a cooking pot and twisted tales
Thoughts and Tales…A Lifestyle Blog with a Zing.
I opened my overflowing mailbox and my blood pressure spikes in clicking anguish!
A mad woman in my head screams and runs off into the bushes to go and hide.
She just wants to ball herself in a fetal position and protect her head from the imagined boxes of thousands of mail being emptied on it!
Arrgh! I’ve got mail and I am swimming in it!
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A quick question, have you ever taken time to ask yourself how much you’ve been robbed over the years, by the act of trying to fit in, trying to please and trying to be who you are not?
This isn’t a sustainable characteristic. It’s very exhausting and self-annihilating.
You can only be the best when you are yourself because being the second best you is not who you are.
A certified true copy can never be the original.
© Jacqueline Oby-Ikocha
I feel honoured by Bernadette for choosing me for her Thoughts on Thursday post which is a leading post to her Feminist Friday feature in celebration of diversity.
Comments are disabled here. Please do visit and enjoy her warm welcome
Thank you, Bernadette, for making me look beautiful 🙂
‘There’s nothing as liberating as getting to that point of knowing who you are and who you want to be. It’s only when you embrace yourself in entirety, from the frayed edges to the smooth lines, then and only then, can you aspire to be the best that you can be.’ Jacqueline Oby-Ikocha
TOMMORROW TO CONTINUE CELEBRATING DIVERSITY I WILL TELL YOU ABOUT MY FRIEND AND FELLOW BLOGGER JACQUELINE OBY-IKOCHA.
On Thursday’s, I share pictures about ‘Echos of my Neighbourhood.
I would like to invite you to participate. The challenge is quite simple.
Every Thursday, share a photo of bits and pieces of wherever you are at any point in time. It could be a house, backgrounds of your neighbourhood, activities and so forth and you can tag it Echos of my Neighbourhood, add my link to your post so that I will get the ping from your post.
Every other Thursday, I will publish a post with the links of all those who participated the previous week.
This is just a fun way of getting to see more of the World around us through your eyes since we cannot all be at those places, we could, at least, see them through you.
We found time during the weekend to go to the Miracle Garden where I took tons of photos. Just sharing a bit of some of them with you and will share a bit more another time.
It’s a lovely place to spend a day. Always teeming with tourists and families especially during the weekend.
There are blooming petals everywhere and the mingled floral essence of these flowers hangs delicately in the air as you have an ice-lolly and traipse around leisurely or enjoy relaxing in one of the sit-outs or swings to be found around the perimeters.
© Jacqueline Oby-Ikocha
Last Week Echoes gave us some peeks of different neighbourhoods, hop on let’s go see and we will be glad to see some of yours 
Cycling to Ostpark beautiful, serene piece of Munich, Germany. A good place for a day’s outing.
Thoughts and entanglements Nature’s bursts in spades of beauty. The circle of birth and death.
Like Mercury Colliding Nature has so much in store for us and teaches us through its cycle. A Spring miracle to behold.
Mammoth Norwich Castle museum and art gallery certainly holds some ginormous treasure in them.
Doggerland I didn’t know about this until I looked at Kim’s photo and read her short presentation.
Mile of daffs beautiful miles of springing daffodils.
Thank you to all Echoes’ contributors. I am learning a whole lot from this challenge as well as having fun with it.
It would lovely to have you join us. Regards
‘Time spent playing with children are never wasted.’ Dawn Iantero
#Blessed and Cute. He’s so gorgeous, he made me fall in love with him 🙂
Imagination is like a muscle. I found out that the more I wrote, the bigger it got. Philip José Farmer
Inside me, when I write, I stand tall. I feel a certain clench and release that I don’t experience from anything else. That’s what writing does to me. I feel an expansion of my spirit, my soul, and my mind.
As is commonly said, the art of practice brings about a perfection and though there are times that I question myself, my sanity and conviction, personal experience with scriggling and drabbling has shown me how true it is.
I find that my vivid imagination keeps getting sharper as each day goes by and it’s veering towards seeing things in 3D perspectives from the mundane details and beauty in the ordinary to the complex structure and questions that pop up inside my head. It only means that it can get better as the muscle gets fine-tuned.
Writing is certainly not an easy exercise even when we think that we have the gift of the garb and have all the structures well put together. As a matter of opinion, I find that writers are most times less assured of their writing than those who don’t write, but the passion and the loud voices that nags in one’s head won’t let you be until you’ve had your say.
Like the quote has said, and I reiterate, keep pushing the boundaries of your imaginative muscles. Explore by pushing the strictures of your boundaries and comfort. I am trying to venture outside my zone of cruise control, to a bumpy side. I bet the knowledge gained from trying new reading material and writing aspect won’t be a wasted venture.
I would rather keep pushing it, writing and shooting crabs than stopping. In the midst of the written rubbish, there’s bound to be a couple of useful material and by the time I am done with my muscle development, I might actually stand a chance of knocking Mayweather flat on his hard backside in a boxing ring with the feathered tip of my pen.
© Jacqueline Oby-Ikocha
Image credit: Pixabay
Life is a continuum and as such we are in a constant state of change.
This change should equally apply to the way that we view things.
Are we of such mindsets that are so rigid that they’re as good as being cast in stone?
How enabling has certain ways of thinking been for us?
Could a little tweak in our perspectives bring about better change and expand our horizons?
These are questions that I like to pose often.
What if?
I have found and still finding that sometimes we simply go through the same old, same old automatically that it becomes an ingrained habit.
However, we can rewire our perspectives to see just a little bit more beyond the surface and we will be better off .
©Jacqueline Oby-Ikocha
Virtue the say lies in the mean. In lay man’s term, I should exercise my laziness virtue in moderation.
I have been absolutely so laid back with my workouts and relaxing far too much to be of productive use to anyone except maybe by talking their ears off.
I am grateful for the rest time. Truly, I appreciate these moments of exhaling in-between hectic periods and I am not being mealy-mouthed about this opportunity, especially knowing that the good slice of indulgence will be over next week.
However, today my body got tired of me and begged me to take it for some concerted exercise.
My pillow gave a good fight but lost the battle of the senses.
I am happy and thankful that I got off my backside and got some sweating in. I killed some fat today!
I could practically feel the endorphins and dopamine galloping all the way to my brain in utmost pleasure. Ah! Quelle bliss.
My appreciation goes to all those who took out the time to take a peek at my book cover to help me make a decision.
Nothing prepared me for the fact that choosing a cover could be a pressure. A detail that I had been ignorant of. Ignorance indeed is bliss but can cost you some good sleep. It’s a good pressure and I am happy to be in such a position. I pray that my body will keep winning over the pillow so that I can murder some fat 😉
A heart that knows thanks for friends is a heart that will know many delights. Who or what gives you the delight to be thankful this day?
You can join Colline’s or Maria Jansson gratitude challenge platforms.
© Jacqueline Oby-Ikocha
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‘PLEASE KEEP SENDING IN THE LINKS.’
Today’s featured blogs are:
Waves of the sky a beautiful poem that connects you with the strength in nature’s wondrous expanse.
The Snow melts somewhere An awesome blog with fabulous eye googling photos 🙂
Weekend giggles A charming read of everyday people.
Mo‘s blog, Mugglestones and Mayhem is one that I am getting to know gradually and I totally like what I see and my experience after a visit. Do say hello.
Creamy firecracker Chicken Pasta What’s for Dinner moms cooks up delicious, yummy and satisfying meals. I love the fact that a lot of her cooking is also tailored to the economical way of feeding your family right. I always peek in to learn something new and treat my family, especially over the weekends when there’s more time to play with.
Crossing Phew! The suspense in Mel’s book ‘Curse Breaker’ keeps my brain wired and my butt on the edge of my seat. A little excerpt and I quote below:
Silence fell like a knife. It cut the remaining cord between Sarn and the world beyond the blindfold leaving him deaf. He halted on the gravel path between the dual rings of menhirs and this time Nolo did not urge him to continue. The Ranger maintained his grip but did not pull on his arm.
“What is it? Why did you stop?” Nolo hissed unwilling to raise his voice in this eerie place between forest and meadow.
Please visit their blogs and say hello. A few minutes may gain you a friendly support.
‘Do you want more eyes on your words?’
Well then, add your LINK INTO THIS LOOP.
P.S. Comments are disabled here to keep the loop tidy. Any comments or link you want to send can be added through the link in the post.
Thank you for your understanding and regards.
‘We create a cohesive community when we come together.’
© Jacqueline Oby-Ikocha
a cooking pot and twisted tales 