Poem for 2/25/16

I wanted him to see me

naked

He saw me naked

I wanted him to see me beautiful

He saw me beautiful

I wanted him to feel my magic
drink it all in

He saw my magic and drank it all in.

He became the mirror so I could
see all that he saw

all the love within

Babz Rawls Ivy
Poem for 2/25/16

Photo by by Camil Tulcan

My Lenten Journey 2016: Work

Colossians 3:23 NIV

Whatever you do, work at with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters

I have been most fortunate in my adult life around work and career. I have pretty much held jobs that also reflected my personal stand on social issues. I ran nonprofits. From Rape Crisis Services, AIDS Project New Haven, Domestic Violence, Jumpstart for Young Children and many others. But so many don't have jobs that reflect their passion for social justice or any other cause. For those of who are excited about exploring their faith, how does this work at work?

I don't think we do enough talking about our faith and how it relates to our work environments and how it relates to our spiritual life. So often we tie our worth to the kinds of work we do... Or we heavily identify by the titles we hold. We are not the work we do. We aren't. Nor are we less than if we don't hold big and so-called important jobs.

This week I am taking into contemplative  prayer all the ways that I see work as holy and sacred. I am inviting those that are interested to do the same. Let's discover where God is in our daily work lives.

My Lenten Journey 2016: Forgiveness

For a very long time I could never embrace the notion of forgiveness. It just seemed too easy to let someone or something off the hook. I struggled trying to wrap my brain around how to forgive and let go. I wanted to continue to hate with great passion. I was justified and self righteous. I was wounded and I needed those responsible to see that I was hurt, broken and in need of an apology of sorts.

Well needless to say that shit never happened. I have come to realize that forgiveness is not for the other people it truly is for you. A chance to take yourself off the cross. A chance to give up the sack cloth and ashes.

This Season of Lent my church's theme is  Forgiveness, Work, Justice, Fear. I am going to tackle all of them.  Starting with FEAR.

What I have learned over the years about withholding forgiveness is it's like drinking poison hoping someone else will die. Now, I embrace another way of thinking. More in line with the woman I am becoming... less concerned about payback. More about taking myself off the cross and taking off the sack cloth and ashes.

I am going to pray for more clarity and guidance around forgiveness. Look at other areas of my life where I may be called to forgive myself. Forgiving myself.

2016 On The Ready!

Sweet Sweet Sweet 2016!

I've got some old dragons coming back around. The learning continues. Old fights that have to be fought again! A few weeks ago I was ready to quit. I just had no stomach to battle the same shit again. I thought I won. I did for a few moments.... Just enough to catch my breath and see that I have to fight harder.

Sword at my side on the ready.

Be Back in 2016!

2015 was filled with all kinds of exciting and painful revelations! Of course I got to do some amazing things... Drive my oldest daughter off to college! Be a speaker at BlogHer2015 in NYC this past summer. I got a Legendary Woman award. And I am working with great authors who are crafting their first books. Oh I am so thrilled!

But the Universe is calling me to take a closer look at my life, My health is in need of my attention. Seriously. I need to really discern moving forward... Where am I going? What am I doing? I feel like I ought to cue Diana Ross and the theme from Mahogany.... Do you know Where you're going to? I think I did that a few years ago! This blog is my salvation and touchstone. I have big dreams. I intend to see them to fruition. I intend to live them. But right now I need a break.

A break is needed to attend to my dreams. My health and to my desires to be all that I can be in the years remaining of this life. I am excited about 2016!

Thank you to all who follow this little blog. Those of you who concern yourselves with my story. Thank you! Thank YOU! Thank YOU!

Merry Christmas! Temptations - Silent Night

Most Of Us Need A Love Sounding Board! By William Spivey, Guest Blogger

One of the coolest things about social media and the world wide web is you can meet people who just connect with you in unimaginable ways. I have been most fortunate to have met a great many folks who have added to the the beauty and abundance of my life. Folks who have become as dear to me as my everyday-in-my-face family-and-friends. William Spivey is definitely one of those people. He penned this post as my guest on my blog. After one of our great and illuminating conversations he suggested I write about the worth and value of having a sounding board in matters of love... No, I said, you write about it. And so he did and here it is:

Most of us Need a Love Sounding Board!

Love is hard to get right under the best of circumstances. Unless you’re one of the ones that meets the love of your life on the first try and you somehow manage to grow at relatively the same pace and communicate well enough to overcome the obstacles of life. You’re likely to fail at least once and in some cases often before getting it right if ever.

One thing women are somewhat better than men at is having a sounding board to share some of their trials and tribulations and get advice to consider beside their own counsel. I’m going to attempt to walk a thin line here and generalize about both men and women by saying women often seek counsel from the wrong sources while men often choose to go it alone. Neither method has a good track record of success. 

The optimum solution is to find your love sounding board that helps you work through your situation and is looking for the best resolution for you as opposed to them. With that in mind I have a few tips for choosing your love sounding board. They may be someone you already know well. The rationale for that is that hopefully they know you pretty well also and can make suggestions based on a working knowledge of your likes and dislikes and as important your history which if left to your own devices you are likely to repeat.

    
In a seeming contradiction your sounding board may be almost a complete stranger or         someone you only know through social media. Your sounding board to be effective must ask some deeply personal questions and it’s sometimes easier to communicate openly with someone you’ve never met as opposed to someone you have to look in the eye every day.

     

     They should ask you questions and lead you to examining and making your own choices as opposed to only telling you what you should do. Some sounding boards have their own agenda and/or strong beliefs and end up not helping you to determine what’s best for you but instead tell you what they would do in a similar situation.

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     They should be able to keep a confidence. If it’s someone you already know well they have already demonstrated whether they have that ability. They have told you who they are… believe them. A stranger that has no contact with your circle of friends may seem safe but in these days of Twitter, Instagram and Facebook it still pays to be discerning.

  

      Start slow. You don’t need to reveal your deepest secrets or fears in your first discussion although if you never reveal them you may be blocking the benefits you hoped to achieve. Ultimately there will come a time for truth telling if you want real help with your relationship concerns.

It might seem with all that I’ve mentioned that it might be best to forego a sounding board altogether and work things out yourself. You could start by asking yourself how well keeping everything to yourself has worked for you in the past? People both men and women like what they like and without an intervention are likely to repeat the same patterns over and over. My weakness was cheerleader types and I found myself attracted to pretty but relatively self-centered women that put their own interests and needs far above my own. Until someone pointed that out to me I never realized it and I submit that each of you have some pattern you are following that might not be in your best interest.

My sounding board asks me tough questions which I sometimes avoid initially but it is in discovering the answers where growth and change occur. While I have great male friends the best advice I get comes from the opposite sex which may or may not work for each of you. She asks me what I want, what is my plan, is it likely to succeed? Sometimes I go down a different path which results in the same questions put in different ways; is that what you want, is this part of your plan, will this choice make you happy?

I was (past tense) the type to go it totally on my own in love matters. I kept choosing the same type of woman which initially may have fed my ego but ultimately didn’t make me happy. Left to my own devices I’d be seeking the next cheerleader that ultimately wasn’t the best match for my personality. If going it alone hasn’t gotten you where you want to be. Seek out a sounding board that can help you redirect yourself by asking the pertinent questions that allow you to examine your own patterns and hopefully make the changes that will lead you to your relationship goal.

William Spivey happily lives in Orlando, Florida and can be found on Facebook or emailed at wspiv001@aol.com