KELIS FLESH TONE ALBUM COVER

Hmmm..it would have been a better look without the headset..whatever she has on her head..But thats kelis for you!!!

Flesh Tone’ hits stores in the UK on May 17th and in the US on July 6th
#Kelis’ new single ‘Acapella’ is currently set to debut in the top 5 on the Official UK Singles Chart!

FASHION BISH:JANELLE MONAE COVERS HONEY MAGAZINE

Doesn’t she just look AMAZING! Her talent will soon speak for itself as Janelle Monae covers Honey Magazine and talks about her new album, the “Archandroid”, Diddy, fashion and more.

Read the entire article here: Honey Magazine http://www.honeymag.com/2010/honeymag/elle-matador-janelle-monae/

IN THE LIVING....

#Lift up all that is
Anger hurts just as much whether it is going out from you or coming toward you. Love is just as beautiful when you are giving it as when you receive it.
Much of what seems to happen to you is happening through you. Much of what feels like outer experience is really inner expression viewed from a wider perspective.
Your influence extends as far as your awareness will allow. Your intentions begin to fill your whole world the moment they arise.
You are not separate from the rest of life. You are life.
You cannot gain advantage by seeking to take that advantage from anyone or anything else. Give your best, lift up all that is, and you are lifted.
Your positive influence touches all you know. Keep it ever strong and continually refreshed.

#What you seek is now
End the battle within yourself and you will know peace. Cease to separate one thing from another and you experience unity.
Enlightenment is not the accumulation of knowledge or wisdom. It is the full realization of what you already are.
Richness has nothing to do with material artifacts or financial transactions. It is the surrender to an abundance that has no limit.
What you seek is not somewhere else, or this or that. What you seek is now.
The more you look for it, the more it hides from you. Relax, remember the source of your deepest yearnings, and allow yourself to know their fulfillment.

#In the living
The beauty of life is in the living of it. And the living of life is now.
It is fine to make grand, wonderful plans and to then bring those plans to life through your efforts. Yet do not ignore the quiet, stunningly beautiful treasures in each ordinary moment.
Happiness is not in some distant place of perfection and pleasure. Happiness is waiting for you to give it life in this moment.
If all of your dreams were to suddenly come true, you would have no use for them. For the real essence of their joy is in the journey you take to reach those dreams.
It is in working your way through each day, one moment after another, that you connect with the value of life. Every flavor of experience adds to the richness in one way or another.
Do not put a lot of effort into judging whether today is good or bad, happy or sad. Just go ahead and live it with a thankful heart, and you will surely experience this day's own special value.

#Rise above the need
Instead of focusing so intently on what you can get, consider what you can let go. Lighten your load and become more nimble, peaceful and powerful.
Some of the things you so desperately think you need, you do not need at all. As your needs diminish, your freedom and richness grow.
There's nothing you must have in order to be. Devote some of your life to simply being, and know the liberation that comes from letting go of yourself.
Ambition, intention and disciplined effort will bring you much in this world. Always remember, though, that there is more to life than the success the world confers.
When you act out of need you will struggle from a position of weakness. Rise above the need, and you are free to achieve without limitation.
Remember that fulfillment is not about getting all that you need. Fulfillment is knowing the freedom to be all that you are.

#The way you respond
The things that are out of your control can make life interesting. The things that are within your control can make life exactly what you envision it to be.
Many of the challenges and difficulties that come your way are not in the least bit of your own making. Yet neither are many of the joys and blessings that arrive in your life.
Though you didn't make them, you certainly can make the most of them. And in so doing, you will move life forward no matter what else may be going on.
The real key to success and fulfillment is to take whatever you have and to do something useful and valuable with it. That's a path you can follow no matter who is running the country or where the economy is headed.
Your day-to-day thoughts and actions, along with your commitment, persistence and integrity are what will make the most difference in your life. The way you respond is much more important than the events and circumstances to which you are responding.
No matter what happens, there is always more opportunity today than there was yesterday. See those unique opportunities that resonate with who you are, and bring them magnificently to life

"HER STORY IS STRANGE" BY LAUREN YATES

There’s something about the post-punk silence of nighttime that makes me doubt my soul. That makes me define things in terms of what they follow instead of what they are. Someday, I hope my life will be as interesting as a rock-and-roll portrayal of history. Something to be envied. Something to be admired for its brilliant art direction and cinematography, but panned for its lackluster script. In simpler terms, something boring but pretty. But I’ll only be in it for the costumes. And the one critic who will understand and say, “Her story is strange. At night she levitates above her bed. She’s over the age of sixteen, but she’s still not a witch yet. Kudos for not succumbing to clichés.”

NEW MUSIC:ROBYN- "NONE OF DEM"

Here’s Röyksopp produced “None of Dem” from her Body Talk Part 1 EP. which Robyn says “Sounds like a Timbaland track”

FASHION BISH:SESSILEE LOPES 4 LAQUAN SMITH

Sessilee Lopez kills it in promotion of Laquan Smith’s latest designs! Smith is on a steady climb with a nod of approval from Andre Leon Talley and a slew of devoted starlets. Photographed by Itaysha Jordan, Smith’s designs draws on structuralist silhouettes reminiscent of Dior’s “New Look” and the heyday of Balenciaga. The rising designer also offers a go-to party number and a classic stream-lined sheath dress. Mixing historic lines with modern patterns, this collection is sure to add to Smith’s already brewing buzz!

HUNGER FOR MEANING....

#Hunger for meaning
Are you so busy chasing pleasure that you leave no room for joy in your life? Are you so obsessed with proving how happy you are that you make yourself miserable?
Step back for a moment and remember who you are. Even if you reach them, the generic goals and aspirations you borrow from others will not bring you even a moment of real fulfillment. Life does not gain meaning through the things you see advertised on television. If all you want is what the world tells you to want, you'll find yourself in a perpetual state of lack, limitation and frustration. Within you is a hunger for meaning. Within you is a burning desire to make a difference and to express a purpose that is special to you alone.
No one can give that purpose to you, for it is something you already have. Let go of the need to nourish your shallow ego, and you'll begin to connect with the real, meaningful purpose that is woven through your whole life. Free yourself from the off-the-shelf definition of success that is nothing more than an empty fantasy. Instead, find real success and joy by giving life to the purpose that has always been within you.

#Bring excellence to life
You cannot achieve excellence just by proclaiming it to be. Excellence is built in the details.
Attend faithfully and competently to the details, while staying true to your purpose. That is how to bring excellence into your world.
What is done with genuine love is done with excellence. Let love guide you in each moment, and you will consistently create excellence.
Excellence resonates with what is true, what is good and authentically valuable, with what is right. Work with honesty, integrity, and a commitment to truth, and excellence will permeate the results.
Intention is critical, yet excellence does not come from good intentions alone. Excellence comes from actions persistently and consistently guided by the highest and most authentic intentions.
In each thing you do is the opportunity to create excellence. Again and again, bring excellence to life, and live true to your highest purpose.

#Take the cue
What you see, what you think, what you feel, has a reason. What you happen upon, seemingly by blind chance, has a reason.
In all that you experience is the voice of your most authentic self, carrying an important, appropriate and timely message. Listen, and seek to lovingly understand what the experience of each moment is saying.
All the wisdom you've collected is speaking to you. All the possibilities that spread out in front of you, are calling to you.
It is not by coincidence that you are where you are. A whole set of thoughts, intentions and experiences brought you here.
All that you have learned and all that you have been through culminate in this place now. It is a rich and entirely meaningful opportunity that greets you and calls you to move forward.
Take the cue, feel the message of this moment, and go with it. In this time and this place, this life is yours with which to do great things.

#Your vision
What is your vision for your life? Have you thought about it lately, or ever?
There is some vision, some dream, some goal so absolutely compelling that you cannot help but make it happen. Find it and connect with it. There is a purpose within you that longs to be expressed. In following that purpose you will bring great value and fulfillment to your own life and the lives of those around you. Feel the intensity of that purpose. Surrender to it and allow it to pull you powerfully forward. It is never too early and never too late to immerse yourself in the empowering glow of your purpose. Now is when you can know the overwhelming sweetness of true fulfillment. Step decisively toward those most treasured dreams that spring from your purpose. Right now, in this moment, fulfill the best of what you know life can be.

#Peace Inside
When troubles come toward you, let peace come from you. When the world is filled with anger, frustration and confusion, that is when a peaceful heart can be the most valuable.
The more peaceful you are, the more effective you become. When your heart is filled with peace, your energy is more positively and purposefully focused.
The longer you remain peaceful, the stronger you become. Peace on the inside thus leads to real, meaningful success on the outside.
You can choose to carry peace within you, no matter what may be happening around you. Let the calm, deep power of peace energize your spirit and it will surely make a difference.
With peace at your very core, your thoughts are clear and your actions filled with purpose. Whatever the challenges of the moment may be, you have what it takes to move successfully through them.
Peace is something you can always choose to carry confidently inside you. The more you do, the more moments you'll fill with purpose and meaning.

"CHEW" BY CORTNEY CHARLESTON

Pick me slowly from the bone, cleanly
Tender and warm, you swear I’m clinging to your anti-grace
You taste companionship and cinnamon
Teeth tickled, tongue twirling
Flavor fills mouth with echo – music, slow-footed syrup
Chasing bitter rumors where seamen drown
Don’t rumble a single word
You wouldn’t want others to see me, clown
Running smear from your lipstick
Chew me into complacency, table scrap
Wearing necktie, another meal forgotten
Washed down, wine glass full of tears
Fresh out of sugar water.

NEW ARTIST : SZJERDENE

Don't worry about how her name is pronounced. Just allow her music to carry you through a moment where soft melodies peruse your inner self, and her dainty, jazzy vocals treat your ears in a delightful way. At age 21, London's, Szjerdene is soon to be a voice most will come to love. I discovered her just recently, and after listening to the 3 songs off her Collage - The Demo, I'm telling you, she's gonna win hearts with her music. Look out for her EP, Tailored releasing later this year, but for now enjoy the bluesy rock funk of "Blue Lullaby." Get your free download of Collage - The Demo down below. Continue to support real music.

NEW MUSIC:KARINA PASIAN- "I CAN DO BETTER"

"I Can Do Better" is a new track from R&B singer Karina Pasian. The song features production from The Inkredibles and is another good record from the 18-year-old. Karina has a great voice and sings her heart out on this mid-tempo. She is currently hard at work on her sophomore album, set to drop this year. Can't wait!!

FASHION BISH:EMANUELA DE PAULA 4 MARIE CLAIRE BRAZIL

Brazilian model, Emanuela de Paula is indeed a “futuristic warrior” is in this Marie Claire Brazil editorial. Styled by Juliana Pesso and Zuel Ferreira, Emanuela is striking in black and metallic looks by Armani, Patachou, Wolford and Le Lis Blanc. Were loving Louis Vuitton’s take on what seems to be satin ballet wedge heel. And i see the sustaining trends of textured tights and strong shoulders.

LOVING.....INDIA ARIE

God, grant me the serenity
To accept the things that I can not change
The courage to change the things that I can
The wisdom to know the difference
and God give me the courage
To love with an open heart.

LIFE RETURNS THE FAVOR

#Start strong
It takes only a few moments plus a little bit of energy and intention to get your day off to a positive, productive start. And the way you start your day will determine how the entire day goes for you.
At the beginning of the day, put the very best of yourself into life. That small effort will continue to pay as the day progresses.
Sure, you may not feel like being positive right off the bat. But if you wait for encouragement to come to you, then you might be waiting all day.
Instead, be the encouragement you seek. Be the instigator of your own successful day.
You can be the positive influence you are waiting for. You can be the reason this day starts on an upbeat note.
The first few minutes of each day are ripe with opportunity. Choose to start strong, and that strength will echo throughout the day.

#Encouraging others
When you're in need of encouragement, offer your own encouragement to someone else. Nothing can lift you more surely and genuinely than your own efforts to lift another.
Think back on the times you remember most fondly. And you'll see that the brightest days have been those days when you've given most generously of yourself.
When you focus only on your own problems and challenges, it puts you in a negative and helpless state of mind. Yet when you turn your attention to helping others with the challenges they face, you naturally become more positive and effective.
When you sense that you're feeling sorry for yourself, redirect that energy. Transform it into compassion for others. There is always something you can do to lift up those around you. And it's a reliable way to lift your spirits as well.
Give the encouragement you would like to receive. And you will indeed receive it in double measure.

#The strength of humility
Arrogance is a sure sign of weakness and ineffectiveness. When you think you know it all, you prevent yourself from learning new and valuable things.
When you spend all your time and energy boasting about yourself, there's no time remaining for true achievement. When you think you're more important than others, you quickly lose the respect of everyone.
Genuine humility is an undeniable sign of true strength and confidence. When you let go of the need to impress others, that's when you begin to be truly impressive.
Live, speak and act with humility, and your efforts will be vastly more effective. There will be no time or energy wasted on propping up your own ego, and you can get many valuable things accomplished.
Humility brings you respect and fosters mutual understanding. Imagine what a positive difference that can make in your life and your world.
When your life is filled with true strength and genuine richness, you have no need to boast. Live with humility, and life will be full indeed.

#Life returns the favor
When you encounter resistance, it means you are moving forward. When you come across a challenge, it means you have reached the point where you can successfully meet that challenge.
Life becomes more rewarding as it becomes more demanding. You are destined to achieve, and each successive achievement positions you for an even greater, more challenging achievement.
Each new challenge is an opportunity to stretch beyond your previous limits. Most of the advantages you enjoy today were born in the difficulties through which you traveled in days past.
Every day brings a new way for you to more fully give of yourself. It is by so giving, in ways that are familiar and in ways not yet imagined, that you create the life you most sincerely desire.
In everything there is treasure to be found. The richest treasures are those that ask the most of you, for they resonate wholly with your deepest purpose.
Delight in the living beauty of each challenging effort. Give your best to life and life returns the favor, a million times over.

#The real deal
Today is the real deal. Everything that is your life is focused on the moment that is right now.
The opportunities are enormous and the implications profound. The possibilities stretch out in every direction.
Today is a stunningly fertile ground for beauty and creativity. Today brings never before seen opportunities for experience and for life.
Open your eyes to the magnificence of this day. Open your heart to the incredible possibilities for expressing life in this moment.
Go beyond merely wondering what it would be like to be fully alive and to touch your most treasured dreams. Today, right now, you can choose to live the reality of your highest values.
This day is as real as it gets, as real as real can be. Live it now, and live it with all the richness and joy you can imagine.

"4 MONTHS" BY MARION SMALLWOOD

i didn’t know forever would look like
two months dressed up naked.
we were barely bare,
a bleeding bond of black cats
and open-bottom ladders,
a superstition.
i believe in you
without reason or knowledge, blindly,
like a ribcaged, heart-shaped cataract
pressed inside an unread book.
the one with the yellow petals.
the one i unremembered.
i fear your unknown,
the way dark plunders its omens
and hides them in my ink;
a funeral of meditated scars.
i didn’t know words. could look like people,
like a dining room rebelling against reason
or the vestige of a hand-held car-ride.
my wrist is not for you,
but i brought you into the circle
like it will always be.

NEW MUSIC:BRANDY- PERFECT LOVE

Brandy bares her soul on"Perfect Love" a leaked track...That i can totally relate too.

CHRISETTE`S BALD STATEMENT

“I was tired of black sista’s feeling subject to having their hair pressed and straightened, and damaged, with relaxers, and heat. So I wanted to make short and nappy hair fashionable, and let the industry know that there is nothing wrong with the texture that we have been born with. So I plan to grow it out to the big beautiful nappy hair that I have.”

FASHION BISH:NAOMI CAMPBELL 4 VOGUE RUSSIA

Naomi Campbell gets into the mix with this daring spread from Vogue Russia April. Captured by Tom Munro, Naomi is queen of the boudoir in bold pieces from Dior, Alexander McQueen and Azzedine Alaïa. Aided by fashion editor Patti Wilson, Munro creates a story that is part elegance and part play with an eastern twist. A part black and white, and part color narrative drawing from several aesthetic influences. Stunning!

EFFORT BECOMES EFFORTLESS

Honor this day
Feel what a privilege it is to be alive today. Consider all the possibilities available to you, right now. See the wonder and the beauty all around you. Let yourself truly love who you are and where you are in this moment.
Sense the eagerness within you to get started, to make things happen, and to create value. That eagerness comes from your genuine excitement about expressing yourself through your accomplishments.
Look at all the new ways that this day gives you to express who you are. Even the troubles, even the problems, and even the obstacles give meaning to life because they give you something to build upon.
Life's many circumstances and situations give you a way to pull yourself up, and rise to a new level of being. Whatever comes your direction gives you a way to create value that will last beyond this day, value that will be with you always.
Honor this day, honor the possibilities in this day, honor the love and the beauty in this day. Look around at all you have, and in this moment make it, in your own way, into something truly great.

Let joy flow freely
How is it possible to know joy? It comes when you simply allow it.
Joy requires no special conditions. You can experience joy in the smallest of moments as well as in the most magnificent situations.
Even in times of sadness and loss, there is room for joy. That joy, melancholy as it may be, comes from the realization that your sadness means you sincerely care.
See joy as something you give rather than something that has to be created for you. Understand that joy is a choice you can make at any time, and you will experience it in abundance.
Put joy into what you do, and you will do it better. Give joy to your relationships, and they will grow strong.
Joy will come when you let it. Let joy flow freely through the moments of your life, and the rich value it gives will always be yours.

Effort becomes effortless
Effort becomes effortless when it is driven by a deep and abiding purpose. Achievements fall easily and naturally into place when they are in harmony with who you are.
Fear disappears when you realize that the things that truly matter can never be taken away from you. Creativity blossoms with each moment spent in gratitude for the limitless abundance of life.
Distractions lose their power when you focus on your loving intentions. No circumstance can hold you back when you know who you truly are.
Beyond the small and petty concerns of the ego are magnificent and endless possibilities. Beyond the shortsighted need to selfishly control the little things is the very real ability to positively influence everything.
Life goes your way to the extent that you give it meaning and purpose. Your thoughts, words and actions bring unique and lasting value to the extent that they express who you are.
Stop fighting your fears and they will stop holding you back. Dare to touch your deepest purpose and bring it fully to life.

Witness your choices
As you go through this day, make whatever choices you wish. And remind yourself with each one that it is indeed your own choice.
Be an aware and observant witness of all the choices you make. You'll find that it adds power and perspective to everything you do.
Many times when you have the opportunity to make a choice, you essentially give that choice away. This happens when you allow yourself to react in a conditioned and predictable manner out of sheer habit.
But you never have to do that. Each choice can indeed be your very own.
You don't have to be offended when someone seeks to offend you. You don't have to become angry when others seek to incite your anger for their own purposes.
You can make any choice you wish. Pay close attention to those choices, and you'll quickly learn to harness their awesome power.

Change forward
Sometimes, even when you give your best to the effort, the results are not what you intended. Other times, factors largely out of your control change the landscape in disappointing ways.
Every day the world changes. Some of those changes bring pleasant surprises, others bring unanticipated difficulties.
Fortunately, just as surely as the world changes from day to day, year to year, you have the ability to adapt. Change will always happen, and you will always have the option of making the best of it.
It can be frustrating when something beyond your control swoops down and ruins your plans. Yet you can turn the energy of that frustration in a positive direction.
You might be inclined to try to get even, to pay back an equal amount of damage and disappointment to whomever or whatever has disappointed you. But that will not bring you anything of value.
Instead of getting even, resolve to get even further ahead when the changes come, whatever they may be. See each change as the opportunity it is, and you'll find a way for them all to pull you forward..

"CHESS MATCH AFTERMATH" BY JUSTIN REILY

“till the end, I will love you till the end, I will love you…till My end….will I?”

I remember the first time you winked at me
Looked a like a pair of school children
Holding hands, perched a top your eye lids
I’ve never seen unity like this in pupils

never seen rain drops form lip to lip around an eye lash
as if to say
all those “what should have been’s” and “could have been’s”
lost meaning a long time ago
I’m here now
Here to show you what love smells like
Open your nostrils
Let me in
You see…I’ve been in the kitchen a long time now
Cooking up nostalgia and something that tastes like chicken
You gotta learn somehow right?

I have a trial and errored soul
A heart with stretch marks
A tattered rib cage full of wingless butterflies
I thought it counted being beautiful on the inside
That there is nothing I couldn’t stomach
My stomach
Loved that joke

And you were patient
A child waiting for his grandfather to find the keys
A battered wife
At a women’s shelter
God
Waiting for Adam and Eve to fuck up

Inevitable and yet strangely apologetic
I must have looked like the 5 yr old standing over the anthill
Burn marks don’t heal as easily if you only have one limb to lean on
Lean on me
Lean on us
Lean on an intertwined limbed conversation in the park on that Sunday
A baseball game in the middle of the summer
The first time I told you how mike died

August couldn’t have come soon enough
And our fall left us with the leaves

Left you bitter as a sailors wife, widowed on Christmas
And rightly so
The wind in your hair, never seemed so refreshing
Until I’m standing on a light house
Trying to throw poems into the dark
What if I was never coming back?

What if the only thing we remembered?
Was the first time we made love?
Can an orgasm
Mend a broken heart
One night stands of sweat
Dripping in between bricks like mortar
There is nothing strong here
Nothing worth singing about

Just crippled hands amidst a missed step or two
Falling
Never seemed so easy

Write me a poem
On the back
Of the only picture we ever took
Something fiery and short
And sign it sincerely
The last girl
He will ever yell at

Ps Sometimes I do miss you, even if I swear on my life that I never do

I pray these ice chips in my chest
Find somewhere else to dwell
Or crystallize
Into something a little more beautiful than a heart beat
I don’t have room enough for the cold
And I know you
You don’t want to be in this chess match aftermath
Anymore than I do
But sometimes Kings and Queens
Just wait the entire game to be taken

And maybe that’s the point
Love is worth waiting for
And beauty worth fighting for

We earn every badge
Every scar
Every love tap

None of this was meant to happen
And yet
Everything
Everything happens for a reason

There is a rainbow smile in our drag race chaos
We just have to stop the motor long enough to breathe it in
Let it linger on our lips
Like God is our Dentist
Placing Relief flavored fluoride on our gums
Flossing with Grace

There’s nothing to be afraid of Young Queen
Smile
Like you did
On the first day we met .

NEW VIDEO:J*DAVEY "OUTTA THE WINDOW"

Jack Davey & Brook D'Leau summon the psychedelic indian on a quest for self-discovery in a desert wasteland....So this is more like a lookbook than it is a video, and it is awesome in that sense.Brook was looking fly.

NEW MUSIC - COURTNEY LOVE / HOLE- "SAMANTHA"

“Samantha” by Hole, the second single from ‘Nobody’s Daughter’. The first version of “Samantha” was leaked 3 years ago. Written by Linda Perry and Billy Corgan, “Samantha” was intended for Courtney’s solo album that never happened.My first impression was that it was very safe, it sounds like a typical Hole song. However, as soon as the 1:51 mark passed, I immediately loved it.“Samantha” is 100% vindictive and raw, fueled completely by anger and rage with lines like “If you were on fire I’d use the kerosene” and the anthemic “People like you fuck people like me in order to avoid agony” which is the stand out line of the song.

FREE OF LIMITATIONS

Free of limitations
Any limitation you encounter is not in the situation itself. The limitation is in the way you choose to interpret and respond to the situation.
As such, you have power over every limitation. Because those things that appear as limitations are powered by your perceptions.
Yes, the difficult situations and challenging obstacles are indeed real. Remember, though, that you can decide to see them and to respond to them in a positive, empowering manner.
There is always a way to reach the destination you have chosen. Focus not on those things that appear to be limitations, but rather on the goal you have set.
It is easy to blame this limitation or that for your lack of progress. It is far better to find a way to move beyond the challenges, for that is where you will experience the success you are meant to create.
Decide not to be a slave to your limitations. For you can always choose to be the master of your possibilities.

Make it true
What you tell yourself most frequently, you will believe. What you truly believe, you will incorporate into every aspect of your life.
It doesn't matter if it is objectively true or not. What you continue to tell yourself, day after day, becomes true for you and has a profound effect on your life.
Great power lives in the fact that you can choose what to tell yourself, again and again, in the thousands of moments that make up each day. With focus and intention, you can upgrade your beliefs about yourself.
You can upgrade your beliefs about what is possible for you. And by so doing, you will in fact expand your access to the very best of your possibilities.
You'll go precisely as far as you believe you will go. So there's every reason to believe the very best.
With what you tell yourself, choose to sell yourself, again and again, on your best possibilities. For when you consistently believe something to be true in your life, you will indeed make it true.
Negative assumptions
Negative assumptions drive negative experiences. Negative assumptions can become so thoroughly familiar and ingrained in your thinking that you don't even realize they're there.
Assumptions guide your perceptions, and your perceptions determine the way you respond to each situation. It's important to make sure those assumptions are not working against you.
When you come upon a situation that seems negative, challenge yourself to explain to yourself why you consider it to be negative. There's a good chance that you'll discover your own assumptions are making it worse than it really is.
When you assume that something is distracting, or painful, or annoying, it will be. Yet you can significantly change things by letting go of the assumption, or by choosing a more empowering one.
Just because you've always assumed something, does not make it always true. Make the effort to be more aware of your assumptions, and challenge them.
With a new set of assumptions, the same old situation could be completely different. And you'll suddenly see a whole new world of possibilities.

Play
If there's something that confounds you, play with it. Experiment with different options and approaches, without any expectation or agenda other than satisfying your curiosity.
Playing is a superb way to learn and improve. Consider how very many things children learn in their first years of life, and how much of that time they spend playing.
Being overly serious and rigid can bring your creativity to a standstill. Relax, and give yourself permission to play.
Those tasks you enjoy most are the tasks at which you're most effective. Approach your work with a playful sense of delight, and enjoy the experience of improved performance.
Allow yourself the special joy of being curious and playful. Even in the most complicated challenges, there's room for fun.
Play, and be an enthusiastic lifetime learner. Play, and create delightful new value in your world.

Choose your attitude
How much of your attitude is based on habit and how much is actually chosen? Is your response to any given situation based mostly on what you did a thousand times before?
Imagine for a moment that you could rise to a whole new level of living. Imagine that you could break free from your conditioned responses and live each moment as the unique opportunity that it is.
In your mind, step outside yourself and take a look at your thoughts from the perspective of an objective observer. Take note of all the times your attitude is nothing more than a habitual response.
Remind yourself that you do indeed have a choice. Your attitude is yours to determine.
When it's based on habit, your attitude can be easily manipulated by others, by those who do not have your best interest at heart. In contrast, when it's based on choice, your attitude can be a powerful force working in your favor.
In every situation, choose a positive, thoughtful response rather than a habitual reaction. It can quickly take your life to a whole new level.

HOLD MY HAND

Written By My Favorite Poet CookOut™

"HOLD MY HAND"

We as people need connections. We can't live without them. Everyone shows them differently.
Physically, mentally, emotionally, sexually.
But for me- just hold my hand.
Not the professional shake not too hard & not too soft, not the grip shake they do on the corner, & not the pound me and my homie's do.
Nah.
Hold my hand.
So I know that there's someone on the other end.
Not letting go.
So I know in my time of need, your hand will be there to receive.
I don't to be left of there alone.
With no other to connect or depend
So will you hold my hand?
Will you take the responsibility?
The privilege of being by my side?
This is the strongest connection to me.
Not a lot of thought process and a whole lot of thinking.
And nothing sexual because how does that leave you feeling?
Your genitalia will not make me believe you will protect me.
Subliminal messaging.
Hold my hand.
"I will protect you.
You are with me.
Nothing will happen to you that won't happen to me"
Hold my hand.
Not the professional shake not too hard & not too soft, not the grip shake they do on the corner, & not the pound me and my homie's do.
Nah.
Laced.
Feel my trust flow from me to you
and since I am a writer this is the best way for it to get through.
Through my hands.
So just hold my hand.
Lace my fingers though yours so I know there is someone on the other end.
So I know that you are on the other end.
Will you hold my hand?

http://lyricalthoughtz.blogspot.com/

EVOLVE....BADU

They play it safe..
Are quick to assassinate what they do not understand.
They move in packs ingesting more and more fear with every act of hate on one another.
They feel most comfortable in groups, less guilt to swallow.
They are US!
This is what we have become, afraid to respect the individual.
A single person within a circumstance can move one to change, to love ourself, to EVOLVE.