Beautiful You

Raise your hands if you’ve ever wished you were someone else. Ok. Now raise your hands if you‘ve taken that wish a little higher by actually attempting to live out someone else looks, characteristics, and even habits? Say it isn’t so? Look around you…on the television screen, while driving to and fro, your neighbors…even yourself. Has your life’s mission taken on a face that isn’t even yours?

You and I so uniquely created and crafted with love, yet our individualism is lost when we neglect ourselves in the pursuit of attempting to be like others. Look at the “octo mom”, for example. An unwed mother of six already living with her parents decides to have eight more children (in my opinion) to get a reality show like the couple with eight or the family with 19 kids. The money she got from her notoriety she decides to use it on plastic surgery to look like another famous person, Angelina Jolie, who ironically has six kids too. Some can see what she did as merely following a trend, and indeed, there isn’t a thing wrong with that, so long as following trends don’t take over your life.

Beyonce started wearing lace front wigs, now that “trend” has spread like the bubonic plague. Are people wearing hairy hats on their head for convenience or is it that they’d like to look and even for a second, feel like Mrs. Knowles-Carter?

We all admire things about others. The way they wear their hair, they way their bodies look, the way they communicate, their athletic ability etc, but just keep in mind the things you admire in other people, they took the time to develop in themselves. In essence, they accepted their individuality and honed it. They illuminated the gifts that they were born with. So should you. It takes a lot less effort to love and cultivate self than to try to be like someone else. You are not them. You are uniquely, beautifully you!. Diversity makes the world go around. Diversity catches our attention. Diversity is the Most High God showing off! Why take away from that? You were created in perfection.

No one can be you and you certainly, no matter how hard you try, can’t be someone else. So love the skin you’re in and build on that beautiful canvas you were born with! In doing that you’ll realize that trends starts from the individual, not the followers.

Peace, Love, and a whole lot of individuality,
SahshaJay

I'm just keeping it real...

Every dog has its’ day…so does ever man, woman, child, and cat for that matter. We all have those days where we succumb to whatever issues we choose to make larger than Life. I do too. In fact, I had that day (actually day and a half) recently. I, Sahsha Campbell, Ms. Motivational quote of the day, Ms. Fake it ‘til you make it, Ms when you’re cool the sun shines on you twenty-four hours a day, had a grey cloud over her head like Shleprock (big up all my old school heads who knows who Shleprock is). So grey was my day that it inspired me to write a poem about it. Wanna hear it? Hear it goes. Now, I’m sharing this with you all in total confidence…SSHHH, don’t tell anyone that I’m human too.

Before I share it (anticipation’s a bitch isn’t it?) I must say that getting wet by a grey cloud without a raincoat didn’t feel good at all. I’m a sunshine-type of girl. After I whined and lamented, I grew so tired of hearing myself, I simply stopped. I pushed rewind to hear just how pathetic I sound and realized that the soundtrack to my day sounded like a scratched up 45” record…old and tired! The chatter in my mind soon fell victim to my heartbeat and I remembered that I was alive and what I do with this day is what I will. Things can always be worse, and indeed they just might appear to be worse one day, so why not celebrate right now? Indeed, things might not be the way you want them to be right now, but the last I checked today only lasts twenty- four hours. Let’s not bring today’s clouds into our tomorrow. The weatherman forecast clear skies.

Peace, Love and…oh yeah, the poem.

Cleverly titled “Outta”

Outta Advil, money, and maxi pads
Bread, water and other things I had
Outta time, my own space, and ways to style my hair
Patience, gas and clothes to wear
Outta mind, ideas and stamps to pay the bills
Broccoli, rice cheese, and I wore down my high heels
Outta advice, outta detergent, outta desktop PC
Outta thinking I know exactly how things ought to be
Outta SMH’s and LOL’s
Outta TTYL’s and WTH’s (what the hell’s)
Outta line, outta key and outta emotional blurbs
Outta steam, outta games, outta touch, outta words…

But I still have a lot of life.

Cheers to your tomorrows,
SahshaJay

Soul Rebel

Some Articles say that Oscar Grant resisted arrest. I don’t believe he resisted arrest. He resisted what he felt was unjust and blatantly disrespectful. It’s in a human’s nature to be free and if we feel at any given time our freedom is being restricted by an outside force for unlawful means, we rebel. Oscar Grant wasn’t a criminal. He was criminalized. In life and in death, he stood for the inequities of law. He was a soul rebel. I suppose a person who is mentally enslaved wouldn’t over stand my view.

Laws were created to be broken. Yes, I said it, and I’ll say it again. LAWS WERE CREATED TO BE BROKEN! If a man sets down a law that HE (or his cohorts) sees appropriate for whatever purpose he has, naturally, it’s only going to appease a certain amount of people. A law, in essence is one’s opinion of how they think things should be. For those who do not agree with his stance, a rebellion is sure to come, whether in a form of protest, riot, petition or flat out non- compliance. Why do you think there is a plethora of crime in the U.S? Statistically, the countries with more law have more crime and those with less law less crime. If laws were natural, they would change, just as nature does. Yet most laws that have been in use haven’t changed in hundreds of years. How can they still be effective? (Man made laws that is. Universal laws of love and truth remain although opinions on that do vary) If my parents still told me to be home by midnight, even at age 33, rest assured there would be a disagreement. Why? Because I’m not the same person as I was then and their roles as parents have changed to a certain degree from twenty years ago. Naturally.

To take it a step deeper, the soul is like the wind. Guided by its inner voice, the only thing it likes to follow is its creator and its host. Our maker allows us free will. It’s certainly a challenge to live free while being governed by the opinions of others. A law has never prevented a crime, brought world peace or inner peace for that matter so to live under such constraints can be viewed as, well, sin. (“broken” laws sure have gotten some rich, but that’s another story)

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying we all take our free will and run amuck! Nor am I implying that one should cease living the way they want to because of such laws. That wouldn’t be natural either. I don’t feel it’s the best thing to loot stores because of a wrongful verdict or murder (that’s taking from yourself and it doesn’t change what was done). What I am saying is it’s ok to set your own rules and execute them, not expecting anyone else to follow them or even like them. Set your standards of love, relationship, worship, and justice. Take control of yourself and let your spirit be your guide. That’s truly living free. Be prepared for any consequences that come from taking control or not taking control, as it’s all part of the cycle of life. One thing is for sure, you’ll never be at peace living someone else’s opinion and you’re not living if you haven’t discovered what you’re here for. To all the living soul rebels out there, I salute you. Keep discovering the meaning of your life. To all the rebels who are no longer physically with us (Jesus, Malcolm, Martin, Harriet, Marcus, Jimi, and yes, Oscar) thank you for living. Your lives’ have shown us, amongst other things that standing for yourself can simultaneously assist in liberating others.

Chemistry: Sweet Candy

Although people show themselves for who they are at a particular moment, our mind gets a kick out of painting a different Picasso of them. It’s that sugar rush I like to call chemistry. Life often imitates art, but the life we give to someone in our mind isn’t quite the same as the real life canvas.

Maya Angelou said something (I know, many things) profound. I was a teenager when I first heard it and although I understood what she was saying, it didn’t really resonate in me until I matured a bit. “People show you who they are early on, we just CHOOSE not to see it” (and I’m paraphrasing here).

Attraction to an individual can be so strong that we make that apparent chemistry equal to “this person must be my soul mate”. We, in turn, allow ourselves to go through delusions. “Pain equals love” and “He/she will change once I prove myself…” I liken chemistry to pop rocks. Initially, we are turned on by this firecracker type magic going on in our mouths. That electric feeling makes you go for it again and again. It gets your attention! That doesn’t mean that it serves any other purpose than to get you excited, and that certainly doesn’t mean it’s good for you (pop tarts have zero nutritional value and the last I heard, someone died when they ate it then drank soda! Hey, that’s what I heard). Too much of anything, even when it feels good, isn’t healthy. Chemistry overload, anyone?

Chemistry, just like pop rocks, wakes us up! Chemistry stirs up our soul for a far greater reason than a lingering high. Maybe what you’re feeling is a preview of something to come. Maybe that person came around to teach a valuable life lesson and that’s it. Sometimes, chemistry’s feeling is so great, so unusual, that our sole purpose, it seems, is to seek out that feeling again and again, ignoring the side affects that may come with it (sounds like any drug addiction, right?) When in search of our soul mate, we are blinded by the presentation and the feeling of the person, ignoring all the potentially harmful ingredients.

I once dated a man that I had tons in common with. He felt real good and our chemistry was even greater. He felt so good that I conveniently ignored the fact that he told me, in so many words, that he still wasn’t completely over his ex and because of that, he would have a hard time letting himself commit to another. Well certainly he feels what I’m feeling and this feeling will eventually get him over his ex. Besides, why else would he be hanging out with me? (duh).
Weeks to turn to months and I was continually referred to as his “friend” and nothing more. Sure we were cool but friends? We weren’t friends, we were lovers…right? This chemistry means more than a friendship…or so it seems. Then the high subsides for just enough time for me to realize this was the same guy who told me from date # 2 or 3 that he couldn’t commit. Damn, sweet candy sure can cloud your sight.

Don’ t get me wrong, chemistry is a great thing; it’s an essential beginning to any healthy, long lasting relationship. However when chemistry keeps you so high that you can’t see the sky is falling from under you, it’s time to put down the pipe, go back into the lab (heart and mind) and reformulate the ingredients to good love.