Tag: real

Happiness is finding pencil after pencil after pencil after …

by Soulful Storytellers, LLC, posted in Eclectic thoughts

#Soulmuze #Soulspirations #MySoulSpeaks #SelfDiscovery #ChewOnThis #Pencils #Change #SpillingInkUsingLead #SpilledInk

The first $20 I ever made was performing at the Billie Holiday Theatre at the Restoration Plaza located in the Bedford-Stuyvesant section of Brooklyn. I played Peppermint Patty in “You’re a Good Man Charlie Brown” with my JHS Drama club. The entire cast was paid equally and it was amazing. I took that $20 and opened my first bank account at the now defunct Chemical Bank which was also in the Restore, that was in 1977. Kitura, Walter, Darryl, Yolanda, Lamar, Sheila, just to name a few of my cast mates; our Music/Drama teacher Ms. Powell who did all of this with/for us on her own dime, back then teachers gave of their personal time without per session pay.

I almost sound like Estelle Getty as Sophia Petrillo in the Golden Girls ‘Picture it: Brooklyn 1977…’ lol

What an amazing feeling! I remember we were all celebrities for our brief run on our very own little Bed-Stuy Broadway! Everything was about community back then.

To this day I still love the Peanuts gang. We enjoyed the stories and didn’t see their colors or gender identities, just kids; plain and simple.

I never realized the lessons I was learning thru it all: teamwork, patience, sharing the spotlight, finding our voices, recognizing our individual talents, encouraging each other and so much more.

There are so many things I loved about that musical but as I grow older the one thing that stands out the most is the ensemble song Happiness, the first line is “Happiness is finding a pencil.” It truly was for Charlie Brown for when the pretty little red headed girl dropped her pencil, he picked it up, saw teeth marks and knew she was human.

“I’m so happy. That little red-headed gril dropped her pencil.It has teeth marks all over it. She nibbles her pencil. She’s human! It hasn’t been such a bad day after all.” Charlie Brown, You’re a Good Man Charlie Brown

I have my own little chewed up pencil with it’s equally little eraser and I never hesitate to correct my mistakes, I’m only human.

My bite marks on the pencil represent the release of panic, anxiety and putting thought into my every action. When it’s needed and I’m ready (for change isn’t easy) I find my pencil , I erase and start over again with renewed confidence.

I save each worn down pencil to remind me of how far I have come, how much I have accomplished.

Happiness is finding pencil after pencil after pencil after pencil after…

Dedicated to one BAMF-CDC who has found his pencil after pencil after…

©️ Soulmuze 2018

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

Love is real, I am love

by Soulful Storytellers, LLC, posted in Eclectic thoughts

Tapping your feet, shaking your shoulders complimented by a little head move as you listen to Mary J’s “Real love…I’m searching for a real love, someone to set my heart free…” Yeah, it’s one that doesn’t get old…wait the remix, more vigorous body response required lol.

Here I go “damn I want a real love too” and who doesn’t for that matter.

What’s unreal about ‘love’? Love, the greatest of all things known to mankind. Love is the root of our very existence. How can we say ‘love’ itself is not real? It’s the one thing believers of God and Agnostics have in common.

Everything about ‘love’ is real. So why are we all searching for something we already have? Love is pure and conditional. Yes I said love is conditional!  The condition is reciprocation. We are to love and love in return. Doesn’t that constitute a condition? If you don’t get,  do you continue to give?  Do we love each other regardless…? We should but often we don’t.

Love is real! We are who are unreal and corrupt the purist thing we share. We confuse love with lust, love with sex, love with selfish desires.
We hurt one another and blame love. We can’t be faithful in relationships and blame love
We abuse our children, our community, our bodies and blame love.

Love is real, we aren’t. Love never fails, we fail. How we express love is unreal. We are often so twisted that when pure love is standing in plain view we ignore it. Sadly many only recognize all the love wasted and lost when they are nearing the end of their earthly journey.

I am real love, I’m not searching for it because it’s within me.  What I really want is someone to share their real love with me. We can magnify one another, rise above the ‘unreal’, and create a reciprocating environment knowing that come what may love conquers all.

“I am love, waiting here to give you what you need, like you do for me…” Jennifer Holiday couldn’t have sung it better…

© Soulmuze 2012