Today as I was driving my mind was reeling through various thoughts of future things I need to do. I then reminded myself to stop thinking and just enjoy the ride and music I was listening to. I then looked up and saw an amazing portrait of clouds in the sky. See I would’ve missed that had I not brought myself back to the present. Who knows what I’d already missed. Focus on the present you never know what beautiful gift you will find or lose if you dont.

I do not want to fall romantically in love with anyone. I feel in general romantic love always has an end point because it is based on someone making you feel good or happy etc. When love is dependent on feelings it will always end because feelings always change.I want to love people for being who they are as a person. Its the way I love my family and friends. When you love a person for who they are (not how they make you feel) no matter what they do you will still love them; disappointment can’t kill it. It’s the only love I know of that last.

Bye bye overwhelming enchanted feelings, hello real love.

blackandkillingit:

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Luiz Dejala

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18-15n-77-30w:

18° 15’ N, 77° 30’ W

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Today in meditation I was able to be honest with myself. I had come to realize that I still had some bitter feelings towards someone that I thought I had resolved. I would say that I wanted this person to be happy no matter what, which in many instances I meant, but there were probably as many instances in which I would say that but didn’t mean it.

  So why was I feeling this way.  I came to realize that I didn’t feel they deserved to be happy after what they had done to me and others. I then began to think about my other friends, those that I did truly wish happiness for no matter what. Were their backgrounds spotless? Hell naw! Was mine? Absolutely not! But yet I felt that these friends as well as myself deserved another chance to make changes and be happy. It’s hard to separate ourselves from the pain that one has caused us, but if we are able to be in touch with reality we realize that we have all hurt someone, many people, it is how life goes; and we all deserve a chance at happiness regardless of our past. When we begin to let loose the ideals of retribution and judgement we can be more loving, understanding and compassionate people.

I’ve noticed also that in my wishes for people to be happy I tend to push my own ideas of what happiness looks like.  I’ve come to realize that I can’t choose someones happiness for them and even in the event that we know someone is not happy in a situation (they voice it to us) we can not change a person’s decisions or behaviors.  We can only attempt to empower them and let them figure things out on their own. When we do that we are showing that we respect them and their capabilities. And as loving individuals one of the best things we can do is let them know that whatever they do we are here for them. That in itself will bring them some happiness.

Ever heard that corny saying that “love is the answer”. I used to be so repulsed by that line. I didn’t realize that the reason I was so repulsed was because I didn’t know the true definition of love at the time.

Last week I was in a education committee meeting at work. We were talking about the different issues that we felt impacted the education of students. Some people focused on parents not being involved in the school or in their children’s lives. Others focused on the schools not being supportive of parents or students. Some others felt that people in the community were not taking ownership over the schools in the neighborhood and were not doing enough to invest resources into the school.

As the conversation went on I took a risk and said “This is going to sound corny but I think the thing that is missing is love.” My supervisor responded “yes, that is quite cheesy but explain what you mean.”

If a parent is feeling inadequate and knows they are not doing the best they could be with their kid that can lead to shame and so they in turn avoid the school building because they feel they will be judged. They lack love for themselves and it then plays out in their relationships with other people. This behavior can trickle down to the children. Now you have a school full of children who do not value themselves or their ability and are ashamed of this and act out instead of striving to learn. This then creates tense relationships between staff, students and parents and can lead to the teachers now trying to figure out “Why can’t I reach this kid, Am I a bad teacher?” Now the self esteem of the teacher is decreasing and on top of this they are already constantly scrutinized and carry much weight and pressure to deliver “results” generally in the form of test scores and in turn the love they came into their job with has been chipped away. Lastly if the community does not form a love for the students in their neighborhood or for the school that is in their area, it will be difficult to for them to be moved to help. There are some companies that will not give financially to a school or to a district unless they are sure they will see an academic result (once again generally in a numeric form).I understand the importance of academic results and statistics, but the only way to get there is if people have love and a sense of value for themselves and others. People will never be able to function at their full potential if they are lacking these things.

In education generally people plan to solve issues by having someone else do something better (The teachers need to teach better, well the parents need to stop being lazy and get involved, its all the systems fault.). When we blame someone for something their ears become closed to us and communication stops; this is what is happening in our shcools. Now a war is created between us when in actuality we are all on the same side, the side that wants all students be attain academic success.  If we come to the table with understanding and love in our minds and hearts people will be more open and more likely to listen. Schools need teachers, administrators and families in order to exist; none of these parties are going away and they are all going to have to coexist with each other for the system to be successful. So instead of attacking each other we should come to a place where we are supporting the “other” and maybe then we will see “results” in our students.

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I didn’t feel good this morning so I stayed home from work. As I was trying to sleep I kept hearing my neighbors dog crying. At first I ignored it and fell to sleep but when I woke up the dog was still crying. “dang this dog must really be suffering” I thought to myself. His owner was out of town and maybe it was lonely. I tried one more time to ignore it and made the excuse that I didn’t want to ruin my clothes by having the dog jump on them (I had gotten up earlier to attempt to go to work). I then made the excuse that if I went down there for a couple minutes he would just go back to crying soon as I left. But he continued to cry and was crying as if he were a person, so I decided to put on a hoodie I didn’t care about and go hug the dang dog for a while. Dogs need love too. But when I got down there he had a cone on his head, “oh dang you got fleas or something, sorry doggy this is my affection’s limit” ha! It was a good gesture at least :) 

(via inspirinquotes)

My bro Akeem could be a photographer, look at them skills…oh and Anijah is a gangster model

My sis could be a model :)