Thought for The Day:  Have you hugged yourself, today? ~CordieB

This poem was inspired by a very, very good friend and confidant, who often shares with us her own worst enemy and her own best friend over at Just Paisley and Why Paisley .    Also, a fellow artist, TekkieBrek, planted the seed for this poem with his beautiful artwork, shown in reduced size below.

Always by Your Side by TekkieBrek

Mine own worst enemy and mine own best friend…
an infinate circle of sainthood and sin…
have always been with me; from beginning to end
through good times; through bad times; thick and thin
Both have tugged at my soul since God only knows when. . .

Mine  own worst enemy screams words of hurt and dispair…
then my best friend comes to my aide with comfort and care
she hugs me ever so gently; caresses my soul
whilst mine own worst enemy digs a dark hole
into the core of my  heart creating disbelief
in the beauty of life; thus making it hard to concieve…

a life worth living; a love worth giving…
then mine own best friend again comes along
she kisses my spirit; sings me a beautiful song
of love and joy; bright sunny skies
she reminds me of the falsness of the hurt, pain and lies…
that mine own worst enemy so often spews…
she opens the funny pages in the mist of bad news…

Yes, she awakens my spirit and rocks me to sleep
as I moan, as I tremble, as I lay, as I weep…
She caresses my head; massages my tired, aching feet
Sending mine own worst enemy into a silent retreat. . .
where mine own worst enemy gathers strength for another blow
launching me once more into a wreckless, dispairing low
Yet, I endure with patient vigilence for the love within
to give renewed strength, courage and wisdom to mine own best friend . . .

~Written by CordieB.

Strength, Courage and Wisdom ~~CordieB

One of the greatest gifts given to me by God is the ability to change my mind ~CordieB.

Let us stop wasting valuable energy trying to change the minds of other people.  It is not our job.  How and what people think is advanced or limited by their own experiences–their own life lessons–and how well they apply those lessons. 

In our presense, other people have the opportunity to grow and perhaps even learn something.  Our actions in of themselves will promote change in the hearts of others.  When we express ourselves as being capable of loving, listening, sharing, and understanding, we promote the change we so often try to force upon others. 

Let us be an example of that we wish to change.  Let us spend less time worrying about what other people are thinking or doing and more time creating positive change in ourselves.

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My friend SanityFound’s Rambling  has been in the dumps lately due to not being able to get a work visa for the UK.   Her sadness has gone on for quite a while.   Please drop her some encouragement or some good advice to get her jump started.   This is her picture for which she describes herself without words.   Such a young person should not let obstacles immobilize her.  But such is the mind oftentimes of the young and the not so young.  I’ve been there too.  In any event, give her a shout out! to help her regain her strength, courage, and wisdom.  Her blogg can be found at http://sanityfound.wordpress.com/

Sanity Found’s list of Maybe’s are beautiful, mind provoking,  and inspiring.  Here’s a few to ponder. . .

Maybe. . we were supposed to meet the wrong people before meeting the right one so that, when we finally meet the right person, we will know how to be grateful for that gift.

Maybe . . . when the door of happiness closes, another opens; but, often times, we look so long at the closed door that we don’t even see the new one which has been opened for us.

Maybe . . . it is true that we don’t know what we have until we lose it, but it is also true that we don’t know what we have been missing until it arrives.

Maybe . . . the happiest of people don’t necessarily have the best of everything; they just make the most of everything that comes along their way.

Maybe . . . the brightest future will always be based on a forgotten past; after all, you can’t go on successfully in life until you let go of your past mistakes, failures and heartaches.

To read the entire collection of these inspirational "maybes" by Sanity Found’s Rambling, visit http://sanityfound.wordpress.com/2008/01/08/maybe/

Peace, Light and Love to You and Yours,

CordieB.

I heard this song for the first time this morning. I’m really surprized that I had not heard it previously, the Alecia Keys fan that I am! Oh my, this song brought back an array of memories to my heart. The times of struggle, the knowing of struggle my daughters, my friends, and of course my sisters out there have each day. I also realized that I have always been able to come out of any struggle; always a survivor, a superwoman. For that I am thankful! Always remember, we are all superwomen! We just need to remain strong and diligent; preserve our God given love and affection – for without this we would not be women – and certainly not super! So many times once we feel we have arrived, we forget from whence we came. This feeling, although an armour, keeps us from feeling and leaves us with a feeling of emptiness. Superwomen reach out to their sisters and brothers and help them in their times of need; Superwomen know from where their strength comes; Superwomen go through life’s bumps and may fall down but always get back up! And when Superwomen feel as if they can’t, along comes another Superwoman to remind them they can! Superwomen know that this too shall pass! Superwomen are not arrogant, not all knowing, and are always willing to listen to another’s point of view. They know that they can offer their gifts, and they can accept gifts of others with grace and dignity. Superwoman speak truth, wisdom and courage. Superwomen have forgiving spirits; because they know they have fallen short themselves at one point or another; and may fall again.  They realize life is such.  Superwomen know how to love completely without fear; and are thus fearless! So for all you Superwomen out there, I say – God bless!  Peace, Light and Love. . . CordieB. 

Afro American Girl literally by ~madhatter-asylum on deviant ART

As I was going to see Saint I’s

I met a woman by big surprise!

Who shocked me when I realized

That she was not as saintly as she’d surmised

As I was going to see Saint I’s

I met a woman who’d cheated and lied

Who’d broken many promises in life . . .

and caused hearts to break; causing toil and strife

As I was going to see Saint I’s

I met a broken-hearted woman with blackened eyes

Who’d allowed destructive relationships to take its toll

On her body; her mind; damn near her soul!

As I was going to see Saint I’s

I met a woman with many nights of cries

Though many were brought upon herself . . .

she often blamed Saint Someone Else

As I was going to see Saint I’s

I soon become to realize

how Saint I’s choices help prophesize

her destiny and life’s Karmic reprise

As I was going to see Saint I’s

I begin to forgive past and future hurts and lies

I forgave Saint I’s for her saintly disguise

To Saints lack and fear, I gladly said my goodbyes

As I finally arrived to see Saint I’s

I met Saints Love , Forgiveness , Courage, Truth and Wise

Five beautiful spirits; in motion; yet spiritually still

These saints introduced me to Saint "Free Will "

As I was getting to better know Saint I’s

I became increasingly mesmerized by her changed demise

Forgiveness of self and others helped her to arrive and arise

Courage and Truth began to replace those fears and lies

Love began to clear up those bloodshot eyes . . .

In time Saint I’s lost her Saintly hood

Life started flowing like God intended it should

Her cup ran over with a cloudy, yet rainbowed sky

Thus, she dropped the Saint and became simply I

Love, Hatred, Courage, Fear, Truth and Lies . . . .

How many were going to see Saint I’s?

~Written by I (CordieB)

If you are waiting for something to happen that will make you happy, chances are you are killing off your joy.  Joy comes through you.  Happiness comes to you!  If you seek your joy within, you will be happy, no matter what is going around you.  When you know you will be protected, guided and blessed, it is easy to believe in more than what you can see.  If you only believe what you can see around you, you may miss the blessings that are right under your nose.  If you have and hold love in your heart, you will always know what to do and what to say.  If you measure out how much love to give, you will undoubtedly meet people and situations who have a reflective measure of love for you.  Nothing can hapen for you in the outside world until you create the energy to attract it to and through your inside world. 

Until Today, you may have misssed the little differences that coudl make a big difference in your life.  Just for today, be devoted to developing a strong inner life that can create a better outer life.  In prayer and meditation ask to experiece joy, knwoing and love, knowing that once you ask, you will receive!

~Inyanla Vanzant

Yesterday, I became so off track that I was still off track this morning.  Now, I’m usually very even tempered, and try to see the good side of everthing in life and people.  But yesterday, some people really pissed me off.  In retrospect, I shouldn’t have gotten so angry.  Also, the people responsible for my anger have no idea of the gravity of the anger I had.  (They will, if they ever read this, however.)

Now as a female, we tend to let relationship issues tick us off more so than any thing else.  We can deal with unruly children, pestering neighbors, lazy co-workers, incompentent managers, idiodic family members, fu-ked up friends, you name it.  But as soon as someone does something that we perceive as being disrespectful, flirtatious, etc, when pertaining to our man, we loose our cool composition points; or is it just me?

My friend/coworker (who doesn’t have a man of her own)  finds it her appointed duty to ride with my man and tell him everything  about her, including her sex life, lack of sex life, home life etc.  Mind you, we all work for the same agency.  Now, being that his job requires him to ensure that she has transportation to her vehicle after work, it’s really no big deal, right?  After all everyone chats, talks about their lives while riding, etc.   Also, they are friends, too. . .Right?  But when you have to ride around the post over and over, still yacking, and telling my man all of your intimate secrets, making him swear to secrecy on a stack of bibles, after a while it starts pissing me off.   Hell, I wonder what his response would be if I rode around with one of his croneys?   How many secrets do you plan on telling my man not to tell me!   I know the shit is childish; but I was just rubbed wrong yesterday, and still am, as you may see from the tone of this post. 

Ok.  Here is the part that broke the campbell’s back.  I get in the van to ride around because I have something that I want to talk to my man about.  Mind you, we are all friends–he and she more so than she and I.   I realize that he has given her one of our last ciggerettes, and she makes it a point to let me know that she rode off the installation with him to go fuel the vehicle.  Ok.  I try not to show my contempt, I’m hoping that the steam coming from my ears is not too thick. 

So, I make up casual conversation and friendly inquiries, asking about the kids, the job, and whatever.   But, evidently, I couldn’t fake the funk good enough.  She must have seen the steam coming from my ears or else she heard the toot toot sound muffled in my throat.

Here’s the kicker.  Once she’s on her way home, she calls my man back, upset, (almost in tears he says) because she senses that I may have had an ATTITUDE.    He said she sounded like she was about to cry, and said she wasn’t going to ride with him anymore, and she needed the exercise anyway, because she didn’t want to start any trouble–and we (me and her) are friends.  

BULLSHIT.  Now you can bullshit some of the people some of the time, and most of the people some of the time, and some of the people most of the time, but you can NEVER pull bullshit over me when it comes to my man!

(1)  If I’m your friend, you wouldn’t constantly tell my man your secrets, and say dont’ tell me.

(2)  I wouldn’t dream of riding around with a friend’s man, yacking and yacking.  That shit just ain’t kosher.

(3)  I’m beginning to think that perhaps she gets a kick out of this drama – being that she made it a point to point out that they had to go off post.  That’s not Friendship.  That’s Bullship.

(4)  If she felt I had a problem with the riding, she should have approached me with her sob phoney story about not riding anymore because she sensed I was upset. 

Anyway. . . .   (haaa. . . . . . . I’m exhaling now)  I feel better now.   I’m experiencing joy, knowing and love and no one can take that or give that to me except myself, because it’s internal. 

 Peace, Light and Love to you and yours. . . .