Tuesday, February 28, 2006
Monday, February 20, 2006
Chase Away Them Clouds!
Have you been feeling down lately? Things seem to be going in all directions, not giving you the needed answers for peace? Well, sometimes we need encouragement to help us to get through the hard times and bring more happiness in our lives. Here goes some encouraging words to help us through hard times to bring us some happiness to our lives. Blue ArT Mountain Books are these words of wisdom taken from.
Tough It Out ...In a Tender Way
Don't spend your life climbing the mountain. Be the montain. Soft from a distance, but so much stronger than others imagine you to be. Toughing it out in a tender way. Enfolding the seeds of all the dreams you have planted, and spending each day and all it brings. Knowing you are capable of riding out any kind of storm. Taking in the views. Letting the streams flow. And simply knowing that seasons will pass and changes will come, but the higher you lift your spirits...the more you will stand in the sun. WE CAN ALWAYS DO MORE THAN WE "THINK" WE CAN. LET'S THINK LESS AND IMAGINE MORE.
Carry The Sun Inside You
Within you lives a creative, resourceful person. You have qualities that get better every day. You have the courage and strength to see things through. You have a light that shines within you. You have known the truth of yesterday, and you have an inner map that will lead the way to a very beautiful tomorrow. You have gifts that have never been opened and personal journeys waiting to be explored. You have so much going for you. You are a special person and you have a future that is in the best of hands. And you need to remember: If you have plans you want to act on and dreams you've always wanted to come true, you have what it takes, because...YOU HAVE YOU!
Make The Most of Every Day
By being in this moment and living a day at a time, you have access to every gift this world could ever give. This is your moment. Your present, waiting to be unwrapped. Your day in the diary, waiting in the diary, waiting for a beautiful story, a touch of wonder, a paragraph of progress, a poem of thanks.
When the time comes to close the page on this day, make sure that its story was written just the way the author hoped it would be. IF HAPPINESS IS THE DESTINATATION, THEN "THIS MOMENT IN TIME" SHOULD BE THE MEDITATION.
Letting The Healing Begin
After the rain comes the rainbow. After the hurt comes the healing. Unfolding gently, coming closer every day, this is the natural way of things.
Hard times soften and fade. Hope rises to the surface, and smiles gradually find their way to faces as reminders of some of the precious things tomorrow will surely bring. Life always leads in that direction. Too slowly sometimes, but always towards a more beautiful horizon, After sadness, resolve. After weakness, so much strength. With time and patience as special friends, the tough times pass and the healing begins.
In any difficulty you have known, your heart has always been home to an inner beauty and a special strength. There has been wisdom deep within you, and the more you turn to that wisdom now, the more it will see you through.
When times are tough, I wish you strength enough to see your way through anything. When the world brings you uncertainties of which way to go, I'll wish you comforting thoughts and guiding signs and an inner compass that will help you know. I'll wish you a path that is never too long or too hard to travel, a road where help is there if you need it, and a journey that will bring joy to your spirit and peace to your soul. THE SECRET TO CONTENTMENT? DOING THINGS THAT ARE GOOD FOR THE SOUL.
hang in there!
difficulties arise in the lives of us all. what is most important is dealing with the hard times, coping with the changes, and getting through to the other side where the sun is still shining just for you.
it takes a strong person to deal with tough times and difficult choices. but you are a strong person. it takes courage, but you possess the inner courage to see you through. it takes being an active participant in your life, but you are in the driver's seat and you can determine the direction you want tomorrow to go in.
hang in there...and take care to see that you don't lose sight of the one thing that is constant, beautiful and true. everything will be fine-and it will turn out that way because of the special kind of person you are. so...beginning today and lasting a lifetime through-hang in there, and don't be afraid to feel like the morning sun is shining...just for you. AS YOU LEAVE BEHIND ALL THAT HAS BEEN, YOU ARE ON THE WAY TO ALL THAT CAN BE.
Quote for the week by Michael Jordan: "Obstacles don't have to stop you. If you run into a wall, don't turn around and give up. Figure out how to climb it, go through it, or work around it. "
Diamond 2006 2/20
Tuesday, February 14, 2006
A Spanish Smile
Good day to all, today I have something I would like to share about Spanish persons, it's all good. I don't know how your experience has been with persons of that background, but all of my experiences have been positive. Let me just share a few with you.
1. I do notice that Spanish persons look out for one another as families. They don't let one another go homeless. They will all gather together in one room if need may be. They know how to show that family love, true love. They are very calm with one another. Cool disposition, I shall say. When I was living at the YWCA in one room with family here in town, they would never have let that happen. They would have taken me in, if I were a family member of theirs.
2. I notice also that lately they have been taking over businesses here in the city and they do work diligently. For one, the laundromat that I am used to treking my laundry once a week, has been bought by them. The owner and her husband are in their mid-twenties and they don't let the drug dealers and other persons doing nonsense hang around. They are deeply respected. The former owners could not handle the "traffic." The store next door to the laundromat, the Spanish couple is buying that as well. It was up until two weeks ago a beauty supply store with wigs, cell phones, clothes and supplies. The korean owner kept getting robbed and was not making any duckets. So, it is going to be a grocery store on Martin Luther King Boulevard. I am not finished....they even own the liquor store. Three deals in one! Smart people indeed....Liquor, grocery and laundry, right by each other. Well, you know our folx really hit that liquor store and they don't hang around. Got to have that stuff to go along with the CRACKerjacks, right? Clean clothes, booze and food, if you gonna eat. At Pier 3, whatever is your forte, that's what you do. Me, I got to study, draw, eat, read, write and have my music and tea time! It's a fight, but I gotta win, for the Spanish folx have taught me calmness today.
3. I am very comfortable with going to school with them, even if they have limited English speaking abilities at the moment. They want to and they are willing to learn English. A lot of them are in ESL classes because they want to learn so that they may continue on with college. They are willing to start small. Even in the college classroom, I notice that they have such a willingness to learn and they will try. Very humble if you ask me. It's like they are not African-American and they are not white, so they are like in-between. Neutral. Very smart folx and never stop learning.
4. Have you ever been in a corner store? Most of them are run by the Spanish or Puerto Rican, if you will. They love it. Our people come in there and they call them "Mommie" and "Poppie." I wonder why. I address them by their names. I also notice that they don't get robbed. Sometimes the dealers will hang around in some of the Spanish stores because the owner won't say anything. It depends. If the owner speaks up from jump street, all is cool. However if "Poppie" as they call him don't say anything, they will just have a good ole time transacting their business in the store like as if they are renting a space out. "Poppie feels safe with them around for he knows that they are looking out for him, they won't rob him. He has a family to feed and they live in the suburb of this city.
5. One other thing that I do is practice my spanish with them. There is nothing like it. It is nice to know another language but you will lose it if you don't use it. Spanish is my second language. One day I hope to go to Spain, Costa Rica or Puerto Rico and I don't mean for a honeymoon, unless I am fooling myself, huh. I love speaking in dialogue with them. And they just love it, they smile right back. If I mispronounce something, they will correct me. It is so much fun. Just like they enjoy when I help them with their English, I enjoy it when they engage in Spanish dialogue with me. If you don't use it, you lose it!
Being with and around spanish persons in various areas of work or play is so special to me, it just brings a smile to my face. How about you? How are your dealings with spanish or puerto ricans? Do you have similiar experiences with them or positive ones?
Diamond
1. I do notice that Spanish persons look out for one another as families. They don't let one another go homeless. They will all gather together in one room if need may be. They know how to show that family love, true love. They are very calm with one another. Cool disposition, I shall say. When I was living at the YWCA in one room with family here in town, they would never have let that happen. They would have taken me in, if I were a family member of theirs.
2. I notice also that lately they have been taking over businesses here in the city and they do work diligently. For one, the laundromat that I am used to treking my laundry once a week, has been bought by them. The owner and her husband are in their mid-twenties and they don't let the drug dealers and other persons doing nonsense hang around. They are deeply respected. The former owners could not handle the "traffic." The store next door to the laundromat, the Spanish couple is buying that as well. It was up until two weeks ago a beauty supply store with wigs, cell phones, clothes and supplies. The korean owner kept getting robbed and was not making any duckets. So, it is going to be a grocery store on Martin Luther King Boulevard. I am not finished....they even own the liquor store. Three deals in one! Smart people indeed....Liquor, grocery and laundry, right by each other. Well, you know our folx really hit that liquor store and they don't hang around. Got to have that stuff to go along with the CRACKerjacks, right? Clean clothes, booze and food, if you gonna eat. At Pier 3, whatever is your forte, that's what you do. Me, I got to study, draw, eat, read, write and have my music and tea time! It's a fight, but I gotta win, for the Spanish folx have taught me calmness today.
3. I am very comfortable with going to school with them, even if they have limited English speaking abilities at the moment. They want to and they are willing to learn English. A lot of them are in ESL classes because they want to learn so that they may continue on with college. They are willing to start small. Even in the college classroom, I notice that they have such a willingness to learn and they will try. Very humble if you ask me. It's like they are not African-American and they are not white, so they are like in-between. Neutral. Very smart folx and never stop learning.
4. Have you ever been in a corner store? Most of them are run by the Spanish or Puerto Rican, if you will. They love it. Our people come in there and they call them "Mommie" and "Poppie." I wonder why. I address them by their names. I also notice that they don't get robbed. Sometimes the dealers will hang around in some of the Spanish stores because the owner won't say anything. It depends. If the owner speaks up from jump street, all is cool. However if "Poppie" as they call him don't say anything, they will just have a good ole time transacting their business in the store like as if they are renting a space out. "Poppie feels safe with them around for he knows that they are looking out for him, they won't rob him. He has a family to feed and they live in the suburb of this city.
5. One other thing that I do is practice my spanish with them. There is nothing like it. It is nice to know another language but you will lose it if you don't use it. Spanish is my second language. One day I hope to go to Spain, Costa Rica or Puerto Rico and I don't mean for a honeymoon, unless I am fooling myself, huh. I love speaking in dialogue with them. And they just love it, they smile right back. If I mispronounce something, they will correct me. It is so much fun. Just like they enjoy when I help them with their English, I enjoy it when they engage in Spanish dialogue with me. If you don't use it, you lose it!
Being with and around spanish persons in various areas of work or play is so special to me, it just brings a smile to my face. How about you? How are your dealings with spanish or puerto ricans? Do you have similiar experiences with them or positive ones?
Diamond
Tuesday, February 07, 2006
Moments by SARK
Do you ever run into those bright colorful books in the self-help/inspirational section of your favorite book store? Those books written by SARK, a very inspiring person. She has gone through a lot in her life and yet she has written all of her books in color. I will be taking a few of her books today and sharing some of her comments in them.
1. The books I write about have colorful, happy covers which can cause people to think: it must be easy for her. It isn't easy for any of us to transcend the past, or pain we might have suffered. Yet, there are gifts in those pains, and we can choose to let light into the dark places. We are not alone! a quote by William Stfford is " I have woven a parachute out of everything broken."
2. Women are receptive to therapy, I think because of their attention to the emotional aspects and need to be heard. I'm always amazed when women don't try, or haven't tried therapy. Who else will listen so raptly to you? There is still a stigma about "going to therapy," as though there is something wrong with you, or it is self-indulgent to pay someone to help you within psychological work. Yet we pay our car mechanics, our gynecologists, or gardeners. This is curious. What is more important than our psychological health? Friends can also provide some of these things, but it's not their profession. A dedicated therapist's only professional purpose is your psychological health.
Sark mentions that healing is an inside job. Although she has been in therapy for eight years, both individual and groups, she continues to go because it enriches her. She is also fascinated by PSYCHOLOGICAL PROCESS WORK. We contain so much as women. We are so complex, stuffed full of feelings, memories, half-truths, denials, hopes and yearnings.
We deserve to be fully alive psychologically! Celebrate your own psychology! Read words from your soul, Explore your own interior. You are valuable just as you are.
Healing Places
OCEAN-waves remind us that there are reliable patterns like our breath. Also, the negative ions in the air actually change brain waves.
WOODS-We are surrounded by tree families and sheltered by their canopies. Keep hugging trees.
ROCKS-We are reminded that growth and change can be microscopic and result in something solid.
WATERFALLS-Falling water speaks of constancy and power.
GARDENS-In the gardens, our hands touch the growing things and our hearts fill.
TOPS OF HILLS- Overlooking the world, we see tiny cars ot towns and gain perspective.
Some of Sark's inside locations of healing.....
BATHTUB- Floating in warm water, surrounded on all sides, tears can flow out of us and join the water everywhere.
BEDS- Soft and thick, safe places to hibernate and dream.
FORTS- Tiny mocks of privacy and escape. Remember the safety of a good fort?
PHONES- Psychic sound chmbers, one on one, intimate conversations can take place without distraction.
GROUPS- In certain kinds of groups, there can be profound safety and exploration in the company of others.
PLANES- Speeding through the sky in a metal capsule emphasizes the importance of trust and release of control.
In our hearts is where the healing occurs-We can take what we experience in the outside, and bring it in for healing. Women's hearts are rare, deep and wide. We do contain multitudes!
Succulent Wild Women
They are all around you. Look for the bright eyes, ready smile, and unusual clothes. Or perhaps it's a more shy succulent wild woman who dresses and appears more quiet, and then you get close enough to bask in her succulent glow.
Sark goes on to list her favorites. These are the famous and more obscure. She invites you to add your favorites to the list.
Isadora Duncan. Sara Bernhardt. Ruth Gordon. Gertrude Stein. Anais Nin. Anne Morrow Zindbergh. Emily Dickinson. Colette. Maya Angelou. Jessica Tandy.Imogene Cunningham.
YOUR BODACIOUS SUCCULENT LIFE
You are succulent even if you don't know it yet. Succulence is a process of aliveness and discovery, and it means living your life in full color, out to the edges, and in celebration of your radiant, eccentric self. BODACIOUS means: SPLENDID, BOLD AND REMARKABLE. That's you! Succulence includes all of you: parts that may feel lost, trapped, in hiding or broken, as well as your most flamboyant, extravagant, incandescent parts. Everything in the middle is succulent too. Our ordinary, tender, jealous, procrastinating, perfectionistic selves. Sometimes we fall asleep, get lost or gorget that we are such splendid, forgivable, adorable souls. We step into lives that aren't ours, make choices that aren't nourishing, or dance stiffly for years with the wrong partner, or parts of ourselves. Some say life is short. I say, life is TALL- grab a straw!
A few questions(soul-searching)
1. What is the most alive choice you recently made?
2. In what way(s) are you succulent?
3. Who do you admire and why?
All of the above are statements from Sark's book, Succulent Wild Women.
1. The books I write about have colorful, happy covers which can cause people to think: it must be easy for her. It isn't easy for any of us to transcend the past, or pain we might have suffered. Yet, there are gifts in those pains, and we can choose to let light into the dark places. We are not alone! a quote by William Stfford is " I have woven a parachute out of everything broken."
2. Women are receptive to therapy, I think because of their attention to the emotional aspects and need to be heard. I'm always amazed when women don't try, or haven't tried therapy. Who else will listen so raptly to you? There is still a stigma about "going to therapy," as though there is something wrong with you, or it is self-indulgent to pay someone to help you within psychological work. Yet we pay our car mechanics, our gynecologists, or gardeners. This is curious. What is more important than our psychological health? Friends can also provide some of these things, but it's not their profession. A dedicated therapist's only professional purpose is your psychological health.
Sark mentions that healing is an inside job. Although she has been in therapy for eight years, both individual and groups, she continues to go because it enriches her. She is also fascinated by PSYCHOLOGICAL PROCESS WORK. We contain so much as women. We are so complex, stuffed full of feelings, memories, half-truths, denials, hopes and yearnings.
We deserve to be fully alive psychologically! Celebrate your own psychology! Read words from your soul, Explore your own interior. You are valuable just as you are.
Healing Places
OCEAN-waves remind us that there are reliable patterns like our breath. Also, the negative ions in the air actually change brain waves.
WOODS-We are surrounded by tree families and sheltered by their canopies. Keep hugging trees.
ROCKS-We are reminded that growth and change can be microscopic and result in something solid.
WATERFALLS-Falling water speaks of constancy and power.
GARDENS-In the gardens, our hands touch the growing things and our hearts fill.
TOPS OF HILLS- Overlooking the world, we see tiny cars ot towns and gain perspective.
Some of Sark's inside locations of healing.....
BATHTUB- Floating in warm water, surrounded on all sides, tears can flow out of us and join the water everywhere.
BEDS- Soft and thick, safe places to hibernate and dream.
FORTS- Tiny mocks of privacy and escape. Remember the safety of a good fort?
PHONES- Psychic sound chmbers, one on one, intimate conversations can take place without distraction.
GROUPS- In certain kinds of groups, there can be profound safety and exploration in the company of others.
PLANES- Speeding through the sky in a metal capsule emphasizes the importance of trust and release of control.
In our hearts is where the healing occurs-We can take what we experience in the outside, and bring it in for healing. Women's hearts are rare, deep and wide. We do contain multitudes!
Succulent Wild Women
They are all around you. Look for the bright eyes, ready smile, and unusual clothes. Or perhaps it's a more shy succulent wild woman who dresses and appears more quiet, and then you get close enough to bask in her succulent glow.
Sark goes on to list her favorites. These are the famous and more obscure. She invites you to add your favorites to the list.
Isadora Duncan. Sara Bernhardt. Ruth Gordon. Gertrude Stein. Anais Nin. Anne Morrow Zindbergh. Emily Dickinson. Colette. Maya Angelou. Jessica Tandy.Imogene Cunningham.
YOUR BODACIOUS SUCCULENT LIFE
You are succulent even if you don't know it yet. Succulence is a process of aliveness and discovery, and it means living your life in full color, out to the edges, and in celebration of your radiant, eccentric self. BODACIOUS means: SPLENDID, BOLD AND REMARKABLE. That's you! Succulence includes all of you: parts that may feel lost, trapped, in hiding or broken, as well as your most flamboyant, extravagant, incandescent parts. Everything in the middle is succulent too. Our ordinary, tender, jealous, procrastinating, perfectionistic selves. Sometimes we fall asleep, get lost or gorget that we are such splendid, forgivable, adorable souls. We step into lives that aren't ours, make choices that aren't nourishing, or dance stiffly for years with the wrong partner, or parts of ourselves. Some say life is short. I say, life is TALL- grab a straw!
A few questions(soul-searching)
1. What is the most alive choice you recently made?
2. In what way(s) are you succulent?
3. Who do you admire and why?
All of the above are statements from Sark's book, Succulent Wild Women.
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