Tag: behaviors

Don’t just open, read

by Soulful Storytellers, LLC, posted in Eclectic thoughts


"I'm the book people always opened but never read."

Maybe the table of contents is overwhelming or the preface is beyond their comprehension. However, one should not be afraid to venture beyond the surface – if they are granted access may I add. Access is granted if genuine interest is shown; not for gossip, not for mockery, not for destruction but for insight with the intent to bond.

As we go through the chapters we may discover similarities or talents or that we are just hot grease and Pepsi but can amicably yet silently create boundaries for our relationship.

One will never learn if one never goes beyond opening the book.

Photo Credit: Google Images
(c) Soulmuze 2017

2:22 

by Soulful Storytellers, LLC, posted in Eclectic thoughts

Photo credit: Google images   #Soulmuze #Soulspiration. 

Folks say I gotchu but ya know they blowin’ smoke 

Their words are nuffin’ but farts in the wind, must think u a joke

Leave dem whey dey at 

Keep makin’ ya moves, let em think ya a fool 

As da universe link ya wid a new support crew

2:22 Only one copy was pressed on Vinyl… but it fell and broke… 😂

Don’t be disappointed when you are not supported by those you expected to support you or you have always supported. 

It’s just life’s way of switching you to another path on your tree of life; preparing to change your circle… sometimes #people are #tapped out when it comes to you, vice-versa. 

#Embrace it, #welcome it, be #glad in it!

“To #live requires #growth, to  grow requires change. Once growth stops #death is present.” (Soulmuze)

(c) Soulmuze 2017

Gray turns to red

by Soulful Storytellers, LLC, posted in Poetry

Black History Month is upon us February, 2016… The year has changed and the issues remain the same. History, repeats and repeats. Yet still not getting the answers we seek…

Thoughts on the Riots surrounding the death of Freddie Gray (April 25, 2015)

Look how quickly Gray turned to red

Why are you not focusing on the reason this man is dead?

Displaying wonton behavior yes that is how we are supposed to act

Let’s proliferate the savage behavior yes we must

This will surely prove all cops are against us

Burn down our churches which was our ancestors place of sanction

Burn down our pharmacies which serves as our place for prescription

Destroy our communities in which our parents and those before them marched to have ownership … Yes OUR 40 acres!

Why the hell not!

We are young and angry so we will retaliate

And yes for us more jails they will make

And yes more rules we will break

And when it’s all said and done we will have won???

Your treatment is determined by your actions

Yes when you’re in jail they will truly gain satisfaction

Care packages, 3 squares and a cot

Boy you really showed them you’re the boss… now what else ya’ got?

Look how quickly Gray turned to red

Destruction in your eyes, have you forgotten the other colors in which our ancestral flag fly’s?… Red, black and green… Seen?

Tell me how your behavior wasn’t more than just a selfish act

Freddy Gray lost his life in a questionable  way

The riots you initiated just took focus away

This was not about you

It’s about entitlement of our rights and respect that we are due

It’s about penalizing those who don’t recognize we all share a common birth right:

Regardless if we are black, red, yellow, blue or white!

“We hold these truths to be self-evident that ALL men are created equal. That they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights…”

Look how quickly Gray turned to red

Eyes burning like fire, elevating your ignorance higher and higher

Kill or be killed living a modern western movie everyday

Until we look at the ground, turn on the hose to wash your blood stains away

Leaving families to mourn and the underlying problems are still unchanged

Look how quickly Gray turned to red

All the destruction you caused proved…<fill in the blank>

Wtf was running through your damn head?!!!

Guess what… justice still needs to be served and the dead remain dead

 

 

© Soulmuze, May, 2015

Pictures extracted from Google Images

What defines you as a mother? …

by Soulful Storytellers, LLC, posted in Poetry

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The nurturing discipline you provide when they start to slide

The understanding ear you give them when they come to you to share

The emptiness you feel when they are away

The joy of celebrating their birthday

The things they teach you that you thought you already knew

The love and sensitivity they bring out in you

The new found patience you never thought you had

These things and more define unlike any other

A friend, a confidant, the role of a mother

It’s beyond birthing in so many ways.

Its unselfish acts you give until the end of days.

What defines you as a mother?

It’s not always clear

But you know you must always be there

It’s far from easy and often times lonely too

Nonetheless once tasked you must follow thru

What defines you as a mother is truly hard to say

But once you’re labelled as one it’s a title that can’t be taken away

© Soulmuze 2015

Everybody is talking about forgiving…

by Soulful Storytellers, LLC, posted in Eclectic thoughts

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“Time heals all wounds.”

Time… How much of it do we truly have? Wounds heal yet leave a scar to remind us of our injury. So how do we forgive for our scars never truly let us forget? As i think about all the jumbled pain I feel in an effort to find ways of reconciliation I come back to how much more time will I need to heal?

“We never know the day or the hour”

At this rate “When my roll is called up yonder” I will be transitioning with unforgiveness in my heart. Just the thought of that makes me a little more depressed. Many people could care less about letting go of anger, pain and heartbreak. For them it is all part of life, yes this is true, but do we want those things to become part of our death?

Holding on to these negative feelings kills a piece of you every day.  The snowball rolls increasing in size and the more it grows so does the bitterness and disillusionment of ‘how wonderful life can be.’ It chips away at the possibility of fulfilling dreams in this life… To the best of our knowledge THIS is all we have.

“So you live, so you die..”

I don’t want to take the weight of unforgiveness anywhere, do you? How can we be pulled up into the rapture if our hearts are heavy?  How can our spiritual souls travel the astral plains with weighted ankles?

“The longest Psalm has amen…”

We all have differing spiritual beliefs, despite those differences we share the common ground of wanting/needing to remove the weight of emotional pain. If we had the power to turn back time it would be to do things differently so we can release pain and increase love… Love ourselves, a person, a passion.

Time is not limitless, it’s precious and we waste so much of it…. So how do we begin to heal…

The journey of healing and releasing those weights will take on different forms: prayer, meditation, exercise, charity work, music, writing, traveling, speaking … It’s all about replacement. Whatever medium you choose never choose the path of indifference or self -destruction.

When you become indifferent there are no feelings left and you become even more hardened to the world. Those ankle weights rise up weighing down your calves, knees, thighs… You become firmly set, like cement, and you have given power to the darkness.

That darkness fuels your self-destruction… Covering those weights with drugs, alcohol, wanton behaviors that often end up leading to self-assisted death. Pain so deep that the strength to heal is overpowered by the desire to die. You take temporary solace in self-destructive behavior to quiet the voices in your head that remind you of pain and raise the voices of darkness that convince you to eliminate pain by repeating acts of self-destruction. Then one day the voices are no more, you are no more. Did it fix your problem or just extend the cycle of pain to the loved ones you have left grieving, wondering how could I have helped? Why didn’t I listen more, see more…?

“Life is filled with pain and disappointment.”

Oh yes it is, for some more than others. One thing that holds true once you work through the pain and disappointment you can find renewed strength. You can be a voice to others, the ears to listen, the arms to hug, the hope for someone else.

What you needed you can now offer to someone else. When you become an anchor for another they will become an anchor for you.

Back to the beginning…is it that time heals wounds? I guess that’s a personal assessment.  the desire to heal starts within oneself and we must reach out to others so we will not rot within.

For me… My replacements are in motion and if they fail I will find better ones. I have no time to waste on people or things in which we don’t share a mutual level of value.

© Soulmuze 2015

Black is nothing more to you than the absence of light…

by Soulful Storytellers, LLC, posted in Poetry

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#blacklivesmatter #livesmatter

Black is nothing more to you than the absence of light

Does the color of my skin make me a sin?

Does the texture of my hair determine whether or not you should care?

The whip marks from the backs of slaves transformed to tear streaked faces.

Confusion and question on why are there different rules for different races.

Jury of our peers what does that mean?

As I watch what has become a legal execution scene.

Maybe the laws of this land I just don’t understand.

How you can walk away when I saw you just kill a man?

Was your life in danger? Shhh, I must be silent, I must not question.

For on me you may turn your weapon.

Who fired the shot that started and ended it all?

Is death of the perpetrator always the final call?

Split second decisions are not easy to make.

But it always seems to end with a life you must take.

Was there ever a time when you shot to incapacitate?

Does a badge and weapon seal death as our fate?

Even to you my voice has no worth.

You started my journey 6 feet into the earth.

“I can’t breathe” you all heard me say.

Yet I was snuffed out anyway.

Instead of Miranda maybe you should just read my last rites.

Since black is nothing more to you than the absence of light…

© Soulmuze 2014

WOW…

by Soulful Storytellers, LLC, posted in Eclectic thoughts

No matter how prepared you think you are, you always seem to get caught out there.  Every time it happens you think ‘WOW! I should have known better’ or  ‘WOW! What the hell was I thinking?!’

When caught in the “WOW” we  tend to be emotionally confused, should we cry, laugh, bang our head against the wall or just beat someone’s ass! All of your emotions come into play at one time and you feel like a deer in headlights…! You know the saying “the more things change the more they stay the same,” I would like to think it’s not true but so said so done.

Then they say “change the players, change the game.” WOW, now that sounds like a plan, the players change, new strategy and guess what the same outcome. “WOW” Guess we missed the loophole in the clause… the mentality of the players! It’s like the old commercial “oops I should’ve had a V-8” as you pop yourself in the head (dated myself with that one).

It seems that no matter our experiences some feel that it is fitting to continue with the same behaviors. With each experience there should be some positive growth but instead many find a way to justify their behavior, making the wrong seem right, holding on to the same mentality. Now, how much hurt or disappointment do you have to distribute or receive before you realize that you should reconsider your behavior… thought process? Everyone else’s experience is not yours and do you believe you will have a lifetime of ‘free passes’? Karma is real. Being an avid attendee at church doesn’t eradicate your sins. It’s your actions that dictate your standing, please believe it!

These WOW moments are coming fast and furious yet people don’t want to change their thought process. Look at the news: racial justification for murder; women being beaten and abused; sex trafficking of children; our judicial system with laws that are modified by the color of your skin; our children can tell you every sexual position and are having babies like rabbits, they don’t have examples of solid relationship, the value of marriage, family or appreciate the value of their community; and so on and so on…

Getting caught in the WOW is really disturbing and really making me become more disillusioned with mankind overall. We are far from perfect and are born with the gift of choice. Why do we continue with the same thinking that lends itself to the same negative behavior?  WOW, are we all just insane? (lol).  I clearly understand “when people say if I knew then what I know now.” So if you know it now, than act on it now, is the past behavior that sweet that you must continue to fuel it? Changing your mentality may lead you to creating sweeter moments beyond your imagination, making a small positive change that may be big to another person or the next generation.

Why do we belittle other people’s feelings? I’m so confuzzled by that too! You may not agree or understand how they feel, but damn don’t always chalk it up to being dramatic or stupid. Someone told me I was a fool to ever think that things will ever be better or I would ever get better… WOW, well a fool I will be, since it’s better than being an all out selfish asshole. Not everyone in the world let’s things roll like water off a duck’s back. I’m still hoping that one day I will have better faith in mankind, but based on what I read, hear and feel, it won’t be today…

© Soulmuze 2012