Tuesday, September 21, 2010

These Three Words

"When was the last time that they heard you say, Mother or Father I love you and when was the last time that they heard you say, daughter or son I love you."

That was a line from the incomparable Stevie Wonder, a song called These Three Words. These words are so precious but so often misused. Too often we use the phrase "I love you" as a means to an end, a selfish end at that. Too often we use this phrase to manipulate or to get what we want, I once wrote "saying I love you means nothing nowadays, niggas just say it so they can go and get laid, ladies believing it knowing they heart is getting played, acting so gullible, its a damn shame." This came from a conversation I had with a girl in college who couldn't understand why none of her relationships worked out, it always ended the same, guy gets what he wants and then she gets heartbroken. It seems she equated love with sex and as soon as a guy even showed the remote possiblity that he was interested she was ready, willing and able to put it mildly. My point is our view of love varies depending on the situation.

We often use love as a situational emotion, meaning depending on how we think we feel in a particular moment we may choose to use love. For instance, we often say I love you in times of despair such as a loved one passing or having a serious accident, we use I love you as a comforting phrase because we often feel guilty of not saying it enough or showing it enough. Or if we receive a gift from a loved one especially an expensive gift. Its as if the bigger the gift the more I love you. Now I'm not saying that every situation we say I love you in is disingenuous I'm just saying we don't use the act of loving enough.

Most people relate and recognize love in the realms of a romantic relationship. We've been programmed to view love as a romantic, sexual feeling. Just look in the world around us. From love songs to romantic comedies to romance novels, to these "reality" shows that sell sex, the idea that beauty is superficial, and that love means getting something in return and its easy to see that we've lost the identity of love. In my opinion we get too caught up that love is something aesthetic when love is all around us. In order to change our perception of love we've got to change our definition of love. If we perceive love as only something we can touch then we treat it as such. We've got to come to a higher understanding of what love is and what it isn't. To me love is everything, its the energy around us, its the man on the street, its the kids playing, its the birds in the sky. We have to expand our horizon on love and the effect it has on everything around us. If we can change how we define love then it can begin to work more authentically in our lives. Things would be less stressful and we would be more in tune with life, which would help us lead a more fulfilling life.

Don't take for granted that love is all around us and don't take loved ones for granted either. Let's gain a higher understanding of what love is and what it isn't. Agape.

Tuesday, September 14, 2010

The Magnificient

Its been a minute since my last post, but today I'm feeling some type of way. Today, God presented him/herself in one of the most awesome ways I have seen/felt in a while. I've always felt the presence of God in everyday life situations and I think I've always known how mighty God is but I've never really shared or talked about it. Maybe its because I didn't know how to express myself or maybe its because I felt like I didn't have to express myself, either way my point is I see it and feel it whether you know it or not.

In my opinion God is awesome because God doesn't care what your religion is, God doesn't care if you go to church every Sunday, God doesn't even care if you are not perfect. God is awesome because despite all of your short comings God is God, whether you believe it or not. Today I learned (again) that you speak into existence what you want and that God hears it exactly as you speak it. For instance I was talking to a gentleman today and I said that I play the piano and that I'm not the best or the worst and he stopped me and said that even the little statement of me saying I'm not the best or the worst was negative which made me think, how much time do we spend actually speaking negativity into existence without even realizing it?

To me, God is awesome because God shows him/herself in an array of ways and they are always palatable if you know what God sounds/looks/acts like. For me God sounds like the people in my life that I love and trust the most. Sometimes its one of my grandmothers, sometimes its an aunt sometimes a close friend and even sometimes in my favorite songs, but I always know. God to me looks like women for the most part but always a shining light. I can't quite describe the light but I always know within minutes of our conversation that I'm speaking with God. In women God is loving, beauty, nurturing, absolute. In men God is authoritative, exact, caring, comforting. In both when I see God I feel comforted, I feel true, I feel worthy.
I was reminded today that I am still with God and even though my current road is rough, I'm not forgotten and God always has people watching me around me, encouraging me keeping me close and reminding me of who I am and that I am worthy.

"If this was the last verse I ever wrote/what would I leave behind for everyone to know/know that I tried/and always did the best that I can/I'm not perfect/I barely was an average man/but I, stand for fam/and I write for freedom/tried to stay positive/tried to keep on believing/so peace to the dead/and the ones that's still breathing/you gotta keep up your head/and you gotta keep reaching/from the bottom of my heart/to the depths of my soul/these are the things that I think you should know/always keep your peace/and never forget/that throughout this life/you might lose your step/always keep your cool/and never lose your head/keep your family first/these are the rules to live/pop I made it/look at ya kid/the whole world is listening to the words I said/who would'a knew"