It Changed my Life....shhhh it's a Secret

It is simple really. We are in control of our own destiny. We have the power to control everything in our lives by not only thinking about everything we want to achieve but erasing all doubts about it not happening. Positive and specific thoughts about what we want in life will be actualized by the power of the universe. The SECRET lies within the Law of Attraction!

Supergirl and then some- My Adventures while asleep!

So every now and then when I sleep I have out of body experiences while I sleep. Well sort of...In my dream I would float above my body, escape to the skies and fly. With inhibitions released I would float above my bed and look down at my physical body still asleep in my bed. Then upon realising what was happening I’d thrust back into my body. It is perhaps the most realistic of all my dreams as I would literally feel my bed shake upon ‘landing’. My whole life I just figured this dream of mine was normal, until I started to share it. “No? That never ever happened to you?”

It is perhaps the most peaceful of my dreams. Floating above the clouds- no care in the world! Just me at one with the universe. However, recently I started doing some investigation on this sort of dream. If none of my friends had it, did anyone else in the world have such dreams? How many persons had out of body experiences that were not experienced because of the thrust of death’s gentle pull? Was I simply weirder than I had already imagined myself to be, in comparison to all the other persons I associated with on a frequent basis?

 Time to Google!

            Hmm in order to Google this I would probably need to condense this... what in the world do I search for? Out of body experiences while sleeping? Floating in my dreams while sleeping? Dreaming about flying? Sleep paralysis?

So my first thought was an OBE. I found that "Out of body" experiences (OBEs) are personal experiences during which people feel as if they perceive the physical world from a location outside of their physical bodies. At least 5 and perhaps as many as 35 of every 100 people have had an OBE at least once in their lives” (Blackmore, 1982) However, it is related to near death experiences. This was certainly not what was happening to me.

What seemed more likely was something called lucid dreaming. What is that you may ask?

“Although we are not usually explicitly aware of the fact that we are dreaming while we are dreaming, at times a remarkable exception occurs, and we become conscious enough to realize that we are dreaming. "Lucid" dreamers (the term derives from van Eeden, 1913) report being able to freely remember the circumstances of waking life, to think clearly, and to act deliberately upon reflection, all while experiencing a dream world that seems vividly real (Green, 1968; LaBerge, 1985; Gackenbach & LaBerge, 1988). This is all in contrast to the usual past characterization of dreams as typically lacking any reflective awareness or true volition (Rechtschaffen, 1978).  Lucid dreaming is normally a rare experience. Though most people report having had a lucid dream at least once in their lives, only about 20% of the population reports having lucid dreams once a month or more (Snyder & Gackenbach, 1988).”

“Celia Green (1968) reported that all her lucid dreamers refer to flying dreams, several of them describing that the flying prompted lucidity.”

Okay though it is rare it is totally normal....right?

            I was completely okay with having my liberating dreams of flight every now and then. I mean who wouldn’t want to know what it was like to be supergirl or superman, even for a minute or two? I would not give up the memories of those dreams for a million dollars. But then I came upon the 2011 movie Insidious while I was searching. So of course I had to watch it.

Surprise, Surprise the entire movie was about a child and his father who had the ability to experience the same dreams that I had. Only, their dreams came with a lot of negative things. I was completely in shock when I realised this child floated away in his regular flight dreams from his body and didn’t come back. OMG!  Clearly fictional but such a strange movie and it indeed left me spooked. -_-

Though the movie was scary and my dreams are a tad weird (YES I admit it lol). Dream floating or dream flying is indeed a cool feeling! They say your dreams expose inner most desires and that they contain messages about what is on your subconscious. Some may even go to the extreme and claim that your dreams can predict the future and reveal things about your present that you were not even aware of.

I am not sure if I believe any of that. But what I do know is that I look forward to the rare dream of flight that allows me to feel relaxed and care free; a luxury that my reality has currently deprived me of because of my many responsibilities and problems.  

My search led me to these sights..You may read more for further information.

http://www.lucidity.com/SleepAndCognition.html

http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/insidious/

http://www.lucidity.com/NL32.OBEandLD.html

The Road to Happiness

The answers to all your problems perhaps lie within the depths of your hearts. Hidden within, lies the solutions to everything just waiting for you to grab hold of it. I think sometimes we look every where for happiness and then wonder why temporary highs never seem to give us the depths of satisfaction we desire.

As humans, no matter how strong we appear, when hurt we seek a quick solution to soothe. Its the age old theory really, of human nature. As kids we fall and immediately no matter how little the bruise we cried, a signal to the world that we are hurt. We would then run to mommy or daddy to make the boo boo go away. And though as adults we don't run to mommy or daddy, we seek self soothers in many different outlets. We drink, we smoke, we have meaningless relationships, we party every night etc. We pretty much declare our pain to the world, indirectly and in more subtle ways, then await the boo boo soother.

Ever wonder why when it is all over, in moments of solitude you feel miserable or even lonely perhaps? If you can't be happy alone you probably are not experiencing true happiness. No matter how much happiness we find in temporary highs, it will never amount to anything; not unless we tackle the battles we face deep within. Some minor, some not so minor BUT we all have our problems.

Happiness? A seemingly easy concept to grasp. Happiness, something we fight to have and fight to hold unto forever. For the brief moments I struggle to find solutions or a way out of my problems, I challenge myself. What are the 5 things that you are grateful for today? What are 5 things that made you smile today?

It then leads me back to the path to fulfill my purpose...and dare I say it? Be truly 100% HAPPY! 

Gay, Straight...in love?

Once taboo the battle of defining sexuality becomes more prominent daily as everyone tries to erase the line of doubt and declare what their "deal" is. No longer do we raise a brow when we hear  'so and so' is gay, bisexual or even bicurious. We live in a world of ever pronounced sexual liberation. However, how far is too far? Do you think Jamaica will ever evolve enough to truly accept persons for who they are or who they choose to be during their path of self discovery?


Though my "deal" is straight, the open nature of others who have jumped ship from the 'straight cruise line' still confuses me. If after 10 years or so of being interested in only heterosexual relationships can one then decide that one too many broken hearts is grounds enough to change your preference? Or should you then prescribe to "label-less love" as an explanation for this? A true love that has no gender, race etc.


I have always been a firm believer in not bashing the things I have no true understanding of. So this era of open sexual liberation is no different really. I may not openly embrace it but bash it I shall not. Life is way too short for us to not live it in a way that makes us happy and feel truly satisfied with ourselves at the end of the day.


"I think the purpose of life is to be useful, to be responsible, to be compassionate. It is, above all, to matter and to count, to stand for something, to have made some difference that you lived at all." - Leo C. Rosten

Battle Of the Timeline

Like the real world in the twitter realm there is an obvious struggle by tweeters to carefully define the type of twitter personality they want to become. Though it sounds rather petty and perhaps oversimplified, given a month or so each person settles in a comfortable tweet zone. As a "noob" to twitterville in order to attain a perfectly balanced timeline I suppose you would want to follow different twitter personalities in order to get a taste of what twitter is really about. If you are a seasoned twitter user then you are perhaps already aware of the kinds of users your want to follow.


In the not so imaginary land of Twitter you may come across the following:

1. The Vixen- Her twitter picture/ avatar will be of her "sexiest" body parts or may include a picture of her face giving the most seductive look she could come with after many a take in her mirror pictures. She may also have a name like @MisBigBooty_69 and a twitter bio that is so provocative you feel almost guilty reading it. The vixen's tweets hardly ever contain anything edifying but is sure to give you your "money's worth" on Titty Tuesday, Thong Thursday or Twitter After Dark.   
2. The Jest- Their aim is simple. "I must make you laugh!" At the expense of the readers you may witness the growth of a genuinely funny tweeter, a corny tweeter or a simply annoying tweeter. The jest may start out with original material and is then fueled to attack fellow twitter users tweets in order to get a joke and a couple new followers.
3. The Techie Geek: He or she gets excited at the prospect of a new gadget, ap, site etc. And is often ideal in getting an informed opinion about just about anything technology related.
4. News Junkies: Journalist, News hubs, lawyers etc. will occasionally post news items as soon as they happen or are published. Current affairs and informed opinions on them are to be expected.  
5. The Attention seeker: He/She does just about anything to get new followers. "Accidentally" post controversial tweets and pictures. He/she may steal other person's material and post it as their own. He/she is not afraid to get into a twitter fight and ensure that she retweets all the action so her/his timeline gets front row seats for the action. There is never a dull moment with this user. But watch out the drama may become annoying after a while. 
6. The "whoops I thought this was an msn group chat" Tweeter: He/she will flood your timeline with conversations that you can not follow. Not only will they mention random information. He/she may also go as far as mentioning names of persons who are not on twittter. Random tweets of "Lol" or "I can't believe Sally just said that to me" are to be expected. 
7. The Lyricists: When words fail and no opinions can be formulated. This user will flood the time line with #nowplaying #nowwatching and will quote movie lines and songs constantly.
8. Promoters: This seems to be a growing breed. Everyone seems to have a person, party, song, product, fragrance or blog to promote. 
9. Corporate Tweeters: All tweets will be professional and business related. However the masters of the Corporate tweeting game will ensure that they are not only interactive but utilize twitter to ensure that they increase interest in their business. They try to answer each person personally and not with an auto response feature. The TRUE master of the corporate twitter game keeps up to date with twitter trends and see how best they can promote their product without coming across as pompous. 
10. The Spoofers: They create mock accounts of celebrities, famous media personalities, characters from shows. The most recent spoofer that raised a brow or two was the   @BronxZoosCobra who has over 200,000 followers and whose most recent achievement included hacking "American Idol" host, Ryan Seacrest's Twitter account on April Fool's Day. Be sure to check if your celebrity's account is a verified twitter account before you click that follow button. Unless of course you are in for a few laughs and don't mind who is behind the spoof. 
11. Team Follow Back: He/she will tweet but will encourage you to retweet his/her tweets or will mention a bunch of other users who are sure to follow you back. Their sole purpose it seems is to have "total twitter domination" *insert evil giggle here* hmmmm but from my observation it seems to be a competition to see how many persons they can get to follow. What do you do when you have all the twitter users though? Tweets of substance would be nice while we wait for your so called domination    -_- 
12. Social Tweeters: They tweet about the highlights of their day, they will comment on tv shows, new music, new products... just about anything that tickles their fancy. Highly opinionated, naturally funny and never makes desperate pleas for new followers. 
13. Celebrities: My favorites in this category are: @adamlevine @lilduval @AngelaSimmons @OfficialKimora @tyrabanks @chelseahandler @rihanna @NICKIMINAJ @kanyewest @charliesheen

A Game of "Hearts" : Our Mistakes according to Iyanla Vanzant

The Thirteen Most Common Things We Do in search of Love or a Relationship in which we want to be Loved

1.       All signs say this is not the one, but you ignore your internal alarms, and move ahead into a love fantasy.

2.       Because of your fear of living alone, or because you believe you cannot have what you want in a relationship, you accept the first person who comes along, only to be left, beaten, ripped off, or impregnated and then left, beaten, ripped off.

3.       You confuse friendship and niceness with romantic love.

4.       Because someone is nice to you and you are not used to it, you don’t know how to say no to them when you realise they are not who you want.

5.       You get caught up in the packaging and promises

6.       You force your desires for a relationship onto another person, or issue an ultimatum. Because the person does not know how to say no, s/he goes along with you… for a while

7.       Because the other person expresses an interest in you, you respond without really exploring if this is who or what you want.

8.       You allow blind faith, which leads to blind love, to take you into a relationship that is unhealthy.

9.       You choose to believe that what your partner has done to another person, s/he will not to do to you.

10.   Sexual compatibility is mistaken for love

11.   You stay in a relationship although you are miserable, trying to work things out even when your partner shows no interest in working through the difficulty.

12.   You don’t express what you really feel because you believe it will hurt your partner’s feelings.

13.   You choose to believe your partner’s lies even when you know the truth. You act like you do not know what is going on when you do.

 Written by Iyanla Vanzant 

Adventures in Macro!

While doing work with a local paper I had to do a section dedicated to gardening. I wasn't really excited to do it; perhaps because I really knew nothing about gardening really. However, I really love taking photographs and it made me brush up on my Macro Photography skills. Oh the wonders I could do if I had a better camera! lol BUT my 7.2 mega pixel camera in hand I set out to portray the flowers in the best way I knew how :)

Open Diary

Today amidst the noise I found an inner peace which filled me with a complete state of euphoria. I closed my eyes and took time out to listen to my heartbeat and embrace the wind as it gently touches my skin. Not to feel a sense of relaxation but rather a sense of appreciation. For the first time in a really long time I felt completely at peace with God. There I sat feeling a sense of self assurance despite all the world decided to throw at me this week. But I decided then and there that like a Goddess I would walk because I felt a sense of happiness that I somehow thought I had lost along the way. With my eyes closed and in that very moment I could do anything if I put all trust in the creator.

So slowly I opened my eyes ready to take my new found confidence and expose it to the world like streaker at a world cup game. This freedom and happiness was something I wanted to world to see. But there before me as I opened my eyes was an ideal reason for lust and temptation. No longer was I thinking about this liberty that had pounced upon me in my brief moment of thoughts with God. The incarnation of my personal devil appeared on my shoulder and ever so gently she whispered "lust". Lust indeed for this creature was magnificent. No true impure thoughts of him but merely an admiration for his magnificent presence. 


Not quite sure how well the feeling of lust settles within the deep parts of my heart. But one thing is for sure it is a sin I divulge in way too often!

                                                                                                             

A Game of "Hearts" : The Cinderella Story

Once upon a time, girl meets guy and they fall in love. They ate together, laughed together, cried together and planned their futures together. Cinderella and Prince Charming had nothing on this modern day fairytale.  Unlike Cinderella however, this fairytale came to a bitter end as the stained glass windows we created shattered as soon as the rocks from the world were thrown. As I and many other woman around the world quickly discover it is impossible for a happily ever after to occur without a few hiccups along the way. Suddenly, single life was created and everything around became a game of hearts.


Though the concept of a "fairytale" still baffles me. Given the stereotypes and the many baggages we carry around today it makes me wonder what would happen if they made a part two to this fairytale...you know a behind the scenes "reality show" of what it was like in the castle. In fact I believe that Prince and Cinderella got married under such unrealistic circumstances of attraction they perhaps went to bed nightly wrapped in the sheets of the "woulda, coulda, shoulda" syndrome. "Maybe I should have had another ball to search for her"... "It would have been so much better if didn't marry royalty, what a snob he turned out to be"..."I could have accomplished so much more if I had waited".....


Do you think that there is a Prince Charming searching high and low just to find you? Refusing to dance with the other eligible women in the village with the hope of one day finding you? Simply refusing to date around because you are out there? I think not.

Cinderella so young, so naive, so locked away from men perhaps just saw the opportunity of a romantic love affair with a wealthy handsome Prince as a way of escaping her sad reality. Just like every other woman, she too had a dream of romantic bliss and the longing for her "rags to riches" story. Were the delusions of the perfect man enough to create a happily ever after with a handsome stranger? Too many women have this syndrome. Perhaps we don't want the "rags to riches" story but we meet a man and our delusions of what we want him to be cause us to somehow make this a "reality". We see what we want to see and find it impossible to see the obvious signs that he isn't the right guy for us. Elizabeth Gilbert said it best in her book Eat, Pray, Love- "In desperate love, we always invent the characters of our partners, demanding they be what we need of them, and then feeling devastated when they refuse to perform the role we created in the first place."   This epitomizes what I like to call "The Cinderella Syndrome".  We create a Prince Charming of our own criterion and when he fails- because he will-  to meet the expectations of our delusions we end up devastated. 


To master the game of hearts in the real world, we must unveil the flowery imageries we create about what we want our men to be like and see them for who they really are... Beer drinking, sports loving, hairy creatures...Still worth planning your happily ever after with? Or was it just an illusion we so desperately wanted to be real?