Digging Deeper

I've been thinking lately about how people tend to just skim the surface of things. They read headlines but not the story. They ask you how you're doing, but don't listen past fine, and don't even want to hear anything less than fine. One big thing people have a tendency to do is look at a person and pass judgement on them. She's pretty, he's fat, she's sexy, he's got a nice car. This is how some people decide to date someone! Why is it that we don't want to dig deeper and know more? The only time people seem to want to know more is if they can find out some dirt or juicy gossip about someone. People spend a lot of time trying to find out who broke up, what celebrity was arrested, is pregnant, or is dating another celebrity. They can talk for hours on the subject yet it barely holds my interest because I know I will not know the real story unless I get to know these people. I understand that a lot of people don't want to ask more for fear of being asked more themselves. We fear judgement, rejection, betrayal, but we also fail to make meaningful connections when we just skim the surface.There are less than a handful of people in my life who actually want to know how I feel, what I think, what my hopes, dreams, and desires are. Those are people I would call friends. The rest are acquaintences, most of whom I am happy to know, but I realize we will never go beyond the superficial. How, then, are we to make meaningful connections? How do we make thoughtful decisions about our lives and our world? We start by letting our guards down and not caring about what anyone thinks of us except for our Creator, if you are aware of His existence. I know people look at me and think they immediately know what I do in my private time, what I am like as a person, or what I would be like as a companion. I don't care what someone who won't even take the time to get to know me thinks of me. I only care to share who I am with those who are interested. I don't write this blog because I think my life is so interesting that I must share it with others. I do hope that I can inspire others to become more conscious of themselves and others and ponder what really matters. Perhaps if we got to know each other better, we would be less inclined to mistreat each other. If you know your neighbor is having financial problems, maybe you wouldn't hold it against them if they don't smile back and return your greeting. When you are aware that your co-worker is going through a divorce, perhaps her grumpiness won't annoy you so. Maybe the woman on the street who you think is fat is a warm, loving and kind individual who would give you the intellectual and spiritual stimulation you seek. And what if the man on the bus stop rides the bus because he shares your passion for saving the earth. We skim the surface as if we're getting all we need. But skimming can mean stealing, like when organized crime takes part of the take at casinos. It also refers to a type of credit card fraud, and it's what is done to get oil off of the ocean. So in essence, when we skim the surface, we're robbing each other, and we're not even getting the best parts. Today, when you ask someone how they are, dig deeper, you may find someone with whom you can relate, or at least know a little better.

Power Down

Today three people told me I sounded sad and blue. I don't know why I sounded that way, I didn't feel that way. I did feel a little tired, like I could've stayed in bed all day, but not sad, not blue, just needed time to myself I think. I realize that loneliness is an epidemic these days. People are always on cell phones taking advantage of their unlimited minutes, or texting things to make others lol. Or, they're on theirspace or they're posting their face on some book or tweeting like parakeets. There's even a place they can go and meet up with other lonely strangers and do something they all like.

Some people will say that the digital age has ruined real human connection, and maybe it has in some respects, but for some, I think it has opened up a whole world for them and offered them a way to connect to others. If you're shy, bound to the house by physical or mental illness, or just socially hindered, technology can really be a lifeline.

I'm no different. I have spaces, pages and so forth. I get my money's worth from my cell phone, and yes, because I get lonely too. But I have come to recognize that sometimes, it is good to be alone. For me, I am always with my Father the Mighty King, God, I call Him Jah, and He is always with me. I know He needs some one on one time with me, and I with Him. This is how I am able to evaluate and re-evaluate what I have done and become up until this point. This is how I get my ideas, creativity, correction, revelations, inspirations, and rest.

There is so much stimulation in the world today and it tends to block out the important things, like your own thoughts, your instincts and intuition, the beauty of the sights and sounds of nature. If we would stop and turn the phones and laptops, ipods, ipads, and so forth off, and just listen, we could hear our inner voice telling us that we have everything we need inside of us. Yet we are so intent on blocking out what's real and what matters that we fail to connect with ourselves.

So I figured out that today, what those people were hearing in my voice was my need to disconnect, for a short time, from the outside, and reconnect with the inside. I am thankful to have people with whom to connect, don't get me wrong. That is why I stayed plugged in today, because I knew they needed me to do so. But for now, I am going to unplug for a while and recharge my own batteries.

Oneness

I had a dream last night that I was traveling the world with a companion (I know who he is, but I don't know him...yet) and as we were sitting on a mountain top watching the most amazing blood orange sunset, I decided to write in this blog about the experience. My companion quickly became curious as to if I would be including him in the blog and what would I say, and was I going to ask him first. My first reaction was that it was a blog about my experience so why would I have to ask. Then I thought a little deeper on the subject and when remembered that we are all connected and what happens to one affects all, I realized that it wasn't just my experience.

When I woke up, I knew right away that I had some amends to make. You see, a few months back, I told some people about something that another person did that affected me in a negative way. This individual really didn't want me telling what he felt was his business, but I rationalized that I only told my part of the business, that just happened to include him. I know now that I did share his business without his permission, and it did not make him look good. So, I offer up my sincerest most humble apologies for that. I can't actually say what I should have or could have done differently because I was not in the head space to let it go and stay hidden. I still don't think I am, but I do apologize to you.

That got me thinking all day about our connectedness (is that a word?) What if we were all literally physically connected? What if I broke my arm and you felt it too? What if you felt sorrow, and I cried? If we could feel everything that others felt, would we be more cautious about how we treated one another? If you knew that if you said something mean to me, you would feel hurt, unloved, and rejected too, would you still say it? If you punched someone in the nose and your nose bled, would you think twice before doing it again?

I theorize that we do feel the pain we cause others, it just may not happen immediately, and we may not realize that the pain we are feeling is a direct result of the pain we caused. We are connected, so the pain travels all through everyone in the universe until it comes right back to it's origin. Sometimes it's slower coming back around, sometimes it's faster. "What goes around comes around," my grandmother used to say, and "you have to reap what you sow."

You ever have one of those days where you wake up in a bad mood? Or maybe you are so happy one day and you can't really explained what caused it. And those phantom pains we attribute to old age, maybe that's really just the emotions and physical pain of our fellow beings making its way through the universe on it's way back to it's origin.

Perhaps if we took more care with one another, and thought about the joy, pain, elation, sorrow and so forth that travels around the universe through every human, animal, plant, and so forth, we would in turn feel less pain, and more joy. Yes, we are all connected, one giant living organism, bigger than the Great Barrier Reef. Let's take care of ourselves/each other.

Groundation live in Brazil - Here I am

Here I am

A metamorphosis is a transformation, so I am about to transform myself. I was reading an interview done with my favorite group Groundation, and the interviewer told the lead singer that their latest album didn't sound like their last one. The lead singer, Harrison Stafford, told him that the group is constantly trying to reinvent and grow their music. They don't want every album to sound alike. The interviewer told him that he doesn't quite understand the album. Harrison told him he needs to continue to listen to it and he might find that he loves it. Wouldn't it be great if you could reinvent yourself each day? I mean, there are many different facets to my personality, to what makes me, me. Just in music alone, I love reggae, but I also like soul, R&B, some hip hop, jazz, and even classical. A lot of people only know me to love reggae, even people who've known me all of my life and know that I didn't start listening to reggae until ten years ago, in their minds, I must not like the music I listened to before, so now I'm just reggae. Why do people like to pigeon hole each other? Once they think they've got your number, that's who you are to them for eternity. If I wear cowboy boots and a cowboy hat, am I now labeled "country" and put on a shelf? There is so much more to my ingredients list than will fit on a label. Could you handle it if one day someone you love and thought you knew came to you dressing, speaking, behaving differently? Would you think they've completely lost it because, 'that's not who they are'? What if it is who they are but you just couldn't, or refused to see it. Though I am talking of a transformation, I'm not talking about changing anything about who I really am except how I censure my expression of all that is me. Harrison Stafford said of his music that he didn't want people to say 'that's the Groundation sound'. The truth is, I can tell when it's Marcus Urani making an organ soulfully whine, and if I hear horns telling a story in a reggae song, I know it's either David Chachere et al or Earth, Wind and Fire just did a reggae album. Of course there's no mistaking Harrison Stafford's unique sort of raspy sometimes horn sounding soulful voice passionately belting out a tune. My point is, what makes Groundation who they are is still there, they just express it differently on each album. So, Here I Am (not coincidently Groundation's latest album) ready for change, not a change in who I am, but a change in how the world sees me. If you think you've got me figured out, think again, I will not sound like the last album, but if you listen long enough, you might find you love me.

Metamorphosis

I was born a queen, well a princess whose destiny it is to become a queen. The problem is, I was never treated as a queen, or a princess for that matter. I was always treated like a peasant, not worthy, less than, not enough, or too much in some cases, too little sometimes, too me too often. So, I just behaved like I was who people treated me like I was; undeserving, unimportant, unfinished.

I learned the truth a few years ago, the truth about my destiny, my royalty. It was just easier to acquiesce than to rise to my rightful throne. After all, to whom much is given, much is expected. But my Father, the Mighty King has informed me that it's time to come out of hiding. So here I am, all of me in my glory, preparing to emerge out of the dust into the palace.

Just like the caterpillar twists, pushes, and struggles to break out of the cocoon transformed into a beautiful graceful butterfly, I am about to complete my metamorphosis into a queen.

Sometimes for real change to happen, one has to leave what is familiar, comfortable, and safe, and forge into the unknown. This is where I find myself today, hundreds of miles away from the place I had called home all my life, and the people, the only people who have loved me so far. It was my choice, because my Father, the Mighty King, would wait no longer, and the familiar wanted to keep me familiar.

I have embarked upon a journey with a clear vision of the destination, but whether I get there or not, is not important. It is, of course, the journey that matters.