the bitch bandaid

Do you see the bitch across the room over there?

The one who won't look at you or for some reason doesn't realize that she, too, affects the space in the room?

Walk over to her casually.

Smile before you even get close.

Tell her how lovely her dress looks on her.

Not many people would pull that dress off the way she does.

And wow your hair! It's so silky.  What do you use?

And then, casually, return to the space you were standing 

over there across the room

and feel how she no longer is the bitch.

In fact, she never 'made' you feel that she was one.

You let her affect you.

Maybe you were even her own bitch over there.

And you took control over that situation

by walking over and giving her every reason 

to no longer feel intimidated by you in the first place.

You smile now.

Because you realize how you just made two people feel better.

And even if she's still a bitch?

You'll sleep better tonight than she will.

~L

Just as it feels good to walk into a room and feel like you belong, that all is familiar,

It feels equally and opposite as good to be anonymous for a change....

leaving your story outside that space and being only an individual with a purpose of filling that space.

Try people-watching for a good chunk of time and assume nothing.

And the next time you feel heavy with what drags you down in your atmosphere,

go be somewhere lighter.

failure to launch

You don't have to be Greg Louganis

to know that diving off of a diving board requires more than just good form.

I sat and watched on as kids were jumping off a diving board today.

There's no doubt that the mechanics of the board did it's job.

The spring board adjusts with it's flexibility depending on the weight of each person.

But that's not all that has to adjust.

At the end of that spring board there is a moment where opportunity meets courage.

This must happen at the right time for a successful attempt.

The moment the spring of the board gives your body the opportunity to launch,

your courage must meet it at the exact same time and say

Go ahead - jump.

This dichotomy shows how you will hit the water.

Think about this equation in your trials and endeavors in life.

You have a choice on launching into anything but first you have to study the mechanics of the platform. Set yourself up for success.

Are you graceful about your entrance into the water or are you already fearing your exit off the platform?

u-nit-ed; adjective

"What's the hardest part about being in a group?

The hardest part is constantly considering someone else -

even before yourself."

~Q-tip, A Tribe Called Quest

I heard this the other night as I watched the documentary

Beats, Rhymes & Life: The Travels of a Tribe Called Quest

And I thought:

Being a part of a 'group' is a conscious choice, an act, a responsibility.

But feeling like you belong to something bigger than you is a whole new freedom...

interesting.....belong to feel free.

I don't remember a time when I didn't feel a part of something bigger.

First, a part of a family.

Then, a part of creating one.

Being a parent means that even when your kids aren't next to you,

you're still no longer just one.

This invisible extension - the feeling of belonging,

is always turned on.

So today, Independence Day,

may be the birth of the free nation that I was born into,

but it's also the group I don't have to try to be a part of.

It's the one holiday that can't be argued by religion,

doesn't revolve around gift-giving,

and one that I share with some 300+ million others as a feeling.

u-nit-ed

/yoo'nitid'/

adjective: joined together politically, for a common purpose, or by common feelings.