Tag: life

Ann Lane Petry

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1908-1997

I’ve actually ordered her book, which should be here pretty soon.

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African American writer Ann Lane Petry is said to showcase the range of the black and white experience in her novels, short stories, and other works. The Street, her most famous novel (the one I’m anticipating to show up with the mail man on my doorstep) is said to be a social commentary on the despair of black urban life in the 1940s. Published in 1946, the novel sold 1.5 million copies and brought Petry to national attention as the first black woman writer to sell a million copies of her book.

Stop Wasting Time

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You get up. Go to work. Complain at work. Blog at work and complain about blogging. Count the seconds until the day is over. The day is over. Go home. Make dinner. Kiss the wife / husband. Kiss the children. Complain about work tomorrow. Eat dinner. Go to bed. Get up. Go to work. Complain at work. Count the seconds until the day is over….

Has it ever occurred to us that there is more to life than just existing? How many of us can honestly say that we enjoy every minute of time we have in a day? By “enjoy” I do not mean spending your days partying like a rock star, going to clubs, getting rich or die trying. I mean as in to appreciate, or to value. Yes, your career or job may not be what you want at this time but you are there for a reason. It could be because your smile puts a smile on someone else face. Could be because your “Good Morning!” warms someone’s heart. It could be because your “weirdness” is not weird at all. If only the world was just as crazy as you are, maybe it would be in a far better place. If only it carried your light.

And what of those in-between moments? When your on lunch, what are you doing in that time? Are you reading and nourishing your mind? Are you studying for something? Are you seeking to be a better person today than you were yesterday?

And what of it when you come home? Are you cherishing those moments or complaining about them?

It would have been nice to have our expiration dates tattooed to our chest when we were born. To have written on our birth certificates:

March 12, 1956 – September 9, 2020

That would have been nice but it would have also made our lives a lot different than they are now. Many of us would be far better people and seek to live far better lives. We would give more, and we would care more. Except, this isn’t reality. The covenant we make to die when we breathe our first breath does not come with a date. And when its time to go, and our life flashes before our eyes, the years we wasted we are going to desperately want back. Do something today that is going to actually mean something when the dust settles and the gravediggers are singing your song.

Dear Atlanta,

I’m coming for you!

Any Bloggers in the ATL? I’d love to meet you!

The Release Date for Book #3 of The Stella Trilogy has been pushed back to accommodate my travel schedule. The book signing and presentation will take place in Atlanta GA on Friday, February 26, 2016. I will already be in the city for the Black History Month parade so this really works for me.

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Please click this link for more information and to see how you can donate toward the event. I just finished putting it together. I am raising money to help purchase books in bulk since I am preparing for a large crowd. Everything else is covered but this final financial hurdle. It would mean a lot to me if you can support this work either financially or by coming out to see the presentation in person. I’m not a fan of traditional book signings so you can expect this to be extremely interactive, yessss.

Learn to Listen

Even a deaf man can learn to listen. Though we hear with our ears understanding comes from the heart and from the mind. So many problems in the world and in our own individual lives could be solved just by listening. It is not so much that the most intelligent of the world are any smarter than the least educated. The difference is just by way of how one listens over the other. If I tell a child to wash the dishes I do not need that child to respond that there are only few dishes in the sink. This is an example of poor listening skills. I did not ask the child if the sink was half empty or if it was half full, I asked the child to wash the dishes that were there. It seems simple enough, but this cycle is repeated throughout our lives in so many ways and we are often like this child. Learn to listen, not with the intent to reply but with the intent to understand. You see I cannot give you a proper response on a good meal until after I have digested it. I have to take the food in first, taste it, swallow it and then digest it. Now, in these stages I have choices. I can talk with my mouth full so that you do not understand what I speak. I can taste the food and declare it right even though I have not swallowed it. And I can assume it has a healthy effect on my body though my body has not yet digested it. Too often we do this with information in our lives. We reply to situations or to people even though we have not fully digested the information. The funny thing is that most people you talk to are never really listening to what you’re saying because they already have a response waiting on the tongue. They are just waiting for you to stop talking. They do not listen. They do not hear. You have to understand, as you navigate your life, that you cannot have a healthy relationship with people who do not listen. It won’t work. Some of you are in relationships with people and its not working. The reason its not working is because your in relationships with people who do not listen. For many of us the result is that we learn to do likewise. We do not stop to hear what is heard. We do not stop to listen.

Writer’s Quote Wednesday – John Grossman

First, I want to thank Colleen of Silver Threading for featuring me in her Writer’s Quote Wednesday! I am so very humbled. Now, for this week’s Writer’s Quote Wednesday I draw inspiration from John Grossman. I came across this quote earlier this week and it stuck out to me:

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Silence is no easy task. But when done in its time, silence speaks to self-control. It speaks to discipline. It speaks to discernment. Silence speaks to the presence of humility and wisdom when used appropriately. It is just as damaging to be silent in the time to speak as it is to speak in a time of silence. Words are so fragile, and so vulnerable that they can easily become corrupt. They can abuse or be abused; be misunderstood or cause misunderstanding; they can hurt, tear down, and the list goes on. Words can also heal and build-up but they are like newborns, delicate and completely dependent on its owner. We, the owners of our words, have a responsibility to make sure they are properly cared for. That said, when used in its time silence is not, for instance, the absence of innocence. It is the presence of understanding.

I relinquish the mic
I relinquish the mic

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Click the photo below (or any of the highlighted links) to see how you can join Writer’s Quote Wednesday!

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What Have You Given The World?

We always ask what the world can give us or rather what we can get out of the world, but what have we given the world? What are you doing with your time? Not in aspect of a career, or of education, or goals or livelihood but of life? What else have you given back to the world? Have you loved someone today? Have you loved yourself? Have you said anything nice today? Did someone need you today, can they count on you? What have you given back? Or what have you given in exchange for the breath that you breathe?

Go

Beautiful young woman jumping on the beach with a colored tissue

Go and bring back the depth of the sea
Go and measure the measure of wind
Go and bring back the weight of fire
Go and explain the secret to water
Go and bring back the day that is passed

Sea, wind, fire, water and the day are elements that you interact with every day and yet they are a mystery to you.

Think about this the next time you stress over things you cannot change.