Rating myself

It is the end of the semester and I am still overwhelmed with assignments; I am not surprised. This course in particular brought a group of people together, who under normal circumstances, I would not have communicated with at all.
It forced me to reveal myself to others, which as early stated in my blog entries, is a process I don't look forward to. I rather keep myself to myself or share with the very few I consider in my life.
Surprisingly it did not turn out as badly as I thought it would have. I have seen (like vantage points) the various aspects of personalities people possess and vice versa.
I found myself being honest and genuinely giving my all because of the group effort and because of those around me, my humor side dominated my personality in order to survive the contradicting personalities of the other members. I paid very careful attention to my verbal and nonverbal language and took consideration of all that was around me. I would rate myself as a 9 now which is one step up from the 8 I previously gave myself. I won't give myself a perfect score because I am not perfect and there are many situations for me to face still where my communication skills will be tested and tried.

Life is like earth school

Life is the province of learning, and the wisdom we acquire throughout our lives is the reward of existence. As we traverse the winding roads that lead from birth to death, experience is our patient teacher. We exist, bound to human bodies as we are, to evolve, enrolled by the universe in earth school, an informal and individualized academy of living, being, and changing. Life’s lessons can take many forms and present us with many challenges. There are scores of mundane lessons that help us learn to navigate with grace, poise, and tolerance in this world. And there are those once-in-a-lifetime lessons that touch us so deeply that they change the course of our lives. The latter can be heartrending, and we may wander through life as unwilling students for a time. But the quality of our lives is based almost entirely on what we derive from our experiences.

 

Earth school provides us with an education of the heart and the soul, as well as the intellect. The scope of our instruction is dependent on our ability and readiness to accept the lesson laid out before us in the circumstances we face. When we find ourselves blindsided by life, we are free to choose to close our minds or to view the inbuilt lesson in a narrow-minded way. The notion that existence is a never-ending lesson can be dismaying at times. The courses we undertake in earth school can be painful as well as pleasurable, and as taxing as they are eventually rewarding. However, in every situation, relationship, or encounter, a range of lessons can be unearthed. When we choose to consciously take advantage of each of the lessons we are confronted with, we gradually discover that our previous ideas about love, compassion, resilience, grief, fear, trust, and generosity could have been half-formed.

 

Ultimately, when we acknowledge that growth is an integral part of life and that attending earth school is the responsibility of every individual, the concept of "life as lesson" no longer chafes. We can openly and joyfully look for the blessing buried in the difficulties we face without feeling that we are trapped in a roller-coaster ride of forced learning. Though we cannot always know when we are experiencing a life lesson, the wisdom we accrue will bless us with the keenest hindsight.

Jealousy

Jealousy is one of the toughest feelings we come up against in our lives. There is not much worse than this aching sense that somehow life has been unfair to us, while amply rewarding someone else. It’s even worse if that someone else is present in our daily lives, making it difficult for us to get the space we need to feel and heal our pain. We may be jealous of a sibling, a dear friend, or even famous personalities. We may even face the challenge of feeling jealous of our spouse, our child, or one of our parents. Whatever the case, we can normalize our experience by understanding that, as painful as it is, jealousy is a common human feeling.

Nevertheless, it is important that we not revel in our jealousy for too long, feeding it with inner talk or gossip with others. If we do, we run the risk of losing ourselves to its negative power. Jealousy has something good to offer us, though, and that is information about our own heart’s desire. When we are jealous of certain people, we want what they have, and if we are to be conscious, we must acknowledge that. In this way, we discover what we want for ourselves, which is the first step to getting it. It may be a certain kind of relationship or a career. Whatever it is, it is possible that we could create it for ourselves, in our own lives, if we are able to honor our own desires.

Of course, there are times when we cannot heal our jealousy in this way, and then the lesson may be about acceptance and the understanding that our path is different from the paths of those around us. It may be hard to see now, but perhaps it will eventually be clear why our life has taken its particular path. In the end, the best cure for jealousy is the recognition that the life we have is full of its own meaning and beauty, utterly unique to us—a gift that could never be found in the life of another.

Loving myself

To love oneself is the beginning of a life-long romance.

 

When we are told that we have to learn to love ourselves, we may wonder if doing so will lead to self-absorption and selfishness.  Shouldn't we be focusing on loving our fellow humans?

 

In truth, until we are capable of fully accepting and loving ourselves, the love we have to offer others is poor stuff indeed.  Rejecting ourselves, even in small ways, clogs our communication with Spirit.  Self-acceptance and unconditional love for our real selves are conditions of wholeness and spiritual health.  When we have them, we are able to love others unselfishly, not needing to manipulate them to meet our needs, not clinging too tightly to them in fear of loneliness.  When we are strong in our love and appreciation of ourselves, our spirits are large enough to care for others and to give freely, without hidden agendas.  Self-love even helps us to serve our Higher Power with greater humility, gratitude, and courage.

Permission to be real

Most of us are familiar with the idea of keeping it real and have an intuitive sense about what that means. People who keep it real don’t hide behind a mask to keep themselves safe from their fear of how they might be perceived. They don’t present a false self in order to appear more perfect, more powerful, or more independent. People who keep it real present themselves as they truly are, the good parts and the parts most of us would rather hide, sharing their full selves with the people who are lucky enough to know them.

 

Being real in this way is not an easy thing to do as we live in a culture that often shows us images of physical and material perfection. As a result, we all want to look younger, thinner, wealthier, and more successful. We are rewarded externally when we succeed at this masquerade, but people who are real remind us that, internally, we suffer. Whenever we feel that who we are is not enough and that we need to be bigger, better, or more exciting, we send a message to ourselves that we are not enough. Meanwhile, people who are not trying to be something more than they are walk into a room and bring a feeling of ease, humor, and warmth with them. They acknowledge their wrinkles and laugh at their personal eccentricities without putting themselves down.

People like this inspire us to let go of our own defenses and relax for a moment in the truth of who we really are. In their presence, we feel safe enough to take off our masks and experience the freedom of not hiding behind a barrier. Those of us who were lucky enough to have a parent who was able to keep it real may find it easier to be that way ourselves. The rest of us may have to work a little harder to let go of our pretenses and share the beauty and humor of our real selves. Our reward for taking such a risk is that as we do, we will attract and inspire others, giving them the permission to be real too.

Accepting yourself

There is no such thing as a good person or a bad person. There are choices and actions that lead us in different directions, and it is through those choices and actions that we create our realities. Sometimes we choose or do something that takes us in the opposite direction of the reality we want to create for ourselves. When we do this, we feel bad—uneasy, unhappy, unsure. We might go so far as to label ourselves “bad” when a situation like this arises. Instead of labeling ourselves, though, we could simply acknowledge that we made a choice that lead us down a particular path, and then let it go, forgiving ourselves and preparing for our next opportunity to choose, and act, in ways that support our best intentions.

 

Many of us experienced childhoods in which the words good and bad were used as weapons to control us—you were good if you did what you were told and bad if you didn’t. This kind of discipline undermines a person’s ability to find their own moral center and to trust and be guided by their own inner self. If you were raised this way, you may find yourself feeling shockwaves of badness when you do something you were taught was wrong, even if now you don’t agree that it’s bad. Conversely, you may feel good when you do what you learned was right. Notice how this puts you in something of a straitjacket. An important part of our spiritual unfolding requires that we grow beyond what we learned and take responsibility for our own liberation in our own terms.

 

You are a human being with every right to be here, learning and exploring. To label yourself good or bad is to think too small. What you are is a decision-maker and every moment provides you the opportunity to move in the direction of your higher self or in the direction of stagnation or degradation. In the end, only you know the difference. If you find yourself going into self-judgment, try to stop yourself as soon as you can and come back to center. Know that you are not good or bad, you are simply you.

Argument

This is advice I received that I am sharing with you because it is a very common issue that can bring people closer together to separate them even further. When we find ourselves in an argument, we may feel like we are losing control of emotions that have taken on lives of their own. When we can become aware that this is happening, taking a deep breath can help us step back from the situation. Once we can separate ourselves from the heat of the moment, we may find that the emotional trigger that began the argument has little to do with the present situation, but may have brought up feelings related to something else entirely. Looking honestly at what caused our reaction allows us to consciously respond more appropriately to the situation and make the best choices. 

We can make an agreement with our partners and those closest to us that asking questions can help all of us discover the source of the argument. The shared awareness can result in finding simple solutions to something physical, like low blood sugar or even a hormonal surge. Maybe we are taking ourselves too seriously, and we can just laugh and watch the tension dissolve. We could also discover that perhaps we are addicted to the excitement that drama brings and the chemicals that our body creates when we are angry. But there may be a deeper issue that requires discussion, understanding, and patience. The more we allow ourselves to step back and examine our reasons for arguing, the easier it becomes to allow real feelings to surface and guide us toward solutions that improve our lives. 

When we can be clear about our feelings and intentions and communicate them clearly, we have a far better chance of getting what we want than if we lose control or allow our subconscious minds to manipulate the situation. We might take our frustrations out on the people closest to us because we feel safe and comfortable with them, but misplaced anger can cause more harm than good. Arguing for what we truly believe can empower us and help us to direct our passions toward greater life experiences. Truly knowing our reasons for arguing enables us to grow emotionally in ways that will affect our whole being.

Distraction

Once we are born into this world we are distracted by survival instincts and norms and requirements. We go to school for most of our lives (most people) probably from the age of 3 until about 30 years, in between which we work and probably have a family and continue to work to support that family until the children grow older and leave and set out to repeat the cycle.
There is more to live that this. Yes it is understood that in living such a life we gain knowledge and experience but the knowledge and experience a lot of persons are gaining is just to help them survive their day to day livelihoods.
We must stop and take the time to ponder about what life really is all about and your purpose in it. Hence reason the Bible says that even man at his best state is altogether vanity. It is human nature to want what is best for yourself and to figure things out for "yourself" and to become a better "self" and to gain things to improve yourself and your life. But after all of this is done, you are not yourself alone. You are deeply connected with every single life form and as such it could never end there. According to H.I.M Emperor Haile Selassie 1st of Ethiopia "It is both the duty of the educated few to fulfill the legitimate aspirations of the unfortunate many." Humanity depends on humans.

Communication in yoga

Yoga focuses on the healing of body and mind, and on reconnection to Spirit by blending asanas (physical postures), pranayamas (breathing techniques), mudras, bandhas, relaxation and meditation so that you are progressively led into deeper states of focus, awareness, concentration, and deep relaxation.
Yoga is a soul-centered practice and seeks to lead one closer and closer to the ultimate reality of our true nature, which is one of love and compassion. This is accomplished by combining the movement of the asanas (yogic postures) with the conscious awareness of the breath, and by using that focused state of awareness to bring about a gradual calming and balancing of both mind and body. Deep guided relaxation, breathing exercises, and basic meditation techniques guides you to experience a state of deep quiet where one can then begin to understand and tap into the vast resources of peace, strength, creativity and love that are present at the core of all human beings.
To me this is also a form of communicating with oneself and the universe. Such a meditation means listening to your higher self and acknowledging your inner self in light of all good and all there is, embracing oneness. 

Selection of Music by DJs

Music is God’s gift to man, the only art of heaven given to earth and the only art of earth we take to heaven. Music can be traced right back to the days the Israelites rejoiced while in the wilderness, and even further than that when Lucifer having the most beautiful voice , would sing for God. 

Music and rhythm find their way into the secret places of the soul. Music, in its entirety, does in fact have a deep impact on persons. It affects the mind and touches the heart. It inspires, uplifts and can be a great teacher. Reggae music is one genre that expresses the message of love for God, self, others and culture. It is one of peace and unity and when given the opportunity to express itself, reggae music can be found in high, low, far and near places. This revelation is not a recent phenomenon. This is a stepping stone for persons to become more conscious of who they are, their surroundings and their place in this world. After which, some semblance of a relationship with God can be established and that is all that is needed to begin the journey.

Djs in reggae dances need to remember that when they play the same music over and over the communication process becomes stagnant and leaves little room for growth and change. Music is a form of communication as it sends messages and internally we interpret this music and respond to it. Explore and grow in the selections as the messages being sent will be renewed, refreshed and changes can occur. 

Racism

Racism comes in many hues even in the form of "white chicken legs." This phrase "white chicken leg" was used in a comment thread by someone commenting on an African indigenous shoe being modeled by the leg of a "white" woman. After attention was draw to what would be considered a "racist" comment the person them began to belittle everyone for assuming that he/she intended to display any racial connotations. This in itself proved fruitless and futile. Even if it the racist connotation was not intended the remark in itself was negative and could have been phrased better.
We are aware that the term "Africans" does no equal "black" for the mere fact that there are "white" "Africans", so the argument could be considered null and void, but ignorance and guilt went hand in hand in this argument. We must be careful of the things we say, how we communicate verbally and non-verbally because speech is a very fundamental way of expressing the mind and one's character. As one of my famous quotes says "Speak! That I may know thee".