when I choose to trust my own feelings when I make decisions.
I am also learning that my best me is more conscious when it comes to the decisions I make. Every choice, every decision, every movement I make comes with its own consequence(s). Instead of jumping blindly into foolishness I am now allowing my faithfulness to be supported by patience and insight. I’m still a novice when it comes to living in this way, but I am very excited by the possibilities that come along with it.
I am determined to live more aligned with my Divine purpose. I give thanks that I have chosen to do so.

Peace, Love, & Light,
tdp

Down by the River...

I haven’t posted in a while but I am still dating myself. I’ve been to the movies, to dinner, and today I spent some afternoon time at the river. Interestingly, the more time I spend dating myself, I find that men have been seemingly more interested in me. I knew theoretically that loving one’s Self opened the door for love, but I didn’t know—the way that I’m beginning to know—that Self love actually makes one more attractive. In the words of my loctician, Self love radiates from an individual and actively vibrates the space around him/her. (Believe me I was blushing when the brotha was telling me I moved the room when I entered it—it might have been game, but it did make a sista smile, lol.)

Anywhoo, I wanted to share what happened at the river today. So, I went to my spot—a nice little nature trail that leads directly down into the river. I packed a lunch and went to spend some time there to listen, watch, and learn from the water. I enjoyed my lunch, checked my phone for messages, and then decided to just lean back on the bench to look at the trees. And that’s when it caught my attention. The limbs just above the water were catching the sun’s reflection and were shimmering in gold. The beauty of it captured my breath and held it for a bit before releasing it in a soft exhale. Voila! There was the message that I came to the river to receive.

Just as my loctician had noticed about me, the water was confirming that when one is living in accordance with his/her purpose and doing so joyfully without restraint, the environment around him/her will glow with beauty. The beauty does not really come from the individual; instead, the beauty is the beauty of Spirit. When we forget our connection to nature and to others, it suppresses our own potential for beauty. However, when we allow ourselves to live as an organism intimately and inherently codependent on the environment around us, we literally glow and cause the space around us to glitter.

Let’s just say I’m learning to love the sparkle.

Peace, Love, & Light,
tdp

A Lesson Learned...

When I had the opportunity to go to Ghana last summer, I wanted to bring my three-month old nephew (at the time) something back. When I saw the tiny drum in the craft market, I knew I had to get it.

Needless to say, a three-month old had no interest in the tiny drum covered in kente cloth even if it did make a really cool sound when I hit it with his tiny hand. So, my mother put it up on a shelf where the rest of us could “enjoy” it. But that’s not really what a drum is for is it? It’s meant to be heard, to respond to the manipulations of one’s hands, to resound loudly in chorus or alone. That’s what a drum is made to do. Nonetheless, the tiny drum sat high away from my nephew’s hands and remained still and quiet.

Last month, my not-so-tiny any more nephew turned a year old. While I was home, helping prepare the house for his birthday party, something told me to move the drum down to a level that he could reach. I didn’t put it in his toy box, and I didn’t make a big deal about moving it. What I did do was hit the tiny surface before I placed it on the low sub-woofer next to the TV.

Two or three days later, I had forgotten that I’d even moved it. My nephew, who is a lover of all music, toddled over to the area of the drum and pondered it for a split second. Before we knew anything, he’d snatched it from its perch, squatted with it, and placed it right side up on the floor in front of him. With not a moment’s hesitation, his little hands started hitting the skin and he grinned in delight.

It was cute when it happened. But I don’t think I internalized the lesson until today. I learned two important things. First, the drum did not forget its purpose just because everyone else around it did. And second, no one has to teach children to do what is already in their nature. As an Akan wisdom statement says, “No one points out Nyame (God) to a child.”

It does not matter if everyone else fails to recognize your Divine purpose in this life as long as when the time is right you are ready to step into your Divinely appointed position. That drum didn’t forget how to make noise just because it was up on a shelf where it wasn’t touched. It simply waited and Spirit moved those around it in such a way that it finally got its chance to shine (or sound as it were). Moreover, no one had to remind the drum, or the Spirit within my nephew, what to do when the time was right. Both the drum and my nephew had the Divine intuition to simply do what was most natural for each of them to do. So here’s what I learned: When we are in tune with the timing of the Divine—allowing ourselves to be moved and to be ready—music happens.

In Peace, Love, and Light,
tdp