Tag: integrity

Writer’s Quote Wednesday – Because It’s Right

Welcome to another segment of Writers Quote Wednesday as hosted by Colleen of Silver Threading. Today, I take my inspiration from someone I rarely speak about. I rarely speak about him, not because he wasn’t important, but because I try to speak about people we may be less familiar with and this man, well, we are all familiar with his name.

She reads the bible but does not go to Church. She’s not a Christian.
She doesn’t eat pork but does not call on Allah. She’s not Muslim.
She speaks of black identity but shows love to all men.
She’s not Afrocentricity.
She says the Egyptians were black but she’s not Egyptology.
She says the Israelites were black but she’s not Jewish.
She advocates for positive change. She’s not political.
She’s not….she’s not…she’s not…..

People will always try and figure you out. Why do you say the things that you do? Why do you speak the way that you speak? This quote is a reminder that sometimes there is no agenda. Sometimes truth must be spoken not because it is political. Not because it is religious. Not because it is in popular demand but because it is right. I speak the truth simply because the truth is always right no matter who says it.

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That Moment

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That moment when the inspiration is so thick but the words are so weak. When time won’t give room to whisper a glint of poetry or finger your way through lines made of braille.  I want to write, but not anything. So I wait for the calming of thought processes to slow the string of melodies into a post of beauty. Nothing rushed and spilled like left over knowledge and conscientious stupidity. Not the same ole same ole thirst for the vanity of wisdom. No, not anything. Not the mouthing off of regurgitated ignorance. Surely every thought is not worthy of the blank page. The new post is after all too pure for any thought to brush upon it. Though the pull to build on the creativity that found its way inside your space must fulfill itself. I am indeed in the midst of that moment. I desire to write something, but not anything. I want to beautify the whiteness of this page into something stronger than the color of poetry. Something that seeps into your mind and rushes to the center of your soul like the longing of fire to touch wood; a stream of living water waiting to fall for the first cup it sees standing; the longing of lips desperate and trembling for the first kiss it sees wanting. Indeed, maybe I’ll just kiss my way into this post. Give you something of value to take home. Take with you my beloved. And let me give you more than just a penny for my thoughts.

Why I Ignore Some of Your Ideas

“Stay true to your integrity. I can’t tell you how many times I have said no, even though it sounded like such a good platform-building opportunity. You are good enough doing exactly what you are doing.”

– Dr. Lissa Rankin, Author

In the world of Self-Publishing there are so many ideas out there. Everyone has something to say about what to do and how to do it. This supersedes Self-Publishing however, and can spill over into Blogging and Life in general. One undesirable of the internet is that you can always find someone to agree with you or to support your idea even if it is a false reality, makes no sense whatsoever, or is obviously weird. You can find any expert, and any article that will explain in sophisticated detail something that will support your point of view. The problem with this is that eventually the views of experts will cloud the view of the individual until you’re listening to everyone instead of focusing on why you began doing this in the first place. I write because I love to do it. And I believe that you put your all into those things that you love doing. You also put your all into those things to which you want to expand. Like a blog for example. Whatever personal goals you have for your blog, in order to reach them you have to put your all into it. That’s just common sense.

What I think we’re forgetting however, is to excel at being ourselves. Professional advice come a dime a dozen, but there is only one you whose going to do it the way that you would do it. In the end I believe a lot of us forget to stay true to our personal integrity and to make sure that we are not sacrificing that veracity for the sake of gain. But gain is interesting in itself. When I speak of gain I’m not talking about trying to be seen of men. By gain I mean excelling in whatever it is you wish to excel in. Whether it is a promotion at the job, a best-selling book, a new business idea, or a new blog, success consists of one key thing: those who excel at being who they are. They find something they enjoy doing and they do it well without giving too much of that self into the opinions of others. Whatever you do just do it well because it was your personality and talents that drew us in, in the first place. Be not mistaken: WordPress did not convince me to follow your blog or buy your book, and neither did your platform. The fact that you posted a thousand pictures on Instagram did not convince me to follow you, you convinced me to follow you. Marketing and Promotion is simply a leverage to help us to find you, but in the end we have to like you for who you are in order to truly support you. This is what I believe a lot of us are forgetting. That your personality, your writing, your talents, and the effort that you put into what you love will attract others who also enjoy what you love. Your light attracts the light of others.

I see it. The ease of being overwhelmed by following every Self-Published book idea and implementing everyone’s blogging idea. But the truth is that what worked for them may not work for you, and that you’re actually already doing it the way you are supposed to be doing it. I agree totally with Rankin. In that I have turned down opportunities for the sake of preserving my integrity. There are just some things I am unwilling to sacrifice because it will not be me. I love writing, but there are lots of things I love more. My truth is one of them.

The fact that someone thinks I should do something a certain way to be successful is irrelevant, especially since it depends on one’s definition of the word. My success is not yours and your success is, nine times out of ten, not mine. Thus, someone else’s concept of how it should be done does not move me. What moves me is the love I have for it. If I enjoy Twitter more than Facebook, then Twitter is the platform to which I will mostly build. And if I am lead to interact amidst the blogosphere, then Blogging is the platform to which I will mostly build. These are just examples, true examples as I do enjoy blogging and twitter, but examples nonetheless.Eventually, you will find that if you find one thing you love, and you put your everything into that one thing, it will work wonders for you.

The point is not to resist advice. For he who resists advice is nothing short of a fool. Advice is information. It is guidance, correction, instruction. The point is that whatever you choose to do, do it wholeheartedly. Do it well. It is wise to accept advice. And it is wiser to implement that advice into your daily life. And since this post is kinda advice in and of itself, it does not speak against it. But be cautious of the temptation to do more than what it is meant for you to do for the sake of “doing it right”. It may just be that you have struck gold in a particular area, and that everyone else is actually doing it wrong.

Just be yourself. And be good at it.

Brutally Honest

THE-INVENTION-OF-LYINGThere’s a difference between being honest, being brutally honest and how to balance the two. Awhile back I watched a comedy called The Invention of Lying, about a man who lives in a world where everyone tells the truth. It doesn’t matter the other person’s way of thought, their perspective, or take into account their feelings, but everyone is completely and brutally honest about everything; that is until a man decides to lie for the first time and it sparks a kind of revolutionary movement among the people. It seemed that their lives had gotten better with each lie that they told; specks of grey now blossoming with the color of new life. I did not like the movie. To me it painted the picture that a world of honesty and truth is a dull and heartless world in which no one really cares to live. It made it seem like a lie every now and again could help level the amount of truth when the truth is that lies never gave life to anybody.  Pleasantville is another movie similar in taste. What these movies and I think most people in general, fail to understand is that it is not lies and rebellion that is the key to this balance, it is being honest versus being brutally honest.

pleasantvilleBrutal Honesty is called such for a reason. It is because it is the kind of words that are used to hurt and to wound. It is not that you go through life sugar coating reality or lying to people, but when you have to tell someone the truth about themselves it’s a good idea to sandwich that truth between two soft pieces of bread; it is easier to digest this way. It is not that you do not remain truthful, but you are considerate of other people’s feelings. This is the act of being kind; and also realizing that certain situations do not call for you to respond to them at all. There are so many examples in this movie, The Invention of Lying, where information was needlessly volunteered or offered up and it was hurtful to the hearer. It is expected to be funny and in some ways it was but it wasn’t that funny really. They say you learn something new every day, and in my personal life I am learning to be more kind, and seeking to love better. I am learning that it is not just what you say, but also how you say it. It may not be your intention to hurt others, but you don’t want them to feel that way either.

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But don’t get it twisted; this is not to devalue the treasure of truth which always has a tendency to offend those not willing to accept it. This post therefore does not suggest hard love does not exist because some of you just need to be told how it is for what it is and to accept what it is. You need a little push every now and again. You’ve been babysat and coddled and lied to your whole life and for that reason alone any portion of truth will hurt you. You have never felt heartbreak and never known struggle. As such people are always offended at that which they do not and are not willing to accept as the truth. However, there are different avenues at which to distribute this truth. Most of the time when people are brutally honest, when they say something that hurts other people, it is because they simply spoke when there was no need to do so. Learn what to say, how to say it, and when to say it. It is not the honest man who is wiser; it is the honest man who knows when to speak and when not to speak. Knowledge is knowing to be honest. Wisdom is understanding what to say and when to say it.