Remember that the there is a silver lining, though sometimes it’s tarnished and needs re-polishing. Dealing with a severe illness, or losing a loved one are the most difficult situations one would ever have to go through in their lifetime. The pain of loss never completely goes away, but the “wound” will heal as time goes on and as you learn to deal with the loss. Eventually that pain will subside to a dull throb, then become replaced with the good memories of that person that will make you smile. perhaps laugh instead of cry.
Withdrawing from your store of positive energy will be taxing but will pull you through. Allow your emotions to happen as they are part of the healing process. Though dwelling excessively on loss can be detrimental to your mental health and won’t allow the healing process to take place. Positive ways to handle and get through this most difficult of times are: Don’t shut out people who care about you, pull them close, lean on them for a while until you begin to feel stronger. Go outside, if possible, and take a walk, breathe deeply in and out, let nature caress you with it’s warmth and beauty. Watch a comedic show, movie, or even a cartoon, though you aren’t really paying attention, just let the sound of its normalcy soothe you. Do something you really love even if at times you cry while doing it.
I know the saying “Time will heal all wounds.” isn’t really that comforting after the loss of one you love, but the phrase rings true. I know because I lost my beloved father ten years ago and I still miss him very much but my memories of him are beautiful and very much cherished. I send a warm hug to all of those that are going through a painful time such as this, and I wish you well soon.
Living Positively vs Negatively, Part One
May 10, 2012
When you arise in the morning and see the sun shining, hear the birds singing, you will no doubt feel the positive energy of that moment. Warm and inviting, its a great way to start your day and perhaps it will put a spring in your step. But let’s say you awaken to a stormy morning, dark and overcast, the experience would be that of a negative energy. Typically your first instinct is to roll over, pull the blankets up closer and go back to sleep. Positives and negatives are constantly surrounding us in one way or another. Its how you deal with those energies that will guide you through life’s successes, failures and even the mundane.
Positive feels good, negative feels bad, to put it in simplistic terms. Living your life with a positive attitude will enable you to better deal with life’s difficult situations that inevitably present themselves. Don’t misunderstand me, NO one can be positive all of the time, that is completely unrealistic. Even the most positive person will still experience the usual emotions sadness, anger, frustration and disappointment that accompanies life’s many pitfalls. But having a positive attitude is what will enable you to get through those more difficult times.
When life throws you a curve ball, let nature take its course and allow your emotions to flow forth as it will relieve you. Though I must caution you to not go to the extreme! Rant, to someone you trust, or write it all in an angry letter, that’s not to ever be mailed, then ball it up and throw it away, or perhaps store it for viewing later when you are at a calmer point in your life. You may say to yourself, “It wasn’t really as bad as all of that.” or “That point in my life was so difficult but I made it through.” Then laugh and throw it away or keep it for inspiration. That’s the difference between living positively and negatively its all in how you handle those crappy life moments.
Having a negative attitude can affect your mental and overall health. It will lower your immune system in addition to your mood, making you more susceptible to illness. Picture negative energy as a black ugly ball of gas or goo, stinky and tar like, surrounding you. That mess will affect every aspect of your life from relationships to your career. Would you be attracted to someone like that? Unless you are of the same personality, and misery does love company, normally you wouldn’t be. If you surround yourself with negative people and situations, your life will remain so, do the opposite, by surrounding yourself with positive influences and eventually you will be living the same way.
Positive attitude is the key to success in every aspect of your life.
Economic Stress and Those that Exploit It’s Victims
April 22, 2012
While on Twitter one day I saw that I had a new follower, so I checked it out, as I always do, to decide whether to keep, block or report. The new “follower” was Silent Counseling. This very much irritated me, because it seemed like blatant trolling for patients. I went on to block them of course but this incident lead to my writing the following blog piece you are now reading.
In my opinion, quite often, counseling is merely another venue to push pharma drugs. Pharmaceutical companies that sell them and Dr’s that prescribe them willy nilly without regard as to what harm they will cause, are no better than a ”sidewalk pharmacist”.
Many of the emotional problems and complaints, apparently rampant in today’s society, such as anxiety, anger, depression and an overall feeling of helplessness, have coincided with our failing economy. This should be of no surprise considering the great deal of job loss and high foreclosure rates suffered by hundreds of thousands of Americans today. These ‘economic-emotions”, as I call them, are the very ones deemed “necessary” for “counseling” and, unfortunately, its drug offerings. They, the pharmaceutical companies and many physicians, saw an opportunity to prey upon these victims of America’s economic crisis and increase their revenue, while looking like saints and saviors.
Now back to the beginning, and my disgust of those trolling for victims ,um, er patients, on Twitter and other social venues. You should be ashamed of yourselves! Which of course you won’t be, because you apparently have no conscience or you wouldn’t be selling and prescribing unnecessary drugs with dangerous and deadly side effects.
Pills and counseling, counseling and pills are not what is needed to help those suffering from “economic-emotional stress”, its jobs, safe housing and a revamp of our economic system that is going to save these victims of circumstance.
Warmth of the Sun
March 18, 2012
I can’t wait to go out and enjoy the rays of the delicious sunshine! I love the way it feels on my skin when those first rays find their destination, stealing my breath away, feeling all warm and tingly. I put my head back, eyes closed to savor, to savor the moment, smelling the salt air and listening to nature’s song.
Financial Crisis and “Bad” Credit Issues that Follow
March 17, 2012
The failure of the real estate market created major economic repercussions, producing a cataclysmic trickle down effect. Income for those directly and indirectly involved in the real estate industry began to plummet, especially if you worked on commission. Then a tidal wave of layoffs soon followed. If income was lost it became incredibly difficult, if not impossible, to pay your bills at all much less “on time”. This also led to so many not being able to afford the mortgages they could afford when their income was stable and/or growing. Foreclosure rates shot through the roof! These financial catastrophes affected credit scores drastically!
Those that were affected by this financial crisis are still helplessly continuing to watch their credit scores spiral out of control. It’s very difficult to pull yourself out of the bad credit abyss once you have fallen into it. One of the major issues created if your credit has gone bad is, it’s very difficult to find any lender willing to take a risk on you, and lend you money to buy a car, a home or even furniture. If you do find a lender willing to work with you it will come at a major price, such as over inflated interest rates and huge down payments. This will last for many, many, MANY years to come. This is a well-known fact, and unfortunately, pretty much accepted by all.
A popular statement I have heard and read many times over when the subject of those foreclosed on comes up, “They can rent until their credit improves!’ Unless you have been in this situation yourself, you have absolutely NO idea what it’s like trying to find decent, safe housing to rent with the “bad credit curse” upon you. You dream of finding a beautiful home in an idyllic setting to rent until you can rebuild your financial life, only to find yourself in a continuous nightmare of epic proportions! The only dwellings that you will find available to one with bad credit are typically owned by slum lords, who are shady at best. The houses have major issues that those with good credit wouldn’t even consider renting, like unrepaired water leaks that cause mold, roaches, mice/rats, non-working A/C and/or heat, doors and/or windows that you can slide your hand under to the outside, when it’s CLOSED, the list is endless.
You begin to feel “punished” and suffer from relentless embarrassment, humiliation and degradation! You are constantly requested to write letters of explanation as to why you are a “worthless loser” according to your credit score. Even if you do explain that your credit suffered due to your income being reduced because of the economy, or worse yet, job loss, you will still find mostly rejections. You are treated as though you brought this upon yourself. Which is inevitably followed by begging someone to give you a chance to redeem yourself. They, lenders and rental companies/owners, look upon you as a credit leper, so dirty and disgusting they don’t want you in their presence.
But, let’s say you finally do find someone “willing” to “let you give them your money”. Typically the rent will be over inflated, and double security deposits will be required. But the bad credit “fun” doesn’t stop there, no, you will need utilities and will be faced with the very same attitudes and bad credit leprosy issues that will require larger than usual deposits to get the utilities turned on!
The financial crisis was brought on by banks/lenders (Countrywide, FanniMae ect) with bad lending policies, (interest only loans, bait and switch situations etc) and your own government! The victims of this crisis isn’t the banks its American citizens! I would also like to add, those who received bail-out money were the banking/lending industry, ans the Government not those who lost their homes. Not to mention the insurance money they also received on bad loans, AND BONUS they kept all the houses/properties they foreclosed on! And yet, they are still attempting to evoke pity under the guise of the inability to sell the homes/properties they seized, which I consider ill-gotten gains .
WE NEED A COMPLETE Revamp of our economic system and its “rules”! Let’s repair our once great Country, the United States of America, and make it strong again by holding those accountable for bringing her to her financial knees!
Please note that there are many wolves dressed in sheep’s clothing who will offer to lend you money or “fix” your credit! Don’t allow yourself, no matter how desperate you are, to fall victim to their deceitful practices!
The Re-Awakening of America
January 18, 2012
Today I bore witness to, and participated in, the further re-awakening of America. The Government, more notably Congress, are attempting to slip additional Freedom busting bills through via the entities of PIPA (Protect IP Act) and SOPA (Stop Online Piracy Act). They quickly learned today via internet “blackouts” and protests, that we won’t sit idly by while they attempt to shadily pass bills that DO directly affect it’s citizen’s and their FREEDOMS. Now Senators, including our own Marc Rubio R-Fla, seem to be bailing on the bill they were supporting and steadily rushing through without, perhaps, completely understanding the impact those bills would have on our freedoms, the largest being…FREEDOM OF SPEECH!
According to Zach Carter, of the Huffington Post, Rubio posted this statement on his Facebook page ”that many other wavering Protect IP and SOPA supporters have been hesitant to admit: More than one lawmaker signed on to the legislation without understanding its technical workings and potential problems, believing it to be an uncontroversial, bipartisan bill that would support American industries.” And, that Rubio had also stated, ”Earlier this year, this bill passed the Senate Judiciary Committee unanimously and without controversy,” …. “Since then, we’ve heard legitimate concerns about the impact the bill could have on access to the Internet and about a potentially unreasonable expansion of the federal government’s power to impact the Internet. Congress should listen and avoid rushing through a bill that could have many unintended consequences.”
Unfortunately, I feel this happens quite often with bills such as these, rushed through without the time being taken to understand the possible impact on our country and it’s citizen’s. Sounds good, looks good on paper so pass it…. but what will the subsequent rules governing this possible law contain? This is why I consistently refer to what is known as the Trojan Horse. The Trojan Horse, as most know, was a large hollowed out wooden horse that contained within it Greek soldiers and it was supposedly used to infiltrate Troy and bring the city and its citizens to it’s knees. Now do you understand my analogy?
Between Congress not taking the time to read and understand the bills they are going to possibly pass or reject and U.S. citizens not fully participating in their citizenship and the rights it entails, we have become completely unbalanced as a nation and in great danger of eventually becoming another Egypt.
I must also point out one of my other favorite analogies in relation to Citizens vs Gov., the scene in A Bug’s Life when the grasshoppers are in the large sombrero. Their leader, Hopper, pulls a grain of wheat from a large bottle and throws it at one of his minions and asks if it hurt, the minion replies “Uh. Nope” and laughs, which is also followed by the laughter of the other grasshoppers. Hopper then fully opens the stopper on the bottle dumping a huge amount of grain on several of the grasshoppers and then proceeds to say…”Did that hurt?”…..”You let one ant stand up to us, then they all might stand up! Those puny little ants outnumber us a hundred to one and if they ever figure that out there goes our way of life! It’s not about food, it’s about keeping those ants in line. That’s why we’re going back! Does anybody else wanna stay? “
This is something to think about America.
Review: Martyn Badoui’s EP Borderline Crazy
March 9, 2011
Borderline Crazy
Though this is Martyn Badoui’s debut EP, Borderline Crazy, he is not new to the music scene. He began his music career, as he stated, “after exiting the womb” so instead of a wail it was a melody. He has always loved music and it shows in his voice as well as the music he composes, together they provide a velvety richness of melody, now add in the lyrics that he writes about his own life experiences and you can’t help but be drawn in. He was influenced by songstresses such as Cyndi Lauper, Patti Labelle, Gladys Knight and Nina Simone. He enjoys the distinctive sound of each and seeks to keep versatility and distinction in his own music. Through the years his confidence has continued to grow through performing at various clubs while attending the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, being heavily involved in their Drama and Music programs, and also giving many solo performances in the Sydney area. This also assisted in his gaining notoriety which lead to his performing support for the likes of Max Sharam, Emma Dean, Big Smoky and Lady GaGa, In addition to his music performances, in 2010 he traveled to New York City to star in Living Liza, produced by Australia’s own Nicole Alexander. This love of performance, whether singing or acting, has lead to his putting together and having produced his afore mentioned EP, Borderline Crazy, which is versatile, fun and showcases the richness of his voice as well his ability as a lyricist. So be sure to check him out on iTunes andLast.fm.com, also coming soon his official website, martynbadoui.com.
My Favorite Time of Day
March 9, 2011
My favorite time of the day is as the evening turns into night.
The pink and orange colors blending together looking like melted sherbet to form puddles on the earth.
The night air takes on a sweet, earthy smell with a fragrance richer than any perfume.
and the dew lights upon my cheek as though it were night’s kiss.
The birds make small chirping sounds to say “Goodnight.”, while the crickets chirp to say “Good-morning.”
The sky becomes purple, indigo and velvety with the stars sparkling like diamonds.
I close my eyes and breathe in night’s sweet perfume and listen to it’s music as I too say “Goodnight.”
>Jazz and Emotions
March 28, 2010
>Jazz music is positively loaded with history and emotion. Yes, emotion, and a wide range of them I might add. Like the bud of a flower, it continues to unfold with each generation and their interpretation of life and it’s melody. To me this music genre can evoke emotion like no other music possibly can. As the genre has unfurled itself over time it has revealed so many facets, or sub-genres, that it seems limitless as to what it is and can potentially be. I don’t think that you can completely define jazz, nor would I ever try. The musicians, singers and the songs themselves are products of life and its many sufferings as well as it’s happiest of times. If you have ever seen or listened to a jazz musician, or singer during a performance you can actually hear, see and experience their passion and fervor for life and jazz itself. Here are some performances to show you as to what I am referring to. This is Dave Brubeck playing piano, Paul Desmond on alto sax, Eugene Wright on bass, and Joe Morello on drums. The song is “Take Five”. Which is an incredibly smooth and completely relaxing melody that can carry you away. Joe Morello, who I might add was vision impaired since birth, gives an excellent performance by delivering a beat that sets the flow of the song. As for bass, it always sets the mood and poetry of the music itself.
http://www.youtube-nocookie.com/v/faJE92phKzI&hl=en_US&fs=1&rel=0&color1=0x3a3a3a&color2=0×999999&border=1
This is a fun and fabulous performance by Dizzie Gillespie and Louis Armstrong. You can see the light-hearted mood they set with their overall good humor, scatting and then using their trumpets to complete it. They were such wonderful musicians and they seemed to really enjoy performing this song. The voice of Louis Armstrong brought so much to any song he ever sang. They were and will stay true gifts to Jazz music!
http://www.youtube-nocookie.com/v/ZO1uMjz3n3w&hl=en_US&fs=1&rel=0&color1=0x3a3a3a&color2=0×999999&border=1
Love lost, unrequited, or just plain gone wrong, and the aftermath that follows almost always causes melancholia, anguish and just pure heartache to anyone who has experienced it. Here are a few songs performed by an amazing couple of ladies that can truly bring the emotion and meaning of love lost to their performance. You can almost hear the anguish in their voices and sense the pain that love must have caused them at some point in their lives. Billie Holiday performs “I’m a Fool To Want You”. The picture that accompanies this video, to me, seems to show the raw emotion that she felt as she performed this song.
http://www.youtube-nocookie.com/v/nkOo_cFTJMM&hl=en_US&fs=1&rel=0&color1=0x3a3a3a&color2=0×999999&border=1
This is “I’ve Gotta Right to Sing the Blues” as performed my eternally favorite Female Jazz singer Ella Fitzgerald.
http://www.youtube-nocookie.com/v/KMCMr5mE5oQ&hl=en_US&fs=1&rel=0&color1=0x3a3a3a&color2=0×999999&border=1
The lyrics to this song seems to sum up the aftermath of heartache. This is “Good Morning Heartache” sung by Billie Holiday, who I might add originally performed this song.
Now for love gained, the delicious part of it, and how good it makes you feel when you have it.
I am very fond of this song and no one can sing it like Big Maybelle. I just never grow tired of listening to her. This is “Candy” performed by Big Maybelle.
http://www.youtube-nocookie.com/v/WcmpFGIxeZM&hl=en_US&fs=1&rel=0&color1=0x3a3a3a&color2=0×999999&border=1
A modern-day Jazz artist that brings the aura of sexiness to the jazz genre with his melt you like butter, velvety textured voice is Kurt Elling. He is truly a treasure to Jazz music.
http://www.youtube-nocookie.com/v/WoJX3quJ9Us&hl=en_US&fs=1&rel=0&color1=0x3a3a3a&color2=0×999999&border=1
I have only touched the tip of the ice burg with today’s blog, I am by no means through with this cruise through Jazz and it’s full emotional range.
>Being 43 and Coming to LIfe
March 12, 2010
>
Being 43 and Coming to Life
- Mar. 11th, 2010 at 8:38 PM
I feel as though I am just awakening at the age of 43. I see the world so differently through my 43 year old eyes. There is more clarity. I am embracing life, my life, and what it has to offer. I am casting away the restraints that have bound me for so long. I have decided to chant a new mantra…I am tired of being aspiring….I want to be acquiring!! I had an epiphany as I stood there singing and doing the dishes for the 896th time in my life. I was thinking about how I am an aspiring jazz singer…. journalist… chef…and artist. I thought about how I am aspiring to accomplish and be so much yet have let fear of ridicule and failure to bound me, to restrain me, to suffocate me. I have survived so much in my life. The list is long and the whole emotion of it would only exhaust me and keep me in the restraints that I speak of. I am ready now to pursue, to acquire, to accomplish……to live. I am wide awake now life….my eyes are wide open….I have come out of life’s nightmarish world only to be stronger.
