• A baby’s smile
• An ice-cold soda
• A piece of baklava

a din rises as you speak words tumbling and churning to escape screaming out yearning to hurt words of anger fear and pain seeking to wound in return begging for release aching to aim directly forcefully right at your weakness your flaws the dark corners you try to hide striking out at time’s passage the damage of the years needing to be avenged wanting to be vindicated then     softly     quietly         just below the surface         creeping slowly         as if still afraid         a tiny voice             says

forgive

Hardened now heartened.

My eyes open to a new dawn
Alive! My heart screams
So long I feel that I’ve been gone
A lifetime passed it seems

A low rumbling flows beneath my skin
My muscles start to wake
A buzzing energy stirs within
My quiet world begins to shake

A smile returns to golden light
My eyes aglow with silent power
The soul responds to every sight
As new moments begin to flower

Passion is the present game
My heart and soul can rejoice
My body and mind can’t feel the same
My life has found it’s voice

Found this list over at Marc and Angel:

Avoid negative people, negative habits and negative sources of information.

Believe in yourself and your closest confidants.

Create a healthy balance between career, family and social responsibilities.

Dare to be unique and creative.

Enjoy yourself everyday. It’s quite possible there will be no tomorrow.

Find what you love and become an expert at it.

Go the extra mile. A little extra effort separates the good from the great.

Help others when given the chance.

Ignore insults, but take heed to constructive criticism.

Just do it. Action is the vehicle for success.

Kindness always trumps intelligence in the long-term.

Learn at least one practical lesson everyday.

Manage your time effectively by prioritizing your obligations.

Never lie. Never cheat. Never steal.

Open your mind to fresh ideas and experiences.

Practice. Practice. Practice.

Quitting is not an option. Don’t give up on something or someone you believe in.

Read as much as you can as often as you can.

Stop procrastinating. Stop ignoring unsettled problems.

Take responsibility for your actions, the good and the bad.

Use your natural talents to open new doors of opportunity.

Visualize your goals and map out an action plan for achieving them.

Write stuff down.

X-factors for success are always present. Keen awareness will uncover them.

You will never succeed if you never try.

Zero in on the truth by analyzing situations from every possible angle.

Happy Birthday to Bee!!

No, it’s not my birthday. If you read this blog you should know by now that my birthday is usually preceded by countdowns, recaps, wishlists or predictions. But today my blog turns 3!! That’s right, three years ago today I started blogging. Wow! Who would have thunk I would still be at it. No less enthusiastically though perhaps a little less frequently.

Those of you that have stuck around have learnt a lot about me and hopefully alot about life, following me on this journey through life, love and laughter. When I started I wanted to write about the things I learn in life. Along the way I have also covered the things I have learnt about myself.

One of the most frequent themes is that of following your heart. The first of such posts happened a week after I left my job having determined that I.T. was not my calling. Through along process of self-evaluation, aided by friends, family and counsellors, I managed to identify Arts Management as the direction I was facing. I am happy to announce that three years later, we are finally seeing that dream start to happen.

The information has started to become public so I share with you all here: next week Wednesday, I begin work with a local music company. I will be the VP Operations as part of a fresh new management team being put together at this development phase of the company. I am beyond excited. At this point I am also in awe of the universe which managed to throw this opportunity my way days after I put my desires back out there into the universe.

Although I don’t expect my path to be easy, I do anticipate much more enjoyment in my day-to-day life. So stay tuned. The music that is my life has started to develop into something special.

Everybody has had those moments when their gut, instead of their head, made a decision for them. Maybe you met someone and decided instantly you didn’t like them, or you used your intuition to choose a university to attend.

Well, this article from Science Blog sheds a little light on the matter of gut feelings. Apparently researchers at Leeds University say that we should take these hunches seriously. They have discovered that “intuition is the result of the way our brains store, process and retrieve information on a subconscious level and so is a real psychological phenomenon. […] Intuition is the brain drawing on past experiences and external cues to make a decision – but one that happens so fast the reaction is at a non-conscious level. All we’re aware of is a general feeling that something is right or wrong.”

Of course, don’t go thinking that this means you should always go with your gut. But there is enough evidence to suggest that you might want to consider what it’s telling you, especially if your detailed analysis was leading you in another direction.

My gut tells me this makes sense.

Marc over at MarcandAngel put forth this list of things in life that we all have to figure out for ourselves. Though there is a lot you can learn from other people, from reading and observing life, some things you really just have to work out for yourself. It’s actually just part of what life is.

1. Love – Nobody can teach you this one. Everybody’s experience of love is different so you have to learn the rules for yourself.
2. Friendship – We all spend our lives working out exactly who our friends are, making new ones, distancing ourselves from the failed friendships.
3. Loss – One of the hardest things in life is learning how to grieve in your own way. But trying to force it will only make it worse and harder for it to go away.
4. The Short vs. Long Catch-22 – Though it is difficult to predict the future, our actions today can impact on tomorrow. Sometimes we need to sacrifice for the bigger picture.
5. Self-Forgiveness – Our hardest critic is usually ourselves. We beat ourselves up for mistakes everyone else has long forgotten. Learning to forgive ourselves is a vital skill.
6. Life Balance – Extremes are not usually a good thing, at least not in the long run. Balance (whether in food, work etc.) is an ideal sought by many to provide the best route to a healthy life.
7. Responsibility and Independence – Learning this one is a major part of growing up. At some point in our lives we all face those moments when we are forced to realize this.
8. Character Identity – The big question of “Who am I?” haunts some people for years into their adulthood. The search for their real self is a journey they have to make for themselves.
9. Betrayal – There is no easy way to prepare for this, and many people may never experience it, but those who do have to find a way to get past it without letting the hurt control them.
10. Happiness and Success – As Marc put it, “happiness is doing what you love, and success is excelling at doing what you love“. We each have to figure out for ourselves what it is that we love and how to do it, and then do it to the best of our ability.

Big lottery news in the U.S. over the weekend - a couple walked away with a jackpot of $164 million, the 5th largest ever I believe.
This couple had been living in a trailer, the husband had been working a couple states away for the last 20 years so they only saw each other for maybe one weekend every few months. For them the biggest changes will be to their immediate circumstances - he quit his job, they want to buy a piece of land and build a house and they will each get a car (him a GMC truck, her a Mercedes). After that they talked about helping their kids and grandkids, and their church.

Hearing these stories always makes you think, what would you do if you won that kind of money?

Having woken up to yet another Monday with a crappy week ahead, not helped by having to drag on a … uggh, shudder, subduing the waves of disgust… a uniform, I was presented with a f***ing condescending lecture on not bringing my mood to work. I was then subjected to a helpful dose of “if you read The Secret…”.

I was quick to point out that not only had I read it, but using the principles would not be helping her arguments in this case. I did have to stop short of saying that I would really love to be anywhere but there. But so here goes, in the spirit of “The Secret” I am going to put out there into the universe what I want and see what manifests.

• I want to have a career that I love
• I want to wake up looking forward to my days
• I want to enjoy what I do
• I want to be fully compensated for my skills, talents, qualifications and contribution
• I want to be respected and valued for my individuality
• I want to have my opinions respected and considered valuable
• I want to be able to determine how best I work productively
• I want to feel I am truly making a difference

Ok, now the question remains, do I post this list up around my desk so I can focus on it all day everyday?