YOU CAN WAKE UP NOW

My friend Jackie had this picture in her Facebook newsfeed and it resonated with me. Thoughts of how much of my life I've wasted wanting people and situations to change flooded my mind.Waiting for an undesirable aspect of our lives to change is often painful and exasperating. Has it occurred to you that the change you desire to see is only a thought or eye flutter away?  I woke up seven years ago and I have no intention of engaging in a deep slumber again. Wake up and see how different things look.

NOTHING EVER WORKS FOR ME

There is a popular television commercial where people with mounting issues press an "Easy Button" and all their problems just vanish. There are so many days in my life I wish a big red button named Easy would show up to provide relief. Instead I look up to the heavens and say "God give me a break." Maybe it's just me, but there are times when enough is enough and overwhelming feelings create a running pattern and belief system that says, “Nothing Ever Works For Me.” My brain and body start pulling up all sorts of negative experiences from the past and I start reactivating hurts and disappointments.

I started to deepen my spiritual path seven years ago and admittedly still feelings that the bottom of the bottom just fell out prevail. Now here is the paradox [and if you've done your spiritual work you will definitely get this]. "When we’ve been on a path of self-discovery and self-improvement for a few years and haven’t seen the results we expected or were promised, it can be extremely frustrating! But that frustration—and the expectation of another negative outcome—is exactly what can keep us stuck." Thus the mantra begins "Nothing Ever Works For Me" and so it is.

Our challenge now is to clear these negative expectations. The method of clearing [chemical free] is irrelevant as long as the mantra of "Nothing Ever Works For Me" is not interrupted. Now when I am in the middle of this deep sulk I do not wish to reflect on times of tremendous success or things working well for me. I want to feel rejected, hopeless, disconnected and abandoned. Now I know you're thinking who wants to feel that junk? You do and I do each time we fall out of gratitude and make a conscious effort to think thoughts separate from God. So today I choose to parlay over the aspects of my life that work for me not leaving any room to activate the mantra that "Nothing Ever Works For Me" because everything does.

WAKE UP AND LIVE THE DREAM

What happened to honor, dignity, self-respect, purpose, and love. We have moved so far away from the moral compass until it is indescribable. There are endless theories on the genesis of values erosion in the African American race; however, the root of the problem is ingratitude. We have become calloused and ungrateful to our ancestors, the civil rights movement and Martin. If somehow we could reprogram the minds of African Americans between the ages of fourteen and twenty-five we would take our rightful place in society and be the movers and shakers God anointed us to be. Oh but there is so much competition [fashion, music, tattoos, tramp stamps, drugs, weapons, and drama]. Recalibrate your thinking, kill ignorance [not one another], fight stupidity, and live the dream our beloved Martin Luther King, Jr. imagined and died for.

ADDING YOUR OWN SPIN TO TRADITIONS

New Orleans the Cajun and Creole cooking capital of the world. You have not experienced eating until you have wrapped your lips around a fork or spoon with food on the end prepared by a real New Orleans cook. In New Orleans we take our food and cooking seriously. Our trips to the grocery store for holiday meals take on the tenor and vibration of a religious sojourn. There are certain stores we "must go to" and acquire specific foods. If Casey Jones has bell peppers four for a dollar the word spreads like a marsh wildfire. You see in New Orleans we do not just use our bell peppers for seasoning. Oh no! We stuff them. You get the point. There is a ritualistic approach to our food acquisition and preparation. Each cook has their own way of preparing New Orleans cuisine, but all we want to to know is: how it taste y'all. I love cooking and wanted to start the New Year off with a pictorial of some dishes prepared in my kitchen. Happy New Year!

WISDOM, TRUTH, AND HONESTY

Truth is the ultimate liberator. Are you willing to get free?

THE MAIN THING

We must establish our priorities. It is never the big things that matter.

"AND I'M FREE FALLIN,I'M FREE FALLIN"

"Free Fallin" is the opening track from Tom Petty's 1989 solo album, Full Moon Fever. The song was written by Petty and his writing partner for the album, Jeff Lynne. Although these guys wrote "Free Fallin" several years ago the title perfectly describes my life experience for the past several years. You see I've been in a perpetual free fall. Remember ALICE'S ADVENTURES IN WONDERLAND by Lewis Carroll? "The rabbit-hole went straight on like a tunnel for some way, and then dipped suddenly down, so suddenly that Alice had not a moment to think about stopping herself before she found herself falling down a very deep well. Down, down, down. Would the fall NEVER come to an end! 'I wonder how many miles I've fallen by this time?' she said aloud. 'I must be getting somewhere near the centre of the earth. Let me see: that would be four thousand miles down, I think—' (for, you see, Alice had learnt several things of this sort in her lessons in the schoolroom, and though this was not a VERY good opportunity for showing off her knowledge, as there was no one to listen to her, still it was good practice to say it over) '—yes, that's about the right distance—but then I wonder what Latitude or Longitude I've got to?' (Alice had no idea what Latitude was, or Longitude either, but thought they were nice grand words to say.)"[Lewis Carroll].
During my free falling journey I have like Alice have had some bizarre experiences. However, each time when it feels as if I'm going to hit the bottom and splatter I start falling again. In 1992 I told God as I still do today: I want to know what you know; I want to hear what you hear; I want to see what you see; I want to feel what you feel.I had no idea the process of entering a deep realm of intimacy with God meant I had to continually fall backwards down a rabbit hole. So here I am today writing this blog falling even deeper down the rabbit hole. So I'll ask are you "Free Fallin?" And if so how far down the rabbit hole do you want to go?