WISDOM FROM A PIMPLE

After days of tummy waltzing with delicious

Alphonso mangoes the heat kicks in and I am

greeted one morning with a pimple.

It appeared on the right side of my face.

Close to the lower part of my cheek.

Brilliant enough to be clearly noticed a few

centimeters from my lips. I stood and stared

while it greeted me and its presence sunk in.

For me a pimple is strange company

considering I never had any in my youth!

So I peered and lifted my face and angled the

mirror. That was study enough. I turned and

walked away.

Day one unfolded. I lived every moment doing

the job at hand as best I can. The pimple

remained positioned and present in all the

order of work executed. But it did not claim

my interest. I did not try to conceal or

camouflage it. I had accepted it as part of me.

I made no pointed mention and directed no

attention to it. It was there accepted as part of

me.

The next day it hurt. I gave it a passing glance

as I stood before the mirror to get ready for

day two with my additional feature. The

pimple remained positioned and present in all

the order of work executed today too. But it

did claim my odd thought for it made its

presence felt with a twinge of pain now and

again.

I did not reach for it nor try to comfort it

directly. The day wore on as time has a way to

go. Nothing out of the extra ordinary

happened as teacher’s, parents and students

met me. Satisfaction ruled as I did my job.

With a smile on my face I returned home.

Day three greeted me with the repulsive sight

of a yellowish tip on my new feature. The

truth be told I felt sorry for whoever would

have to look into my face today. And that is

assured there would be plenty of traffic of

adults and children scheduled to interact with

me.

The Pimple was begging for attention with its

angry look. It could not be missed, that’s for

sure? A dab of an ointment went on to it as I

signaled to myself to go about my day.

Yes, a cocked eyebrow, a distracted smile and

a pointed “who beat you” by a tot had me

explaining myself several times that day. With

a little effort we were able to remain focused

on the job at hand.

And day three ended.

Day four was much the same as day three.

And with the dawn of day five, life started

getting into normal mode. My feature shrank

with each coming day and was almost invisible

on day seven.

I was relieved to note that with patience

and minimum interference the pimple

was gone. I smiled.

I sure was in for a rude shock on day nine

when additional feature number 2 decided to

appear. Right near my nose.

Panic rose within my beating breast this had

to go. I cannot accept this. I did less staring

and went into commando mode in a flash

decision. I fiddled and pressed and plucked

and pinched at it. It hurt, but that did not

seem to hinder me from doing what I went

about doing to my own skin. I patted it down

and tried to make it invisible.

And invisible it was not to be. Every morning

and every night I did the same routine of

fiddling and pressing and plucking and

pinching it into submission. Days were

littered with unpleasant and unhappy feelings

when I looked at or felt the pimple.

Pain and irritation clouded my thoughts

several minutes a day. Nonetheless, I did what

I had to do work wise but in crept a niggling

irritation when least expected.

And to cut a long story short it just remained

unfazed and the days rolled into weeks and my

pimple is with me 4 weeks later. As flushed

and in bloom as the first day it appeared. I

cannot lie there are days in between when it

seemed to be receding to the low lying areas of

invisibility.

But it never really does. It’s there

right under the surface the root inflamed and

ready to erupt on a short fuse.

Here’s what I learned in all this, acceptance of

reality of the things you cannot change is the

key to a rational operational choice. Of course

the practical aspect of acceptance in any

problem is in one’s best interest. As Pimple

number 1 ‘showed me so’.

Panic is a foe and battling problems which

only need acceptance to tide them over, may

lead to unending revolting consequences.

Being in a hurry to find solutions may

camouflage the problem but the root will

always be a source of pain. “I taught you so”

muttered Pimple number 2.

All healing takes time and must begin from

within. Thus spoke the Pimples and humbled

me with their wisdom.

Love always

Joscelyn

Ten Top Opportunities to Live and Learn

1. Let you heart rule your head. The turmoil which ensues will spin your life turtle. Let it! Then find your head on your shoulders thereafter each time and every time.

2. Let a blunder rake and rile you for a chosen period of time [limited], feel the harm it does and then forgive yourself and go on to honor your better self.

3. Let the fear of being disliked hamper and stunt the quality of thought, word and deed. Then pack up fear with no ceremony and start to think, speak and do freely as you believe.

4. Let the discomfort of confrontation hijack and gag the need to know the truth then pluck the courage and face the fiends. Vapour is the natures of demons, a wave of intend is all that is required to push forward.

5. Let persons belittle you for love and misplaced loyalty then silently move out of reach and make room for precious thoughts which uplift and guide actions of love.

6. Let people manipulate and distort facts in order that you act in response in a certain way then choose to be true to yourself and think for yourself.

7. Let the need to be loved lead to actions your instincts disagree with. Then feel the freedom of not having to try to be loved and know that to be loved is not earned its just there.

8. Let peoples opinion rule your choice, words and thoughts and then move on to become independent of validation of another. Listen to your inner voice, it leads and comforts like no other.

9. Let noise be your screen and defense and then visit the silence of your spirit, never to return to the din for here lays your integrity.

10. Let you treat yourself harshly. This is a hard one to see. Cause it’s too close for comfort. Sometimes a lifetime passes before you can see, believe and act in your interest. Don’t let that be the case with you. Treating yourself with love, care and respect is the key to doing the same for others.

Love always,

Joscelyn

THE LIFE OF A MEMORY

My memory serves me…………………..

I am a little girl. I am 6 years old maybe a

little older. I have six older siblings and

one younger sister. I have a few sketchy

memories of this little girl. And some are

etched clearer in my heart than in my mind.

I remember

Looking through the slits of my closed eyes

at my father putting on his trousers

hurriedly but yet in the same unique way he

always did.

He thrust his right foot into the trouser leg,

it was always his right leg first and then the

left.

While doing so he held the left pant leg

up against the waistband of the pant.

Two fingers deftly holding it ready to be gone, to

swing down in unison with his left leg going

into it.

My eyes shift I can see the bed up against

the wall. I lay still.

Several voices I heard calling my name in

octaves higher each time.

My eyes shut I lay. Off went my eldest sister

and father to call the doctor I was told later.

Was I dead? No, I was not. But why did I

not get up to the call to go for early

morning mass?

Was I not willing to go to church?

No, I don’t remember, going to church

being distasteful at that age. I was

too young and too obedient to make such a

choice.

Then what was it? As I remember it…..I

was called to get up I did not….what

followed was rapid and on the spot ….all

hell broke loose as I did not wake up and

apparently I looked dead to the onlookers.

But for me I just went with the flow after

the initial 2 seconds it was not in my hands

anymore. Maybe I wanted the attention? I

like to think not, but whatever!

What followed was a stunning ruffle from

my scared and angry mother and what

seemed never ending was a steady,

unrelenting, painful teasing by my siblings

which mortified me and ALWAYS had me

dissolve in tears.

I was the Great Pretender. They sang the song of that

title“O OH O OH Yes, I AM A GREAT

PRETENDER………

that line was enough for the sob to begin.

At last, now it does no more. I have grown

up!

As I said my memory serves me. Maybe you

won’t remember it like my memory serves.......

So …….Ha ha! Keep Smiling!

Love always

Joscelyn

Eight things to do when you Succeed or When you go down.

1. Do not let others do for you what you can do for yourself.
How to begin is always the dilemma. The rest is really a piece of cake.

2. LiFe HaPPenEd and conditions apply. Recoil in the face of a blow for moments enough to review and regroup. In addition keep kindness near at hand. Life happens it is meant to.

3. Keep promises. It’s hard in both conditions and is the defining reason for faith being unbroken or cleaned out. Be the ray of decency which defines reality.

4. Prompt and systematize the way to move ahead constructively and bear in mind time tells and by no means tattles.

5. Maintain focus on the details. But keep your eyes forever on the larger picture. The whole to be seen will require you to step back once in a while, from the thick of things.

6. Return refreshed in mind and intend. The number of breaks determines the quality and the quantity of effects to come.

7. Keep effort constant and expect it to take a while to get better and to get going. There are always good days bookending bad days and vice versa.

8. Laugh and smile it’s the stuff genius is made of. It is the most potent in times when you think it’s most unlikely.


Love Always,
Joscelyn

LOVE RESIDES

It’s natural to miss those you love and it’s likely you’ll have extreme dislike for persons who or circumstances which you THINK take them away from you.

A WELL OF LOVE RESIDES WITHIN

It takes all my strength to keep my negative thoughts and feelings at the same intensity level over a period of time.

Automatically, after the initial shock and resulting feelings so distasteful and horrible in creeps the doubt that may be this is not the path for me.

Latched on to that doubt in comes an affirmative vibe from a modest thought.

Leading me swiftly from the pits of disapproval to the heights of belief where serenity reigns.

I open the doors and receive for I get my high from feeling good in my skin.

CHOOSE THE PATH OF KINDNESS

Imagination is a versatile passion to have.
It opens doors and lets one fly in territories limited only by one’s thoughts.

Breathtaking isn’t it? Those with an imagination create solutions and are so never without hope.

Problems and hurdles are mere rungs of the ladder used to effect change and put into perspective the world and times we live in.

Imagine a kind word as a balm soothing one’s feelings and harnessing ones emotions to supply for the need and requirement of that time.

Empathy is a powerful instrument to give hope in word, deed and action.
Do not do what another should do for oneself; rather help one help one self.

Instead, teach a method, enhance a skill, kindle a latent flame of creativity, show the torch in the direction of inner strength, and walk along with only till steps steady.
Then step back. Remove ego from all equations involving giving.

It is not you that gives but rather you are blessed to be able to give.
Only the blessed have the opportunity to give. In fact you show them the power they have and watch them grow.

Watch from afar without the colour of the desire to be recognized and praised.

Bighearted is actually just a liberal and understanding line of thinking.

Love always
Joscelyn