Go outside and stand on the porch. Let the refreshing wind kiss your face. Listen to the trees as they laugh and sway. Welcome the sound of insects’ singing lullabies as the sun lowers itself into sleep. Bask in the beauty that is a changing sky. Reflect on the rich hues, reds, and orange-golds and let the sweetness of nature wash over you. Eat the meal you love without punishment. Something so savory it melts on your tongue. Let it fill you like a cup of hot chocolate on the first day of winter. Drink water. Bathe. Make sure the water’s hot and marinate in Epsom salt. Wash off the worries of the world. Drift into peace like someone swimming. Wear something comfortable to bed. Something that will hold your body like your grandmother’s hugs. Make the room completely dark and close your eyes. Feel the drum of your heartbeat prophesy that you are still alive. Touch your chest and feel the vibrations underneath your fingers. You are still here. Calm the chaos of your mind and focus on your breath. Breathe deep. Inhale. Hold it. Exhale. Now let your soul rest.
This week we are spotlighting the winners of the 2nd Annual Poetry Contest! Today, you’ll get to meet the poets and read their poems. Let’s dive right in with our 2nd Place winner.
Nailah Shami is the author of two non-fiction books: Taking the High Road: How to Cope Your Ex Husband, Maintain Your Sanity, and Raise Your Child in Peace and Do Not Talk To, Touch, Marry, or Otherwise Fiddle with Frogs: How to Find Prince Charming by Finding Yourself. Continuing to fulfill a personal mission to inspire, encourage and entertain others, she blogs on Better for That, a weekly platform of uplifting micro-essays, vignettes, self-care streams and poetry. She is also working on a series of contemporary women’s fiction novels and a volume of poetry. Nailah lives in Washington state in the shadow of Mt Rainier and loves travel, festivals, music, comedy, cooking, pampering, all things lavender, hanging out with friends and family (or interesting strangers) and, of course, writing. She is always writing.
I reverse-engineer my collapse
With unhurried tithes to myself
Loving Myself Full, Copyright©Nailah Shami
2nd Place
I turn off the phone, turn on the sauna
Dial down stress, dial up serenity
Gather my wounds in a circle,
Sing them the tender lullaby, years cultivated
And love myself full
Hush, I whisper
Until they trust me to gently paint over their grievances
With a mosaic of sunshine and light
They vary in age
Strolling through a lifetime, I nod to each me
Spending extra moments with Inner Mother me
She knows how all of this tenderness will play out
My eyes close when a melody from another world caresses my ears
The massage therapist pulls tension out of shoulders, arms, legs, spirit
Hot stones, aromatic oils, mindless bliss
I am AWOL, refusing to be needed
Lost in the valley of me, myself and I
Vowing to return to more simple things
Coloring, skipping, daydreaming
Hula hooping for breakfast
Beach dawdling for lunch
Lovemaking for dinner
Months before I am raggedy meat on a bone
I reverse-engineer my collapse
With unhurried tithes to myself
Casually buying roses with the groceries
Spraying lavender on the sheets,
Rose water on my face,
Wonder in my heart
I practice forgetting disappointments
And I do not have time to doubt the power of this spell I am casting,
The voodoo poetry of peace, stillness, and self-care
Of vowing to do the hardest things in the softest fabrics
And then have someone ease the memory of the fight from my muscles
With Zen music and hopeful scents
I lose time, but do not miss it
A fair exchange to put stars back in my eyes, silken my soul
From far away, I hear the massage therapist tell me to take my time getting up, and I do.
Oh, I do.
CLICK HERE to learn more about Taking the High Road.
CLICK HERE to learn more about Do Not Talk to, Touch, Marry, or Otherwise Fiddle with Frogs.
Do not ask me not to care. I will care anyway. I will wonder why the flower doesn’t bloom. Why its petals are dry. Why is there a flower falling to pieces for lack of moisture? I will wonder about the soil and the colors in the sky. I will mourn with those who are sad, rub empathy on the wounds of those who are bruised. I will care about people who probably won’t think twice about me. I will take this heart of flesh and show them that I am hurt too and I too have been trampled upon. Here, see the holes and scars on my skin. But we don’t have to let our hearts grow cold or build walls that are too high for people to climb. When everyone’s a savage, do not be afraid to be soft. There’s got to be someone in this chaotic world who can show proof that there can still be love, after war.
Welcome back to No Whining Wednesday, the only day of the week where you do not get to whine, criticize, or complain. If you are new to this blog or new to this segment please do scurry on over HERE to learn more about what this is all about.
I’m excited about today’s inspiring quote so let’s get into it:
I’ve been loving on Ryan’s social media pages. His IG is hilariously funny with writer memes and as soon as I saw this nugget of wisdom I had to feature it for today. Whining, complaining, or criticizing really just comes from one source: Lack of contentment or peace. Whether this is because we are upset, confused or frustrated the point is that somewhere, for whatever reason, we are not content with our present situation and we are not at peace.
How do we overcome these situations? After all, it is not that stress is a bad thing entirely. It exists naturally in everyone for a reason. It is there surely to be helpful to the body in some way. How do we allow it to be what it is without over-stressing ourselves? Learning to identify the good in bad situations is one way.
This series I am writing, for instance, is probably the most challenging project I’ve ever written. There’s so much going on as I am writing these books. Personally, professionally, emotionally, mentally, its hitting me from all directions but I have to keep going.
I have been looking for the silver lining in every situation to help carry me through. The diamond in the ruff, the light in the darkness, the calm in the storm, the peace under the pressure. Here’s an example:
If I get not-so-good feedback on my manuscript, instead of focus all my energy on the negative, I look for something good. Unless the person is just a total (fill in the blank) about it, there’s always something positive that is said among not-so-positive feedback. After licking my internal wounds, I look to find the something good I missed and use it as fuel to keep pushing on.
Find the good and when you find it celebrate it. That’s peace under pressure. Don’t ignore changes that need to be made but celebrate the good as well. Be excited about it! Sorry. I don’t mean to yell, but you understand why I have to.
The good is a light. Take it and let your light shine.
But, dear non-writing readers…
The message is:
It is not easy and sometimes it is good to vent. Good to let off the steam. The problem is when we do not balance this out with anything good.
See, I don’t want to get on my whole “balance soapbox” here but everything in life must have a balance. I spoke yesterday about being yourself on Social Media but even this is with a certain level of balance. You don’t just want to be all out boring. Or maybe you don’t care about blog stats. That’s cool. I get it, but there’s nothing wrong with paying attention to it sometimes. You don’t have to be obsessed with it, but it is good to know where you are. There’s nothing wrong with monitoring growth.
In life, we just do not balance things out as much as we should. We find ourselves venting too much and letting it rob us of peace. We find ourselves not celebrating the good and not forgiving ourselves for the not-so-good.
Today, we will strive to limit our number of complaints by looking for the good in not-so-good situations.
Because I can create peace in my mind
Even if the world is not all that peaceful
Because people write their truths
And when the heart is contextualized
hidden gems are found
waiting to be resurrected
and valued
I read because reading is valuable
And because books are the only place
where you can learn for free
I read because books are the only schools
I can carry with me
I read to learn from people
who came before me
I read to hear voices
through words
written down
to understand others
to listen to hearts
I read to find the person between the lines.
I read because not everyone can.
Happy Wednesday! Your favorite day of the week 🙂
If you’re new to this blog, learn more about No Whining Wednesday HERE.
Today’s message came as I was frying chicken strips last night. I was also listening to some throwback jams (preparing for what to choose for tomorrow!) As I was listening I thought about the night before, where I re-watched some of The Five Heartbeats. For those of you who didn’t see my post last Friday, I quoted a line from a movie, well, it was a song and I asked you all if you knew what movie it was from. Since I got no responses I figure I’d tell ya. It was The Five Heartbeats and from the scene, everyone loves – The “We haven’t finished yet” scene. Long story short, I pulled it up on YouTube. As I listened again and again and again and….you get the point, I decided this would be a great inspiring video for No Whining Wednesday!
You’ve gotta listen to the lyrics as you’re listening. Today’s message is simple: You don’t have a reason to complain because you haven’t finished yet. You are still here and, as I always say, you’ve got something to do. Enjoy and remember, today is a day of peace, not war. When you find yourself getting upset focus on rooting yourself in this present moment and don’t forget to BREATHE.
FYI: The video quality is not great but it is the only version on YouTube that played the entire song. If it’s too low you will have to plug in your speakers or headphones but it should be good though.
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