Photographed by IPS Co
About a month ago I decided to vacation on a sparsely populated Bahamian Cay. It was impossible to go outside because of the buzzing mosquitoes at most hours of the day. The reason for the mosquitoes is that the environmental officer went on vacation and was not there to spray the Cay. The vacation property where we stayed had no modern day communication system (telephone, cable, internet). I did not mind because I had planed to maroon myself on the island with books and spend my free time with visits to the untouched waters (beaches). However after about a day there I was curious to know what was going on in the world; so at six o’clock in the afternoon everyday I would religiously perch myself at the dining table listening to my AM/FM radio with short wave frequency. This was reminiscent of the days when I use to watch my grandparents listening to news via radio. My friend Stephanie at this point would say ‘poor soul!’ because it was rare for me to listen to national news. On the Cay I could only pick up one English speaking channel and that was ZNS 1540 Bahamas. My ‘smatterings’ of comprehension of the Spanish language did not permit to me to engage the several Spanish language radio stations that were available. In spite of being hemmed in by the mosquitoes, and the use of the endless supply of OFF (insect repellent) there was an amazing quiet peace. One author once said “the peace that comes from being out of the confusion of getting ahead isn’t a dead peace but very alive” When I first read this quote I saw the beauty of being at peace but this week challenged that thought.
In the Bahamas headline news this week it was highlighted that copper was stolen from a transmitter site and as a result ZNS 1540 is down and may take about a month to be back on the air. Well, at this point I know that you are gasping. My heart is with the residents of that Cay. I can just imagine the residents visiting the few homes that have satellite services just to ‘keep up.’
In life we are blessed with so much and take for granted the simple things. Today I hope you can take time out and be happy for what you have and be thankful for what you about to receive.
Photographed by Yee Ting Kuit
My paternal grandmother always reminded me that I was a special child which means highly favored. The word special has varied meaning to me over the years; in the Bahamas when certain friends and family call me special it means silly. No I am not eccentric.
During Easter I stayed in a certain couple’s home, there was serenity in the atmosphere of their home. Shortly afterward I felt compelled to contact the couple, I spoke to them on several occasions thereafter but never physically met them. Sadly the husband passed away and the funeral service was held on my birthday, a few days ago. Yes, on my birthday. My friends and family members were very vocal on whether or not I should attend a funeral on my birthday given their view that he was not family.
To me this was my family as he represented so many things. Father Thaddeus Pratt dedicated his life to the honor and glory of God and has been a loving father and husband. He was married for fifty one years which is a glorious example of love and devotion. I am sure that is something we wish to emulate; Mrs Florence Pratt and I are in the same sister-hood. It was a sensible thing to do as it was a celebration of an extraordinary person’s life and co-incidentally mine.
There was a certain joy at his home going celebration. It reminded me of a feel for luxury; in terms of life’s accomplishments, achievements. It was a time to reflect, it gave me a challenge to carry on, it was a wake up call to do better and it reminded me to live life to the fullest and make the most of opportunities and time. I am no stranger to funerals after all, as my great grandfather died the day I was born, hence the reason why my grandmother calls me special.
This week marked another year of celebration. Are you taking note of the various accomplishments of your life? Are you truly grateful for even the minor endeavors of others?
Photographed by Hugh Shurley
Swatches of our time
Flowed in and out
Braided with kept memories
Embedded expressions ravaged
Graceful provoking motions
Heart head and hand collude
A stream of consciousness
Collage timeless
-
Poem by Brenda L. McCartney
Photographed by Bettmann CORBIS
Yesterday from “sunrise to sunset” I constantly thought about and noticed things about the life of the elderly. It started out with British Broadcasting Services (BBC) who featured a team of grandmothers in a community in South Africa playing football (soccer). The eldest member of the team is eighty three years old. Later in the morning I was given a gift of a magazine featuring Dominica’s recorded centenarians. The portraits of the people portrayed in the magazine have travelled the world, featured at various exhibitions and have thus created awareness, admiration, and respect.
I was filled with nostalgia as I read the article about the centenarians and as the reoccurring broadcast replayed in my head of the grandmothers playing football in South Africa. Many of my dearest memories was spending time with my ninety five year old great grandfather in the eighties learning bible verses and realizing that my ninety eight year old great grand aunt had jump through a window as she was as sprightly as we (then) teenagers after we had locked her in for the night. I remembered watching our family prepare to celebrate a cousins hundredth birthday which he never lived to see. My most recent memory about the elderly in my family was making a special trip to London for my ninety five year old grandmother (who is still alive) to see and hold my then ten month old daughter (she is now three years old). There was and is now a glow, a joy and a privilege that comes with spending time with them. Today I want you to think about the eldest person in your family and think about;
- How do you feel about their age?
- What you remember about them?
- How does it make you feel about yourself and family history?
- What emotions stir in you when thinking about them?
Maybe you can start a dialogue with the younger members of your family about this.
I hope your spirit has been lifted in this exercise, as you went through the questions, as we think about the people who have brought us together.
Photographed by John Smith
It is the middle of the week and many are burdened by the maelstrom of every day activities. Some even refer to Wednesdays as “Weary Wednesday.” It is a must that we create and inspire others as well. I encourage you to take a pause/break to be quiet and reflect so you can connect to your spiritual thoughts and be more productive in whatever your goals are today.
In a noisy busy world
A sensation to escape
The hubbub of digital technology
Coaxed instructions encroach
Passing moments
Eat into every sphere of our lives
Eyes closed
Seeking still moments
between sound and silence
Stillness flourishes
Like a well rehearsed silence
Relish, re-attune, reconnect
to deep lying emotions
Day dreaming – still moments
A settling inner peace
Stimulates in a piercing world.
-
Poem Written by Brenda L. McCartney
Photographed by Chandler
As individuals we are placed on this earth to progress in all areas; mentally, spiritual, physically etc. When we learn we move forward. I hope that what you have learned recently, whether through experience, proxy or in written form that it transports or even transform you to a position to further progress.
Golden thoughts breaks upon your
Words, phrases, sentences, titles
Outline my thoughts
Seals vivid memories
Devour emotions
Reflects moods
Drapes vision
As it resonates with significance
-
Incredible silence achieve
Epitomize lifestyles
Monologue between covers
Layer on sheets
Metamorphosis begins
As I think, see and dream
In opulent spaces
Influenced enriched
By the reverence of time spent
Talent treasured and nurtured
Patterned in expressions on pages
Framed in a collection…
-
Poem Written by Brenda L. McCartney
Ever since I can remember I have always loved books. I remember going to the library at school and I also remember waiting for the yellow mobile library to show up in the field above my primary school once a month on Thursdays. Both then and now, books have given me insights into other worlds.
In my home, my living room is set up as a library with works from my favorite authors whom tell my story and reflect my interests. I have always made it a practice not to give away or sell books even my text books from college and university. I am obsessive about this point. I loaned a psychology book to a friend in college and it has almost been twenty years but every time I see her I asked her for my book. No I am not a mean spirited. Let me explain the way I see it. As we know text books are revised all the time and that particular edition is special to me as I am familiar with it and can find exactly what I am looking for in it. I know my college textbooks very well. In college I never skipped a page as I read my books from cover to cover for fear of something that I might miss. As I get older I feel uncomfortable in loaning out my books any more because I have a phobia of my books not been returned.
There is a television commercial for the 2011 Kia Sorento. I always get excited when I see it as on the commercial books are everywhere even around a tree. To me it seems like paradise. The writer and essayist Jorge Luis Borges agrees with me, as he says “I had always imagined paradise as a kind of library.” I also always recall Carl Gustav Jung acknowledging in his book Memories, Dreams and Reflections that when he was growing up he had always like the idea of books but he did not read much. I guess most of us are like that to a certain degree. But as one notable person once said it is not how many books we have that is important but it is how many books we read. To me there are so many more books to read. Let us make a resolve to read at least one book a week or no less than a chapter a night.
It has been seven years since I left the halls of a University, but continuously rooted and recurring in my dreams are assignments uncompleted. This morning I jumped out of bed thinking that I overslept with a black and white exercise book in my hand. Is my dreams steering me towards something I need to explore? Is it conveying a few thoughts and questions about my future? Or are my dreams of late simply a gentle reminder that it is time to act on goals set earlier? Maybe a similar situation has kept reoccurring for you too?
Maybe we are too busy with the day to day happenings in our lives that we have not been listening. As Carl Gustav Jung says it best “It is on the whole probably that we continually dream, but that consciousness makes such a noise that we do not hear it.”
Its lapis eyes
Serrate the setting
Ink works veil in blue
Prime notes lined the writers pad
Crystal spire mimics
As language drops into form.
-
Poem Written by Brenda L. McCartney
Whole books at 1/2 the price! Save 50% on 50 new & upcoming fiction and nonfiction favorites!
Photograph taken from Dibos Downloads
I remember when growing up my aunt had a neighbor who took about eight years to complete her house. As a child it seemed like ages but she took her time given her resources. I remembered when it was completed she was so overjoyed the night she moved in she could not sleep.
Did you ever have a dream or goal that was so palpable that you were able to taste, smell and touch it? There are moments or perhaps days that belies that reality? Okay let us calm down, take a breath and rewind and think about what is necessary to achieve our goal.
- If there is a passion to make your dream come true coupled with a purpose we are on our way.
- If the negative suggestions do not matter and negativity falls off your back ‘like water on a duck’s back’ it is GO.
- If your (well chosen) network/support structure support and encourage you; you are on your way.
- If your master plan is continuously in gear, yes some days it is further than others but it shows continuous production, get on the move.
Well my friend, if these things are in place when you have a dream or goal then it is your literal gold mine and it will indeed make you successful. It may not be today, tomorrow, but continue to work at it because it is soon coming.
Illustration taken from Stumble Upon
Recently, after reviewing a book I found the readers who gave the author one or two stars were her most trenchant critics because of the way she expressed her actions during her precocious youth.
In life we tend to get caught up in personalities and not the lessons we have learned. Our parents are usually our first role models no matter how bad we thought they were, they have taught us survival and forgiveness. I recall one of my friends when her adult son got mad and stormed out, she would laugh and say ‘boy I am your mother you will be back.’
For most of us we do not have a biological bond with celebrity role models so we cast them in the ‘ocean of forgetfulness’ and treat them like pariahs and scoff at the mere mentioned of their name when they act contrary to what we perceive should be right. I find that people get so upset when people they hold to a certain standard (Oprah, Obama, May Angelou, Tiger Woods, Jill Scott, Erykah Badu or anyone else they put on a pedestal) show themselves as flawed and fallible.
The question is who are the fickle ones? I once read some where: people come into our lives to bring us a gift or a lesson we need to learn. So my advice today is cherish the lessons you are given and forget the bitterness and criticisms. As Napoleon Hill puts it “Criticism will plant fear or resentment in the human heart but will not build love or affection.”
Recent Comments