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Slay ‘the Bull Shit’ cacography

The Slay of 2019- How may I help you?

The last time I curated a blog post was 4 months ago and I didn’t publish anything. I have been busy. Doing other things such as my master’s degree and managing the many gears of my health. Honoring myself with rest and doing whatever I want to do for the very sake of doing it and staying alive. 2019 has been a wow of a year. Filled with turns, stops and a lot of ‘stop nonsense’ moments.

‘Stop nonsense’ is a name given to a fence style in South Africa. It is basically a barrier fence that aims to guard households with peace and privacy. Whether it was my next-door neighbors thinking they were God sent, somebody’s ain’t shit sons disturbing everyone else’s peace and PH balances instead of working on themselves. Or work environments that really should do better and continue to make it rain because duality is real and we all work hard. There were a plethora of BS moments.

And between my life’s chapters, the BS moments and focusing on myself (which is my 2019 theme) I have pulled back accessibility to me and what I share or don’t share. In the time that I wasn’t as active as I have previously been on this platform and the affiliated social media platforms. I took myself back to therapy, re-introduced myself to myself, established and honored my boundaries and started to get over myself especially the areas that hurt, left me with a bruised ego and that had me in victimhood. 

‘The number you have dialed does not exist, please just hang up.’

Well, what was that?

2019 definitely was challenging and it also has been a rewarding year that I wouldn’t change or throw away. I walked into 2019 chanting; ‘This is my year and I will focus on myself’. And I got to focus on myself whether I liked how or not. And even though I knew that I go hard for me and mines, I am still my favorite Superhero, standing up for myself one BS moment at a time.

You’re supposed to manage your life *insert dial tone*.

Yes, there have been some misunderstandings, there have also been different ways to deal with issues present in any one situation. However, this will never give me the right to type articles about my perception of any ‘shitty to me behavior’; because and this may be one of the hardest pills we ever have to ingest and digest, but every single one of us is doing the best that we can with what we have or don’t have. Full stop, period and point-blank. 

So whilst I won’t list all of the things that were “shitty to me,” or my Superhero moments I will, however, use the following questions and answers to manage myself, my disappointments and move on with my standards happily.

The number that you have dialed is currently busy, please try again later.

21 Questions

I found myself in the past months asking myself questions such as: 

Does everyone that I am dealing with/ thinking of and possibly angry at~ 

Have feet that touch the ground at the same time when they stand up like me? 

Exercise each week even if it’s 5 minutes at a time?

Going through any form of chemotherapy?

Have an imperfect family who deserves respect whether I agree with their choices or not?

Are they their own lives activists?  

Have they maintained their weight at a healthy 65 kgs for the past 4 years?

Understand that the same energy that they put into messing with other people could be used to change the trajectory of their own life that leads them to mess with other people’s children? 

Are they trying different things with themselves such as watering plants and bringing them back to life?

I asked these questions and a multitude of other questions. Each time I answered no or I don’t know, I knew not to take other people’s ‘shitty to me behavior’ personally or seriously. Because I see life the way I see it because of what I’m growing through and unless we are growing in the same way then we aren’t on the same page. So I did the one thing that I promised myself this year which was to focus on myself. And this is how I Slayed the moments this year, that and I served looks and I organized myself with people that had similar interests to me. Basically I slayed the BS and not myself.

Her line is busy, please hold.

Results

As it stands, I have a completed master’s in educational research with a 4.05 rating and from what I understand about the American school rating system is that this is creme de la creme performance. 

I expanded YHTDTW’s social media reach, operating on over 7 platforms with about 300 followers. With a 20 % engagement level and independent publishing. Now, this may not seem like much but when I started, I started with nothing but my passion.

This is the third year of my charitable contributions. And even though the sector that I have been working with is changing. I am still going to support everything that is me; black, female, creative and everything in between such as black people, black women, black children and the upliftment of the black experience in the best ways that I know how to. 

I am enrolled in and completed short courses that are for the sake of my passion projects and not a grade.

Booked me back into therapy,

Canceled Sunday as a meet and greet day and honored it as my rest and recuperation day of choice and when I didn’t, I learned my lesson.

As a result, got to know me deeper and more lovingly,

At the end of the year, I find myself at remission due to the exhaustive treatment with minimal to nonexistent symptoms even though that’s not how I started the year.

Next thing I knew it’s the 31st of December and I am alive. I have better boundaries, clearer plans and I have lost 10 kg’s in any kind of expectation, blessing and releasing everyone that I encounter whether or not my interactions with them are favorable or not.  Growth has been taking over and I’m “Glowing for the Joy of it” as per the Agapelive current mantra.

She’s still unavailable, would you like to leave a message for her.

Slay it!

This year has been challenging and fulfilling all at the same time. Realizing that my energy is the reward and deposit of my investments.

Bullshit happens all the time. Sometimes we may facilitate it, manage it and invite it into our own lives and even become the bullshit happening. Bullshit happening does not mean that we lose value and worth in who we are. Bullshit happening means we Slay the BS, never ourselves. We are always worthy and valuable. And we owe it to ourselves to honor our worth and value.

*inserts out of office memo.

For me, it was getting clear with myself about what I needed at any one time and meeting myself there. I practiced this so much this year that my mother was shocked when I had nothing to say or object to when she went into her own narrative whilst I just listened and met her where she was. This is what acceptance feels and looks like.

I hope you had a wonderful 2019, accepting and owning how it panned out. From me and mines, I would like to wish you a foundational 2020. Go after everything with Thanksgiving in your heart and receive it tenfold in the next century.

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From Goats to Revolutions

Sudan is a country in Northeast Africa. It is the third largest country in Africa, after Algeria and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The river Nile runs from the north to the south of Sudan and the Red Sea is the lowest point in Sudan. And if these facts just aren’t enough for you did you know that there are more pyramids in one small section of the northern Sudanese desert than there are in the whole of Egypt? 

Sudan has natural treasures and people who treasure her and one such individual is Esra Mansour. Mansour is a Sudanese descendant living in London and on meeting her 3 years ago in Shanghai it was obvious that Sudan was in her veins. Mansour used to call herself ‘Esra the goat’ and due to my own ignorance, I thought it was because of all the goat stories that she would share with me in regards to Sudan. You see Sudan has goats and with plenty articles such as the one titled ‘Goats and Garbage in Khartoum,’ you can see why I didn’t suspect my own ignorance. If a whole article could be written about Sudan’s Nubian goats then who was I to think anything of her Instagram handle being ‘Esra the goat’ or her display picture being a picture of her and a goat. 

Thankfully I have since updated my understanding of the meaning of #GOAT. It means ‘Greatest Of All Time’ and in such times there is nobody greater than Esra Mansour to talk about the ongoing Sudanese revolution; her thoughts, feelings and her point of view. I don’t know about you but I am interested in hearing from a girl who loves goats, is grounded by her faith and is a splash of color in this our blank canvas, planet earth.

We’re Blue too

By now you should have seen people’s display pictures turn #martyrblue and your favorites use their platforms to spread awareness. No this isn’t a social media algorithms game to help you stay relevant in these Instagram, Twitter or Facebook streets but it was intended to celebrate the life of Mohamed Mattar who liked blue. Mattar was fatally shot on 3 June 2019 when he was protecting 2 women during a and I quote “a bloody dispersal of the protest camp outside the military headquarters” (Aljazeera: 2019/6). How poignantly put? Especially considering that protesters were camping at the military headquarters peacefully?

And without trying to be in my feelings too much but imagine something as valid as your favorite color and a cause you believe in being used 47.9 thousand times in a hashtag on Instagram alone. Like what’s the big deal with all the blue? Oh, you know this dude called Mohamed Mattar was killed whilst protecting 2 women at a peaceful protest camp in Khartoum and he just so happened to like blue. 

Yes, these were some of the basic questions I asked Mansour before re-evaluating my life and realizing that I could ask a few more non-invasive questions and to my surprise Mansour obliged. I asked her eight calm questions. I wanted to know her stance, find out her thoughts and feelings about Sudan, about power relations, celebrations, South Sudan, deals, the internet and how we benefit when others just like you and me go through the most.

From the #GOATS mouth

Her name is Esra Mansour, her people are Sudanese and this is what she had to say.

What do you feel about what’s happening in Sudan?

My feelings are going through peaks and troughs. In the beginning, the Sudanese uprising was something to marvel at, their persistence had knocked down two leaders from the military regime in the space of 48 hours, Omar Al-Bashir and his successor Awad Ibn Auf. A regime that has been in power for 30 years. Now, I feel anguish, with the recent outbreak of attacks on protestors by the Rapid Support Forces, who are essentially the Janjaweed, responsible for the atrocities in Darfur but just rebranded their name and still led by the same war criminal, Hemeti.  

Last week a power-sharing deal was reached between the military and the civilians. In this power-sharing deal, a military general will lead the joint council for the first 21 months and a civilian leader will lead for 18 months. What are your thoughts on these developments?

I feel happy and hopeful but obviously, there is always room for more atrocities. Only Allah knows and we must just keep pushing.

What do you want people to know about Sudan?

We are strong yet gentle people. We are renowned for our hospitality, if a guest comes over you give them all you have even if you only have little. If you’re an unknown and you are walking on the street, people will call you into their homes to eat and converse with them.

Oh, and we never pass up an opportunity for a party

Celebrations at the Sudanese protests in London, in front of the Saudi embassy.

What would you like to see happen in Sudan?

I would like to see peace and justice in Sudan. A ruling power that reflects the dignity of its people. 

What makes Sudan so unique?

It’s hard to choose! I would say our faith and morals; Sufism is extremely popular in Sudan and our religious leaders are beautiful warm people. Also, our women are mothers of revolutions – they are visionaries who are outspoken as they are nurturing. 

A colorful Sudanese wedding. The wedding singer reportedly led the crowd through revolution songs, at a wedding! Here we can hear them sing “I am Sudanese.”

If you could solve one problem that affects Sudan what would it be?

The handling of the economy, poverty is on the rise in Sudan.

What are your thoughts about the activism that has swept over Sudan?

It’s brilliant but not new. Sudanese people have never shied away from revolution, risking their lives and livelihoods for a righteous cause. 

What are your thoughts on the mobile internet access being restored and according to Al Jazeera (2019;7) slowly?

What people might not know is that Sudan is similar to China in that many websites like Instagram or snapchat have been restricted in Sudan under this regime. This has been a way to suppress expression, art, culture and the recent shut down is simply an extension of the silencing. Now they have conveniently reconnected the internet after the power-sharing agreement it’s just another power move but either way it’s great that we are able to reconnect with our families and receive live information on the uprising.

How have you benefited from what’s happening in Sudan or not living in Sudan? 

Yes, of course, I am one of many in the diaspora whose parents fled Sudan because of political persecution. I am able to benefit from the education, career opportunities and freedom of expression in the UK that so many back home in Sudan have been stripped of. Many of the protestors in Sudan are university graduates who have been struggling to find employment, this is a huge issue and there is a high degree of disillusionment amongst the youth especially. 

South Sudan celebrated 8 years of independence from Sudan after a decade long civil war on July 9th; do you remember when that happened or the years before their independence? What are your thoughts and what do you think of South Sudan celebrating their 8 years of independence whilst Sudan was going through their own conflicts?

Yeah, I definitely remember it happening, but I was too young and politically apathetic to understand its significance. I remember years before it, on my visits home, the South Sudanese were treated as second class citizens and experienced many violations under this regime and often worked as servants to the northerners. It was very sad to see and now I’m older and have learned more of the history this differential treatment began and was institutionalized during the colonial period that had a ‘southern policy’ which effectively isolated them from the north. Post-independence, the two distinct peoples were brought together and the longest civil war in history ensued and the injustices towards the south were sustained politically and socially. Looking back, the split was inevitable, maybe even calculated by the colonizers. 

In regard to what I think of their celebrating independence, all the power to them! Who am I to say anything about it. They deserve self-determination after all these years of mistreatment.

This regime that is being toppled is also criticized for the way they treated the south, and maybe if things were handled differently the ‘Sudan’ (Land of the blacks) would still be one, but instead, the north since its independence has played into the ethnic and religious divisions galvanized during the colonial period for their own political and economic gains and so here we are. Sudan has sadly in recent times been a history of conflict, more so than other nations. This is the sad reality of nationhood, however.

What is your power?

I am still discovering it. At the moment I can play a small part by raising awareness on social media or donating to funds for medical care and getting food out to people trapped in their homes to avoid the violence on the streets. Hopefully, in the future, I can play more of an active role but am still yet to know what exactly that looks like.

Complex

Wow! Powerful? Right! Whether we are going #blueforsudan or reading up on what’s happening around the world, wanting to be more informed, sharing through social media when so many aren’t allowed to use platforms such as social media, reach out and connect with people around the world and walk a mile in their shoes by just listening. Who knows you might learn something new like how your favorite color to what you stand for is always valid. And the Sudanese people’s desires are not only valid but are proving to be fruitful and continuous. 

Thank you for reading to the end of this article. We would like to wish Sudan a successful political transition. We would also like to wish South Sudan many more years of independence as they celebrated 8 years of independence from Sudan after the longest civil war Africa has experienced.  

References

Embedded from the New York Times, dated 4 July 2019.

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/BF01190132

http://www.slate.com/blogs/atlas_obscura/2014/08/29/the_nubian_meroe_pyramids_in_sudan.html

https://www.aljazeera.com/amp/news/2019/06/blueforsudan-social-media-turning-blue-sudan-190613132528243.html

https://www.okayafrica.com/inside-sudans-viral-revolution-what-you-need-to-know/

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-14019208

https://www.theeastafrican.co.ke/news/ea/Low-key-south-sudan-independence-day/4552908-5188756-jm7w45/index.html

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Change is in the air

appeal to the eye

2019 has been such a year and if I had to describe it in one word I would have to use change. Change of season, change of lifestyle, change, change, change it’s all around us. But do we always recognize it, do we always acknowledge it and do we always honor change and ourselves during change?

Change is….

I guess before recognizing, acknowledging and honoring change we first need to understand what it stands for. Change is change. I know I can do better than that but that’s all I prefer to define it as because it’s more than words it’s a moment, it’s a feeling and it certainly is an experience. Change is that moment where you go from one thing to another. It’s a feeling of uncertainty and in terms of experience there’s always a new experience. Change looks different and it certainly can be daunting and yet it’s the one thing that is constant in our everyday human experiences.

As much as we like to think that we have it all figured out, we really don’t. Who knows what is going to happen in the next 5 minutes, next 24 hours, next year? And yes I understand that you can plan your life, in fact, I am the chief executive of this association. you can most definitely plan what you are going to eat tomorrow maybe even next week. But let’s say your favorite restaurant is doing a stock take and you had planned to go there for dinner. When you get there they are closed, what are you going to do? Eat at the restaurant? No, you’re going to change your choice and eat elsewhere. 

The above example of not being able to eat at your favorite restaurant makes sense right? What if we applied that same logic to our behavior patterns, our perceptions, our thoughts, our views, and our self-talk? I don’t know about you but it used to take chaos and tragedies for me to change my mind. How absolutely tragic? Very!

*cries in over the top*

Closer to home

In 2016, July 26 to be exact I made a social post about a then health crisis I was experiencing. The post caption read; “My name is Nonkululeko Judy Ever-changing Dlamini! Who I was a year ago is not who I was a week ago”. When I made this post I was making my way back to my mother’s house from the dermatologist. My body had just erupted in what my new doctor thinks is guttate psoriasis. Yes, it has taken me 3 entire years to find Doctors that speak my language! Don’t give up your people are out there.

Thankfully I have been in remission 3 entire years and I am so grateful to myself for putting in the work. Putting in the work? Yes for putting in the work! You see psoriasis is so much more than just a skin condition. Psoriasis is an autoimmune disease which means my immune system will sometimes attack itself. Psoriasis was just the gateway for me to understand that I have an immune system that loves me so much that when it protects me, she sometimes attacks her own self. I know profound right? Fear not you will read all about it.

A toast

I’m still relearning about what it means to have an autoimmune disease because up until 2 years ago I thought I had cured myself. Except I had only managed it and my triggers really well that I had been in remission, until recently. My journey of understanding what an autoimmune disease is or what it means for me specifically is a journey that I am still going through. I still have no idea what tomorrow has in store for me but all I have ever known is that no matter what, I will show up and show out for me.

What am I changing? I’m changing my relationship with stress to be able to do this. I have to get really clear on what has anything to do with me, what doesn’t and where I can grow. I haven’t altogether figured it all out. But I know that it’s going to take me applying myself in my own life. So goodbye value systems and perceptions that don’t serve me. You will find me expressing, exploring and from all of that cultivating my own human experience. And if I start to give a damn about anyone’s opinion about this I will ask myself; ‘Are they paying my medical bill?’ and then keep it moving, swiftly.

Here’s to accepting yourself, acknowledging yourself, working with yourself and honoring yourself in change and consistency alike. 

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I Work Change

Change does not have to work you out, you do know that you can also work it too? But if you choose not to work change, then you are going to feel overwhelmed and unprepared for the change that is going to happen for you and to you. We can work change by seeking it out, monitoring it and reinvent ourselves in those new spaces that we were clearly meant to be in.

Everything happens for a reason and a season. There’s no such thing as a mistake or coincidence. You can either learn from it or experience something new. That is the whole purpose of change; to teach you and to reveal to you what’s new for you which means it’s probably what you need. Please don’t tell me that in 2019 you are still #team ‘life’s not fair’ because sweetheart life is fair. Fairness says that everyone and everything will get what we need. It’s high time we see change as a necessity and get out of our feelings for just a single minute and let go of how we think things should be.

I’m trying not to roll my eyes but I can’t help it.

I’ll try and not roll my eyes back in judgment because I understand that the same way that a flower needs time to change into its bloomful self, you are also going to need time to grasp the truth about fairness. In the meantime sit quietly and affirm your power back, declare that this is your day, every day and question your way into your new.

Affirmations

I am changing, everyday in every moment.

Change is here for me.

I expand when I allow change to happen.

I welcome change, I welcome my best life.

Declarations

Change is imminent and so am I.

I receive more of what I need when change happens.

I’m ok with not knowing.

I am prepared in the unknown.

Questions

Where is my change?

How can I work my change?

I wonder what amazing change will happen today?

Who am I during my change?

Work your change.

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From stressed to yes!

life is coloful

So stress is the body’s reaction to any change that needs an adjustment or a response so says Cleveland Clinic. What I like particularly about this explanation of what stress is, is that it doesn’t call it good or bad, it’s a normal reaction to change. Remember that time in our lives when stress was the devils better twin brother that you had to get rid of as it resulted in terrible life experiences? But the year is 2019 and stress is the body’s natural reaction to change. And these reactions can be physical, mental, emotional or all at once.

It just is

I’m going to say it on more just so that we are clear that stress is the body’s natural reaction to change. What this tells us is that seasons could change and your body will naturally react with stress. It tells us that you could get a promotion or be demoted and your body will naturally react with stress. You could go from single to in a relationship, hot to cold, undergrad to graduate, the night before your first day at school and your first day at school and your body will naturally react with stress. The stress is going to happen we can’t avoid it but exactly how can we ensure that it doesn’t take us out? Just do the work! 

lunch bar!- if you know you know.

The cold truth

During one exam season at my high school our principal held a meeting with all of the matriculants because  we were stressed out due to our end of year finals, trying to plan what we would be doing the following year and still fulfill our duties as school mentors, hand in assignments and try not to give our teachers high blood pressure because we certainly were an outspoken bunch.

We attended the meeting hoping he would authorize a few extensions and even maybe give us a few sprinkles of ‘day off’ coupons and maybe even an all expenses paid vacation to Sun City. Instead, this past middle-aged, short, salt and peppered haired man cleared his throat and said, “If you are stressed and you don’t want to be, just do the work. You are stressed because you have lots of work right?” Eagerly waiting for the all-expenses vacation to Sun City announcement we chorused “YES!” but he continued to respond with “The only way to make sure that you go from stressed to not stressed is to do the work.”

What a wow!

Of course, we didn’t get it or seem to want to get it and we probably called him everything except his name but we had to have gone about our merry ways and did the work because the school didn’t hear from us again, especially not about how stressed we were. We ranked in at least the top 10 in our district for best results produced according to my memory. So boom doing the work is an entire science. But please be kind to yourself after all you are your primary human experience. Below is our template for doing the work, it’s sweet short and to the point.

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Change management

manage

By the time I entered high school, my family had already moved 10 times and I had had enough. I walked into the public library the first summer of my new high school chapter and I went straight for the self-help section, yes I’ve been doing this for years. I don’t know what it was about the book but something about the picture and the title called my name.

*sings* Hello, is it me you’re looking for?

The book I am talking about is called ‘who moved my cheese’ written by Dr. Spencer Johnson, Google tells me it’s the same dude that wrote ‘The one minute manager’. The book is about change; to accept that change will happen, then to look for change, to manage change, adapt to it quickly, change and then enjoy the change.

I know right, what a mouthful! But it’s a great manual for change as it shows that change happens in stages. If we understand that change is as consistent as day and night which in itself is the change of day. Then we should understand that we need to look out for change because it’s going to happen. You don’t have to like change but denying that it will or is happening is self-inflicted suffering. The year is 2019 self-care and self-preservation is the name of the game.

Now let’s think of the many ways that you can manage change; give yourself time and space, stop pushing yourself. If it takes the trees a whole season to change then why won’t you be more patient with yourself? Whilst giving yourself this time and space, you are not twiddling your thumbs but you are looking at the new change patterns and how it works well with you or doesn’t. And as a result, moving up into your new level.

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Change, Work and Reflect.

Change is always around the corner, on your doorstep, it always happens and your body is going to naturally respond to it with stress. The best way to go from stressed to ‘handle it with grace’ is to do the work and this is going to require for you to pace yourself, plan and execute according to your own resources and abilities. Acknowledge that change is going to happen, then accept it and honor yourself. If it takes you bit longer to do it, then so be it. If it means going at it alone then I guess you are the amazing race.

What works is doing the work and understanding your specific situation and if you don’t, observe yourself and record your data. Feels too technical? Good! You are your primary human experience and you really don’t know much about yourself except what you have experienced about yourself from past records. This means that what you know about yourself from past experiences may not work in new experiences and this may be the most daunting reality in our human experiences. However, we can keep track of our progress, triggers, and setbacks as we move along and through whatever change we are experiencing. And then do what with that data? Reflect! Reflect! Reflect!

Log, Track and Learn

Knock on the door and change is at your doorstep unannounced and is pulling the rug right under your feet. This is a whole new experience so you can’t even log your progress just yet but what you can do is to get to know this new change. Observe the change get to know its temperature, its mood swings, highs, and lows. Once you are better acquainted with your new change, get to know yourself in the new change. What is your temperature, mood swings, highs and lows in this your new change? Be detailed, be deliberate and most importantly be kind to yourself.

Once you have logged in your new changes, track your patterns; when are you on top of it, when are you under it, when do you feel weird and when do you feel wonderful? It’s not about being in control but rather about learning and experiencing yourself in the many human experiences that are to experience. And I can not stress it enough, be kind to yourself. You are allowed to be a beginner in everything and if you knew how to navigate it, you wouldn’t need to go through it in the first place. Life is fair, you experience exactly what you need, the class is in session don’t miss out on your best life.

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Check your emotions…

So that they don’t wreck you! The best way to know whether you are on the right track is to make some time and look back. It’s hard to take inventory of everything in the present moment. But you can track your patterns, progress, and rooms for improvement after the fact and then plan better moving forward.

Ask yourself the following questions and find out if you are responding and reacting or maybe you struggle expressing yourself. Look at what emotions you lean on in which situations. Are you able to be happy in happy environments and what does your inner voice say during different situations?

What’s working with my emotions?

Which emotions are using you and are you able to transmute your emotions so that you work out in the end? Remember life will not stop happening which means that you need to happen just as much. Imagine you are inside a boxing ring, the whole purpose is to be in that ring and box away. Let’s say your boxing opponent is giving you all of the jabs, what are you going to do? Stop boxing? I don’t think so! Remember why you are here. You are here to live which means you better live and make the most of it.

How can I forgive more?

And why do you struggle with forgiveness and compassion? Are you holding on to the pain, an invoked memory, pride, ego maybe? Because it has already happened why are you still there meanwhile the situation has moved on and is hanging up new curtains already. I promise you with forgiveness and compassion you will hold on to the most precious thing you could ever hold on to and that’s you! Remember why you are here. You are here to be you.

How can I be more compassionate?

Remember when you didn’t know how to open or use a doorknob and all of the adults around you would express their irritation towards your lack of fine motor skills? That one question alone pretty much sums up my point, the adults were mad at you for not having fine motor skills and you really just didn’t know any better. So you continued to bang the door because you didn’t know how to turn the door knob. Now use that same analogy but this time you are the adult and instead of being mad take that same energy and bring plants back to life with it, as in love.

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Stop, Look and Listen

Hey! Hello! I just wanted to let you know that it’s still your life and you need to live it. Living your life isn’t always about going, going, gone. You also need to be vigilant and pause every now and then. When you stop you give yourself time to look, be observant and take account of all your blessings, your oopsies, and your next opportunities.

I know, I know easier said than done right? WRONG! It’s easy, peezy, lemon squeeze it. How else are you going to get that lemonade?

Journaling and meditating are great ways to stop and make time to process yourself. They allow you to release what no longer serves you and make space for more of you.

By documenting you give yourself evidence and data that you can do it. And then you can use that same data and evidence and learn from it at a later stage. Why at a later stage though? Because sometimes you have to live on before you can deal with yourself. So go ahead and start that blog, vlog, journal entry or even a social media post, 6 months from now you’ll be glad you did. Who knows you might even make money off of all of you, your good and your bad.

Now listen to what you were trying to say by going over your entries. This is a great way to also figure out your patterns and your life’s trends. And then honor yourself. You are here as you and nobody is going to do you better than you can. It is your obligation and duty to be you and honor yourself.

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I Work My Emotions

Affirmation

I feel what I feel and honor my humanness. I understand that we are all are at different stages of understanding and I exercise forgiveness and compassion. I release the ugliness and I embrace our collective beauty. I recieve love and so much more of my best life and so it is.

Declaration

I work my emotions, my emotions do not work me. 

Questions

Why am I avoiding me?

Why am I projecting instead of just feeling it?

When will I make time to listen to me? 

How can I forgive more?

Do like Beyoncé and WORK IT!