Categories
Poetry Self Awareness Topic Words of Wisdom

Place of Peace, Interrupted

As I write this, I am thinking about everything going on in the world right now and in the recent past. Too many people are senselessly losing their lives, and for what? People who feel that they are more powerful than you. People who feel that we are not worthy of life on this earth. The same way they are living and breathing; we have the right to be here too. The world is in chaos and a lot of us are experiencing unrest. Any semblance of peace, fading away. It is a sad state of affairs.

I can go on, but I think from the poem, you get where I am going with my sentiments. The price of peace should not be this expensive. Such a simple concept seems like too much to ask. Peace looks different for all of us. Be it 10 minutes alone with your thoughts, a one-hour nap, 20 minutes of meditation or cherished time with loved ones. Maybe, a day of not having to look over your shoulder in fear of being snatched up on the street.

Thank you for taking the time to read the post. My hope is that sooner rather than later, things will look up. I know in my heart that better days are to come. Prayer is always bigger than any problem.

Stay well and be blessed🙏🏽💞

Categories
Poetry Topic

Tempered Sentiments

Tempered Sentiments- a Poem

Virtuous woman, what 
A thing of the past
Resolve, compassion, dignity, and the like
Dissolving over time
Into the abyss

Softness given freely
Hearts willing to give
Discarded, taken for granted, time again
The point of no return
Is when she says, No

Get out my face and go
Softness gone, heart shut
Willing, no longer, spent are days in limbo
Virtuous she remains
Now, the wall is up

Check out Delicate Flower, She Be

Thank you all for taking the time to read my poem. 🙏🏽

Categories
Info Topic

The Link Between Heirs, Inheritance and Hereditary

The Link Between Heirs, Inheritance and Hereditary

The connection that links

Heirs, inheritance and hereditary are all the same in different ways. Confusing; I know. So, look at it this way. If you are an heir, you may be sole or jointly next in line to inherit property. If there is a will prepared by the decedent of such property this eliminates any confusion about who the said property belongs to. The absence of a will is what creates the heirs property situation.

Heirs property can create in-fighting among families who may feel that they are the rightful owner. Court papers need to be filed in the state if someone would like to transfer ownership into their name.

Inheritance can be something medical or tangible like real estate or money in the form of a trust fund. Other property can be named and left to a person(s) when someone dies. Family heirlooms or automobiles, art collections and/or coin collections. An example of a medical inheritance can be in the form of a genetic abnormality. You might inherit sickle cell or a heart condition. These conditions are passed down from one or both parents to their children.

High blood pressure is a form of hereditary disease that runs can run in a family. It is just one of a host of other medical conditions that get passed down from generation to generation. Going back to heirs property which is something passed down from generation to generation.

As you can see, heirs, inheritance and hereditary are the same in some ways depending on the context of how you are using it. What a confusing trifecta!

Thank you for stopping by to read! 💞

Image credit: S K from Pixabay

Categories
Topic Words of Wisdom

Connect the Dots Interview with O’Nika

Interview with Founder of Inspire By O’Nika

In this video is an interview with me about the blog, Inspire By O’Nika. Why it was started and when. Connect the Dots host, Louis asks questions about the content of the blog and the motivation behind it. We talk about other ventures like the IBO Podcast and the You Tube channel, by the same name which I also started. The interview gives a little insight into the person behind the blog.

Connect the Dots interview with O’Nika-founder of Inspire By O’Nika

Inspiring and lifting other’s up is what I love. Check out a throwback post, Re-create; Dare to be You.

Thank you for stopping by and taking the time to watch🙏🏽 Thank you for the interview, Louis! Don’t forget to check out Connect the Dots podcast on You Tube.

Categories
Self Awareness Topic

Does Social Media Strengthen or Destroy Meaningful Connections?

Social media is here to stay. Do you think it strengthens or destroys meaningful real-life connections? It can go either way. I think it all depends on how you use it and how much of it you consume.

Some people live by social media. What I mean by that is that some people take what they see and hear online and apply it to their personal lives. They start to believe everthing they see and they lose the autonomy of their own personal beliefs.

Social media is used for a variety of reasons. Some people use it to help boost their business. Others use it for personal entertainment, recreational use. It can be a tool to use to showcase your hobbies and personal endeavors. If you are a singer or an artist. Maybe you want to share some educational information.

SM can strengthen connections because you can find useful information about some things in your life and gain a better understanding. You may be looking for a way to empathize with someone in your life and form a better relationship with them. It can open the doors for communication and bridge the gap for some situations.

It can be destructive when people are purposly using it as a means to hurt others. Trolling and saying hurtful things to others. It’s like cyberbullying. Other times people hear stories about infidelity and then they start thinking negative of their mates.

The key to it, in my opinion, is to limit the time spent on social media. Also, know what you believe in and stay true to that. We all are entitled to our opinions and that’s what it is, opinion. Sometimes we confuse it with facts. Just remember that we had real life before social media. Real life is always better than the internet. Have fun with it, make others smile, inform, share your gifts.

As always, thank you for reading! 💖🥰

Categories
Topic

What Is the Biggest Misconception About Human Connection?

What Is the Biggest Misconception About Human Connection?

Human Connection

We make all kinds of connections in the world. We connect with each other in person, by email and online. Do you ever stop to think about these connections and how they are formed? Some of us connect by a common interest; say music for example. We might have a quick conversation with someone at the record shop. Yes, there are still some around. But outside of that, the conversation is null and void.

Does it mean that since the two of you love the same kind of music that you are friends?

The misconception is the thinking that because you are in agreement with something or someone, that you have a deep connection. I’ll give another example. If you see someone who wears the same type of clothing as you, you assume that the two of you are the same. I caution that this is a misconception. Just because someone looks like you, does not mean that the two of you think alike or have the same interests and can form a bond on just the outer looks alone.

Another misconception is that if a person does not really talk to you often but you cross paths with them, that they do not care for you or are not fond of you. Sometimes, it can be that that person is shy or afraid to spark up a conversation. Do not assume that because you see someone frequently and the two of you exchange few words that there is animosity.

We can also confuse a person doing a nice gesture for us as their way of inviting us into their lives. It can just be that; a nice random gesture.

What I am trying to get at is that sometimes we connect with others solely based on one mutual interest. Does that mean that we can relate and connect with them in most other areas of life? Values such as their beliefs about family, marriage, children. Their opinions about politics. This is always a slippery slope. Maybe they have different beliefs on religion that are opposite from what we believe in.

Can you answer this? What is the biggest misconception about human connection?

Photo by Seljan Salimova on Unsplash

Categories
Diversity Topic Words of Wisdom

Black Music Month 2025

Black Music Month 2025

Vinyl albums- Public Enemy, Duke Ellington, McFadden & Whitehead

Music is a universal language. Jazz, rhythm and blues, rap, gospel, house, soul, rock and roll, disco and go-go. Some of these styles of music are a fusion from multiple genres. While some don’t want to admit that, just read the credits and you will discover. Groups that you thought might have been considered a “black” group, have some origins from other cultures.

Nonetheless, June is Black Music Month or African American Appreciation Month. President Jimmy Carter declared it in 1979. However, it wasn’t until 1998 that it was officially acknowledged.

Music has a way of getting a message across in song. Some people use it as a way to express their feelings. A way to release and purge. Music also brings about feelings of happiness. Others use it as a way to promote consciousness or bring awareness to the injustices going on in the world. Music has a way of uniting and bringing people together, no matter where you come from. It is so uplifting to hear the right song and it gets you singing along or dancing.

It amazes me how much music has changed over the years. New styles and artists emerge. Languages change too. Meaning the way artists enunciate in their music, sometimes you can’t understand a word. Some songs sound like the chorus is just on repeat and not many lyrics to it.

The one thing that I noticed is that songs in today’s time are much shorter. Back in my day, songs were an average of 8-12 minutes. Today, songs are averaging less than 5 minutes. To me, that is a snippet! Oh well, what do I know right?! Music can make you dance, cry, sing, smile and so on.

What is your favorite genre of music?

Thank you for reading. Stay well and be blessed! 💕🙏

Categories
Diversity Self Awareness Topic

Racial Profiling, Why Are You Shadowing Me?

Racial Profiling, Why Are You Shadowing Me?

Racial profiling while shopping-video message

Shopping in peace is all we want to do. Why is it that African Americans and the Hispanic populations get followed around the store? Racial profiling exists and it is time to put these stores on notice. Why Are You Shadowing Me? is a video message about just that. What can we do to stop the discrimination and unfair treatment?

Share your thoughts about this issue.

As always, thank you for watching! 🙏 Stay well and be blessed! 💕

Categories
Self Awareness Topic Words of Wisdom

Thought Of The Day

Thought of the Day

“Hate is too great a burden to bear. Hate injures the hater more than the hated. “-Coretta Scott King

Life is so precious. Why live with hatred in your heart?!

💕 Stay well and be blessed🙏

 

Categories
Topic

Where Are You From?

Moving from one state to another is something that we see often. There are many cities and places in the world where it is a melting pot of people from different areas who have set up shop and made a home away from home. A person who moves to another place is referred to as a transplant.

How much time should pass before you consider yourself from the new area? I hear differing opinions on this. Some people say if you are living in a new state for 5 or more years, you are from that place. Some say 7 years or more. I have even heard less time than that. 🤔

What do you say? For me personally, I will always say my original place of origin is where I am from. What about you? Do you adopt the new location and cite that place as the answer to the question,, "where are you from?". Tell me your side of the story. Please share how you feel about the subject.

As always, stay well and be blessed💞😊

Categories
Poetry Topic

Corner Store Bodega

The door to the bodega

Opens with lyrics

🎶🎶 Aguanilè

Aguanilè, mai mai

Feeling like you stepped right onto an island

The groove moving up your spine

Bop your head move your feet

Lips turning upward forming a smile

Let me get a Ham with American cheese

And a buttered roll on a Kaiser bun

A grape strawberry Mistic, a quarter water too

🎶🎶 Aguanilé

Aguanilé, mai mai

Waiting for your meat to be cut

The lyrics fill the air

You start to dance, salsa or two step

You get to the front to pay

Bum at the counter beggin’, “let me get two loosies man!”

In a hurry to get back, you get mad

Then you hear

🎶🎶Aguanilé

Aguanilé, mai mai

Forgetting the unfolding drama

You move your feet, your hips, your butt

While waiting you go to the lottery case

Slipping a piece of paper to the cashier, play these pick 3 numbers

Oh and a pack of watermelon, grape and apple Now and Laters

🎶🎶Aguanilé

Aguanilé, mai mai

The door to the bodega

Closes behind you

Ears flooded with police sirens

Horns blowing

Arguments and expletives

Feeling like you stepped back into a war

As always, thank you for reading! 💞🙏

Categories
Poetry Topic

Theoretically Speaking of Morbid Curiosity

Theoretically Speaking of Morbid Curiosity

What’s going on…
Theoretically speaking, you wonder if 
Happenstance has come to the forefront
Eliciting answers about this thing
Offering no more cues than when it began
Responding with conjecture, whispering, gossip
Entertaining the masses with your theory
Trying not to let others around you
In on the fact that you want to know
Curiosity killed the cat
And still, you don't stop
Letting your mind drift about the situation
Learning that this is someone else's reality
Yearning for truth about today's morbid curiosity

Theoretically Speaking of Morbid Curiosity is written in response to the word prompt by Sammi Cox.

Image by Alexandra_Koch from Pixabay

Categories
Self Awareness Topic

Public Service Announcement- Who Are “They”?

PSA- Who are “They”? asks the questions about how society puts a certain demographic of people in the same group. The talk in this post is not my usual content but I felt the need to speak on this topic. I have been seeing and hearing people on various platforms discussing this, and it piqued my interest.

Are black men being judged unfairly? Are they being crucified by public opinion? What do you think? Is there some magical potion or spell on black men being cast by “They”? Just curious about your thoughts on the subject. Please share your perspective.

Video Message- Who are “They”?

As always, thank you for watching! 🙏💗

Categories
Self Awareness Topic Words of Wisdom

The Unveiling of You. No More Thread, no More Glue.

Unglue and Unsew

The article today, titled The Unveiling of You. No More Thread, No More Glue is strictly for women who are frustrated in the dating game. They are looking to make a romantic connection but are feeling left out. The ones who feel like they should receive all the attention. The women who feel that they are attractive but are being passed over for simple, plain looking women who do not measure up, in their opinion. Let me explain.

If you are trying to make a meaningful connection, one of the things to do is to distinguish yourself from everyone else. Enhancements we add to our overall look can determine whether we blend in or stand out in the crowd. Wondering why men pass right by you? It might be because you look exactly the same as every other woman in the room. Present yourself in a way that is different from the others.

Try surveying the room and see if you are looking at the same image as yourself, do you wonder why? Everyone in the room is wearing the same style weave or wig, layers and layers of makeup, long false eyelashes, extra-long fingernails and 5 inches of “baby hair” or edges and plumped-up lips. Before anyone gets upset; there is nothing wrong with wearing wigs/weave/hair extensions.

Unglue and unsew and see what you discover. Just try it. You might just love who that person is underneath the false eyelashes, weave, extra-long fingernails, layers of makeup and exaggerated plumped lips. Do you even recognize her anymore. Don’t get me wrong, there is no crime in looking good and feeling good about yourself. All I am saying is when is it too much. Do you spend a small fortune on all the enhancements to still be lonely.

Frustrated and Pretty

Women who refer to themselves as “pretty” are pretty frustrated. Again, I am only addressing the ones who are in the dating game. Despite the things they do, the pretty women feel like the simple, basic looking women are the ones receiving the attention. Possible reasons below may reveal the barrier to meeting that special someone. Think about the things below:

Frame of Mind

Do you have the attitude that you are better than everyone else in the room? If you are attending an event and turn your nose up at everyone else, because you think you are the best looking one there…. Guess again. No one is discounting the fact that you may be attractive, but an attitude like that makes you appear ugly to others. Remember, every person has something unique to offer. Just because you are attractive, does not mean that every man will automatically approach you. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

Posture

Are you approachable? Are your face and lips twisted? Do you have your arms folded? Is your back turned? Do you look friendly and smiling? Are you slouching? Body language is an important cue that we sometimes miss and do not think about. If you look like you do not want to be bothered and have a mean look on your face, who will step to you? Think about it for a second. If men are passing you by and going over to other women, take a moment and check your body language and posture.

Set Yourself Apart

Unglue and unsew, remove the false eyelashes and wear your nails short to medium length. Do away with the long edges/baby hair and use lip wear that does not contain plumping ingredients. Why blend in with the same look as everyone else? Do something different so that you do not look like everyone in the place. You would be surprised at how much money and time you can save from paying for that expensive weave and sitting in the salon for hours on end. There are so many styles you can do with your natural hair, no matter how short or long it is. You might even like your natural hair much better.

Worldly

Are you materialistic? Do you don designer apparel from head to toe? The purse cost $800, shoes $250, outfit $400. If you present as someone who is donned in all designer apparel, men may shy away from you. The reason is that they see their pockets getting empty already. Before they speak a word, they know they are going to be broke. You may not be materialistic, but strangers do not know this. The man may see this and think that you are going to drain his money. The saying, ‘not to judge a book by its cover’ comes to mind. Although it is not fair, it happens all the time.

New Things

Give someone other than your usual type a chance. If the type you normally go for approaches you, so be it. Carry on a conversation it doesn’t hurt. Alternatively, try giving the men you normally do not go for a chance. Don’t shoot them down before they can finish the first sentence. You might be surprised at how much you have in common with him and what a deep connection the two of you share together.

Outlook

Try an experiment for two weeks or a month. Unsew and unglue. Reveal the person underneath all the extra stuff. See if any of these changes make a difference in how you feel and/or improve your chances of making that special connection that you are seeking. The simple, plain looking women are looking for that special connection the same as you. Do not be mad at their approach. Find what works best for you.

Full disclosure: I can speak to this because I was guilty of some of these things in the past. I have either experienced these first-hand or have observed these behaviors. And before anyone jumps to conclusions, there is nothing wrong with wigs/weave. I too have wigs and have had my hair braided with added hair. No judgement. The information contained here is to illustrate a point.

Love yourself and all that you are. If you don’t who else will? 💛💖

Thank you for reading! 🙏💞

Categories
Self Awareness Topic

Indecent Exposure in the House of Worship

Indecent Exposure in the House of Worship

How Did We Get Here

House of worship

How did we get to the point of indecent exposure in the house of worship? It never used to be this way but as you can see, “times done changed”. But on a serious note, churchgoers should not be exposed to this lack of consideration. We have elderly people attending church and families with small children. Why does Mom have to cover her child’s eyes because a woman is walking down the aisle, half dressed.

We need someone at the door to check for appropriate attire before being allowed admission. Simply to ask people to cover up. I’m not suggesting coming in with a turtleneck sweater and a dress or skirt that is as long as your ankles. All I am saying is to show less skin and cleavage, and not have on see through or tight-fitting clothing.

Video message-Indecent Exposure in the House of Worship

Indecent Exposure

People attend church services for various reasons, it is plausible to think it is mainly to hear the word, be filled with the spirit, receive their blessing, give tithes/offerings and to be a blessing to others. Right? In some cases, it is true. Some of us have witnessed people using church as a meeting place. A place to meet a romantic partner. Well, ok I can see the appeal of that. Some men feel that good wholesome women can be found at church. Conversely, women feel that they can find a good husband. Yes, this is very possible.

The only caveat is that some women show up at service dressed provocatively, attracting attention. But what kind of attention are they seeking? They may come to church in hopes of finding a husband, but the choice of clothing or lack thereof may deter those would-be husbands. Going about it in this way may have the reverse outcome. Instead, of meeting someone who you can have a long lasting and meaningful relationship with, you may attract the ones only looking for a “good time”, if you get my meaning.

Final Thought

The point I am trying to make is that the house of worship should be free from this kind of behavior. Some of the fashion is down-right disrespectful. If you want to wear tight-fitting and see through clothing and dress in a provocative way, there are plenty of other places for that.

I appreciate you and thank you for reading! ❤🙏

Please let me know your thoughts by leaving a comment or subscribe to receive new content when it is published.

Image by Vincent Ciro from Pixabay