Be inspired!
March 5, 2010 | Filed Under Inspiring, Pay attention | 2 Comments
Today, I’ll be accompanying my grandmother to the hospital for some tests. Yesterday, I found out that pain she’s been complaining about is a stomach aneurism, not ulcers like she’s been saying. Also turns out, she knew.
Finding the good: we’re going to attempt making this 79 year-old woman stop smoking. May the force be with us. If we succeed, she will have finally quit and her health will improve. If we don’t succeed, we tried. I’m fortunate enough to be with her now through all of this, no matter what happens.
Aha! moment
March 3, 2010 | Filed Under Consider this, Pay attention, Random, Thoughts | 2 Comments
What My World Sounds Like: Bilal Salaam
February 24, 2010 | Filed Under Listen, Pay attention, Spotlight, What My World Sounds Like | Leave a Comment
I just took the time to listen to Bilal Salaam. It was a good idea.
Here’s “Razor Tongue” off of his Langue De Rasoir (animated by TMelchishua), reminding us to be careful of the words we choose to use with others. The idea can be extended to how we talk to ourselves. Our words can create, build, destroy, hurt, and heal. Let’s be mindful.
What’s your Soul’s Reflection?
February 22, 2010 | Filed Under Challenge, Consider this, Inspiring, Moment of Truth, Pay attention, monday motivation | 1 Comment
by Jessica Mann
I just thought about the concept, what if there were no mirrors? No reflections. No cameras to take pictures.
If we walked around, never knowing how we “looked,” would there be such an emphasis on the physical? On the material?
Would we be more inclined to work on enhancing our inner selves versus our outer shells?
Would how a person looks even matter, or would that concept be so trivial and unevolved? In this time, this reality of ours, as a collective, we spend most of our time –days and nights– focusing on enhancing everything on the outside, and barely any significant time on what’s inside…that which, from a universal perspective, in an ethereal sense, is what really has any relevance.
Happiness and self-love
February 17, 2010 | Filed Under Consider this, Health, Moment of Truth, Pay attention | 1 Comment
Last week, I served as a facilitator for an all-girl middle school retreat and presented a workshop on joy. It was such an awesome experience that really lightened my heart. I felt like I was doing what I was supposed to be doing.
Considering my audience, I decided to create a workshop on happiness. Middle school was one of the most hellish phases of my life, with far-reaching ramifications that extended far beyond the secondary education phase. Well, it turns out middle school just might be hellish for a lot of folks. I wanted to share some of what I’ve learned with them in hopes of it being impactful, sticking, and prevent some of the self-esteem battering so many of us experience at that age.
Middle schoolers aren’t the only ones struggling to be happy, though, so I figured I’d post something about it.
Fear of not mattering
February 10, 2010 | Filed Under Consider this, Pay attention | 2 Comments
Perhaps you don’t know,
then, maybe you do,
about Stiltsville, and the Village,
(so strange but so true)
where people like we,
some tiny, some tall,
with jobs and kids
and clocks on the wall
keep an eye on the time,
For each evening at six,
they meet in the square
for the purpose of sticks,
tall stilts upon which
Stiltsvillians can strut
and be lifted above
those down in the rut:
New neural pathways = new ways of experiencing life?
January 23, 2010 | Filed Under Consider this, Do your research!, Health, Inspiring, Moment of Truth, Pay attention, Plain cool, Watch this | Leave a Comment
The concept of neuroplasticity was introduced to me a few years ago while watching What the Bleep Do We Know!? and has been popping up in my world recently. It’s quite fascinating and explains why change can be difficult, but very possible. Understand your biology and be inspired.
SPOTLIGHT: Nneka
January 10, 2010 | Filed Under Listen, Pay attention, Spotlight, Watch this, What My World Sounds Like | 1 Comment
I could barely contain myself as songstress Nneka (pronounced neck-ah) introduced this live performance of “Heartbeat” at the World Cafe in Philadelphia. The authenticity of her musicianship and the sincerity of its messages are immediately evident. Confrontational and political, yet humane, Nneka’s music forces you to feel. Perhaps she embodies Bob Marley’s message of being able to cure hate and anger with music. Perhaps…
Someone needs you
January 5, 2010 | Filed Under Consider this, Moment of Truth, Pay attention | 3 Comments
In my family is a very attractive young man with a generally ugly disposition. He’s been like this for years. No one really tried to find out why; we matched his attitude with more attitude. Maybe it’s pre-teen and teenage angst. Who can say? Honestly, I don’t think anyone cared what was bothering him; we just wanted him to be more pleasant. Sadly, I was amongst that group until a little over a week ago.
An explosive event triggered something I’d let slip away from me: those who are hardest to love usually need it most.
Running away
December 14, 2009 | Filed Under Consider this, Pay attention, Thoughts | 2 Comments
I was raised in a city I hated. When exactly it occurred to me that I didn’t like it, I’m not sure. Perhaps my mother’s feelings rubbed off on my sister and me, but for as long as I can recall, I wanted to be elsewhere. Where? Just somewhere else.
I’ve spent the last few months of my life, not elsewhere, but in my hometown, precisely where I didn’t want to be–not for this long anyway. While it takes just a short matter of days to be reminded of all the reasons that prompted me to leave, my family is here and spending an extended amount of time with them after being away for eight years is warming. Both positive and negative emotions have confronted me and I’ve been somewhat conflicted as to what my next move should be: Stay? Go? Where? For how long? The vision for my immediate future is fuzzy; I haven’t been able to place myself anywhere. In the past, this indicated moving somewhere new.
This morning, South Korea invaded my mind. Teaching English there is an idea that’s visited me countless times over the past five years. Maybe I should just do it, I thought. Do it, so I won’t have any regrets. A longstanding desire to travel the planet resurfaced and immediately I was taken by this idea of journeying foreign lands. Would it take me closer to what I want to be my life’s work? Hmm…no. Not really. But I would get to live in another country and see some of Asia. My haphazard life adventures have always taken me places…but what if this time, I’m not supposed to go anywhere?
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