Reoccurence

What has happened has happened then, will happen again. These are the words of King Solomon (Biblical truth)

When you've gone through a situation and it felt like everything was just falling apart, you either just slept for day. You might've made your own plans just to get out of it quicker. You've put the idea of food one side but eventually you had no choice but to eat something because you want to be stronger to continue living. 

Have you been there before?

I've been here many times, and it just sucks. Right?

Then life continues to be good, not great though but manageable. 

When life is good, what do we forget?

We have to stay humble. When life is good, you cannot let your ego get the better of you. When life is good, empathy should be the key to remember who was empathetic towards you in time of ruin(if I can call it that).

So, this morning you wake up and the "what has happened then", is 100% back again. What do you do this time? What will your response be?

Stop... Think... Choose

This method really sucks because we want to get angry, say what we feel and think.

A little bit of advise.

If you didn't learn the first time it happened, or by the second reoccurence, you will definitely struggle the time around.

The Final Bow

You have #bowed down to things & people who did not serve you and that weighed you down. For a very long time you didn't know how to accept yourself because you were to dependant on others to you what about you is or is not acceptable. If people refuse to look at you in a new light and they can only see you for what you were, only see you for the mistakes you've made, if they don't realize that you are not your mistakes, then they have to go.

Accept yourself, love yourself, and keep moving forward. If you want to fly, you have to give up what weighs you down.

But, thank God, you gave your final goodbye bow, a laugh and wished them peace, and finally living the desired life. 

#realtalk_with_leslene

Truth is...

The truth is, unless you let go, unless you forgive yourself, unless you forgive the situation, unless you realize that the situation is over, you cannot move forward.

This is for your own good because, taking offends to what others do or did, will place you in harm's way. 

So here's the thing...

The most important kind of freedom is to be what you really are. You trade in your reality for a role. You trade in your sense for an act. You give up your ability to feel, and in exchange, put on a mask. There can't be any large-scale revolution until there's a personal revolution, on an individual level. It's got to happen inside first. 

And if you say it is actually happening on the inside, then there's absolutely no need to walk around with that face that looks like you're angry at the world. Or that death stare you give everyone who's actually genuine with you. 

Many people claim or I've heard quite a few people say "my mouth won't say it, but my face definitely will" 

That statement right there, is one of the fakest ways a person can show themselves. 

So...

Thinking something does not make it true. Wanting something does not make it real. But, doing what you said you did will make a whole lot of difference to the lives of those who are actually happy for being set free by those who claim they put up a boundary. 

Decisions...

I love decisions. Especially when I know it will be good for me. Making decisions where my life and others are concerned, it will definitely show in my actions. I am happy, I am playful, I am showing that this decision will benefit the next person as well. I won't be sad because I made a great decision, I will be happy. Because now I can focus on experiencing fruitful friendships. Maybe even friendships I was denied as a young person. Yes it was good for me then, but now that we're older and good on making the right decisions, I am happy to test the limits. I am happy to see what I'm really made of. I am happy to encounter people with different characteristics, temperaments and definitely see if they are able to tolerate me. 

The truth is...

When you say you're changing for the better, be better. Or else we can and will safely assume you've created yourself as a god in your own image. Who judges sinners for sinning differently, when it turns out that God hates all people who walks around with an image filled with entitlement and pride. 

Just Imagine....

Imagine God made decisions about you based on what He's heard from other people and not coming to you and ask you about it? And what makes it worse, he doesn't bring the ones he's heard the stories from to you, to confirm it it's true. 

To me, that says nothing about the one carrying a story about someone else to God, but it definitely says a lot about God and who he is. 

Would you want someone like that in your life if you knew that's the type of person God is? I sure wouldn't. 

But you know what? I thank God that he IS NOT the type of person who makes his decisions based on what others tell him. 

You approach God to find out what you did because you see him walking around with this stinking attitude towards you, because he's done so much for you and now he makes statement that you are his BIGGEST REGRET and he just wish he could take everything back. 

Wow!

Question.

How do you feel after reading that?

My answer.

A stabbing feeling right up my spine and into my heart. That's exactly what I feel and I'm imagining, what if that was exactly how God is?

Thank goodness, he is merciful, gracious and ever-loving and he understands our sinful and fleshly nature. Whenever I judge a friend, or whomever, "he remembers that I am only human..." Psalm 79: 89

Just as the word of God communicates and is very clear of what our next step should be, we very often discard it and continue with our fleshly nature. 

My plea...

Communicate when someone has done something that bothers you or if you don't understand their actions. They might just apologize and learn. 

Ooooe the pressure

Like seriously, it must be so tiring to be miserable one day, kind of happy the next, and then suddenly shockingly moody? 

We all have our problems, issues, etc but, come on man. Let's stop being miserable, angry or moody at the people who don't deserve those moods. 

You want to know why some people are miserable,  they have this massive expectation of others or things. So whatever your expectations are of people or things, it's best you lower them. You'll definitely be happier. 

Things, disappoint, and people definitely disappoint. 

The happiest people in know are always evaluating and improving themeselves. The unhappy, miserable, moody people are always evaluating and judging others. Do you perhaps fall into that category? 

When you are unhappy with someone or something no matter what they say or do to you, a no reaction from you is a good and mature thing, but what is the use of a no reaction if you're gonna walk around with that hatred or an unhappy face where everyone can see?

When you do decide to respond or react to whatever makes you miserable.... you better make sure you are ready and have all your ducks in a row. It might just hit you even harder. 

Do not let your tongue mention someone else's fault. You have faults to and others have tongues too. 

Maybe, just maybe... when you self examination will stop the pressure. 

Where you placed me

You are holding women to a higher standard than men," he said. "Madame used to tell us that this is traditional, for men have usually been the judges, and they put women either in the gutter or on a pedestal.

Men have traditionally forgiven one another, for they know and excuse their own failings, but they do not forgive women for falling off the pedestal.

 
With that being said, you placed me on a pedestal so high up, and now you're the one disappointed. I told you if you don't want any surprises, then don't think you have me all figured out. I enjoyed the pedestal, but that was your mistake.
So next time put me on a pedestal, I will fall off because I can never achieve the perfection of your expectations.

The Smile

The smile that says " my heart is filled with peace and gratitude" 

The smile has always been there, but it was definitely a struggle keeping it there. I could never find it all joy when trials and tribulations came. I would smile but had so much heartache. So much pain was laying dormant. Pain and heartache I decided should not be known to anyone. But one day, the day you decide you need your smile to be more than real, that was the day a voice said, "You have made known to me the ways of life, but in Your presence is fullness of joy." Acts 2:28

My smile hides nothing anymore. My smile is filled with peace, gratitude and a love that cannot be taken away.

All the days

"And in this I give advice: It is to your advantage not..." 1Cor. 8:10

There was a time in my life, I felt very insecure about myself. I was told, I'm being crazy because I'm perfect the way I am. For me that was never good enough, especially when it came to.my hair.

I used to wear my hair straight, and it was a massive head ache for me, always looking or waiting on someone to blow dry my hair. If that person was not available, it felt Luke my world's just ended. It became a massive burden. 

Then there were the days I would decide to make my hair frizzy and when I got tired of that I would just tie it up. A few days in with tied up hair, it would then be Me against a nagging headache. What does a girl have to do to make herself love something about herself. If there's one thing liked about myself most days, it would be my hair, but only on most days. Not all, just most. #heheheheee 

The thing is, at some point I had to get to some level of loving my hair, myself and everything about me. So now, you are at this point where you finally made a decision, that I actually love my frizzy hair more than having it blowed out. I personally don't use expensive hair products, coz it doesn't work for me. I decided that it will embrace my natural hair, no matter what. And this "no matter what" doesn't just include my and my feelings about it, IT INCLUDES YOU as well. You who walk pass me some days and feel my hair is too messy for your liking and would feel you want to blowdry it, you would even do it for free. 

My point to all of this madness is, I DO NOT need your aaawhs and your oooohs, on the days my frizzy hair looks lovely, and on the days that my hair look hideous, I still will embrace my hair. It is called "back to me roots" It is my natural hair. 

This is the hairbinqas actually born with before I decided to mess it up with all kinds of chemicals, and you know what, some advice I got from hairdressers back then, "why do you want to struggle with your hair being so frizzy, there are lots of products on the market to fix these types of hair." Wow! What a shock to my system, NOW.

I know if I did not embrace my natural hair, it would always be a huge burden. But now I like my hair. I've always known I would one day go natural again, but i had to embrace the thought, coach myself and then do it. And now I am happily loving myself and my hair. 

Me being happy about naturally frizzy hair, whether it looks perfect today and a disaster tomorrow, should not be your burden. The Word of God says, it benefits me at the end of the day, because this is what I did for me. So whatever anyone's opinion or judgment toward me and my beautiful curly crown, it will never make me change my hair or my opinion about anyone deciding to go natural or straight. You do what benefits you and what you had to do to love yourself, your hair, or whatever parts on.your body. 

So with that being said,...

# Be mature enough to accept her decision she made.

# Be mature enough to focus on yourself.

# Be mature enough to know when the battle is not yours to fight.

# Be mature enough to keep your judgements to yourself.

#IAMSHE Happy and free

How do you come out.....?

It's funny how we outgrow what we once thought we couldn't live without, and then we fall inlove with what we thought we didn't even wanted. Life keeps leading us on journeys we would never go on if it were up to us. Don't be afraid. Have faith. Find the lesson. 

So, what we I believe, is what I will experience. If I believe there is no magic in life, then I will definitely never experience it. If I believe the miraculous is not real, then I will never accept it when I see it. If I believe I am limited in what I can do, accomplish and become, then I'll always live within the confines of my imagination. 

This has always been one of my biggest struggles and it always left me behind. 

It's really time that we think about our attitudes towards ourselves. Your attitude toward yourselves will continue to be negative because you continue to wait on others for a go-ahead. 

So, if you have been waiting for a sign that tells you which way you should be going, this is it. 

Go straight back to yourself, and know you are amazing, beautiful, and so worthy of your own love, and you don't ever have to wait for someone else to give you permission to dress up, dress done, dream, and fulfill it. 

Like Marianne Williams says:

Our deepest fear is not that we are  inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, 'Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous?' Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.

In the face of shame

 

There was that broken year, on that broken road, and thank goodness I'm not on that broken road anymore, but I still reminisce sometimes to remind myself what roads not to take. 

I have not been myself for a long time, and even if I pretended not to notice, my subconscious reminds me. Sometimes we abandon ourselves because that's the pattern we've always known, and it's toxic as hell, but we keep doing it. It's hard to understand but sometimes familiar feels like love, and God....

I've been trying to love myself my whole life, and I'm telling you now, the hardest thing I've ever done is unlearn all those patterns and teach ME the right way to love. So many shameful moments. Hand over my face moment. Hands in my hair moments. But all those moments made me realize my many flaws, too many to mention and those flaws are so much larger through my own eyes. But the one flaw that suffocated me slowly was the way I gave too much to other people who only deserved me for a season. There's always been a stubbornness that never allowed me to learn my lesson. That was another in the face of shame moment for me but, NOW I KNOW, LESSON LEARNT!!

Shame is a painful feeling we all experience at one time or another. It often involves a deep-rooted fear that someone is going to find out about a mistake we made or a character flaw we have. When we feel shame, we want to hide from everyone. And it can lead to isolation and suffering. Sometimes the shame has nothing to do with what you did. You did nothing but shame is still there. Shame for me is most evident when someone knows you have a need but they have all the control and it hurts even more when you walk into a room knowing everyone knows that the need you have was cut off just like that. They walk with their head held high and you sit in the face of shame. 

In the face of shame is when people say, "they have no idea how bad they hurt you." yes they do love. They know exactly how bad they hurt you. That's why they had to disappear on you even though you see them everyday still. For them right now it's hard to look at you when they know they've destroyed some part within you. So my darling, don't ever think they don't know how bad they've hurt you. But you my darling, learn to do better. 

If you know you can help someone, no matter the situation, don't ever let that person walk around with shame that's hurting them. 

  

Does this reflect a person that love themselves?

 

The fact that you're still alive and on this earth even though it's been challenging and rough and sometimes you get discouraged and uninspired to keep going. 

GOD HAS A PLAN! You will grow through what you grow through. 

Everything that you're going through at some point makes no sense to you right now but at some point God is gonna reveal to you why all of these issues, challenges and problems continue to show up, and what you're suppose to learn from it. 

Again, you will grow through what you go through. 

Just because you go to sleep at night doesn't mean you're resting. You close your eyes at night and you're asleep physically doesn't mean that you're actually resting. And the reason you don't rest is because everything and everybody is and around your life is so full of issues, problems, insecurities, disfunction, negativity, your mind and your spirit is in constant turmoil. Issues, problems, arguments, yelling, all of this shit is going on... All day, everyday! So when you go to sleep at night you're not resting. 

A lot of people would say, "I love myself" Do you really love yourself? Are these things that you're doing and the people you're hanging out with, the places and circles you're travelling in, does that reflect the person that actually love themselves? If you love yourself, why would you choose to associate with those type of people? You know what they saying behind your back. You know exactly how they operate. They know you have so much going for you yet you know how they pretend to be on your side. You know how they pretend to like you and they've made it crystal clear by sending you every sign imaginable that they could possibly send you. Because you're so desperate to have people in your life, you continue to go back. You continue to show up to everything they invite you to KNOWING WHAT THEY SAY ABOUT YOU. 

Don't get me wrong. I'm not preaching separatism. I don't want a bunch of people to just be alone at home doing nothing with no friends and no family and nothing to do. I'm saying that at his point you are old enough and mature enough to understand the difference between good people and bad people. And when you're hanging out with negative, dark and dysfunctional people, you cannot expect yourself to go to sleep at night and rest. You cannot expect yourself to feel good about your day when you're including negative and dysfunctional people in your day. 

So what you grew up together!

So what you're childhood friends!

So what they're family!

We have a responsibility to walk in the direction of peace. I wanna laugh. I wanna smile. I wanna enjoy myself. I actually wanna feel good about the people that are around me. You have that as a choice. You actually do. You don't wake up in the morning and negativity, disfunction, problems and issues just randomly pop up. These are the people that you have decide to include in your life. So the outcome of your day, your hour, your minute, your week, your month, your year is always draining, always dysfunctional and always crazy because these are the type of people you decided to include. 

I'm talking to somebody. You don't love yourself. You can't say that you love yourself when continue to do what you do where these people are concerned. They're threatened, They're insecure. They have a problem with you but you don't even have a problem with them. They try and make you feel bad about you being blessed. They laugh about it, but they're throwing subluminal and very direct messages at you. They're jealous, they're envious, they're insecure, they're threatened by the idea that you're coming up in your life, your career and your life is advancing. 

God put people in your life for a reason, others are there for a season... and it's important that you recognize when people's seasons are over. IS THE SEASON OVER?

Again,... God put people in your life for a reason and others are there for a season. Is the season over or have you decides because you just need validation and all this shit and people and things around you? You decided to drag these random people into your the new season of your life. 

You have a boat and your boat is at capacity. In order for your boat to not sink and go under water, that could be your life, your personal life, your career, your relationship. Is that relationship over? Do you feel mentally, spiritually and emotionally stimulated in tis relationship?