When I saw the haiku prompt ‘twist & shout’ I first thought of dancing, then another seed of thought planted itself in my mind and I went with it.
There’s no need to shout,
or getting your panties in a twist.
You got it all wrong!
©
Jacqueline
Author: jacquelineobyikocha
A wordsmith with a vivid imagination, an eager mind and a burning desire to carve out tales. As I journey with my muse to that land of all possibilities and self discovery, I hope my personal evolution will serve as a beacon of inspiration for anyone who chooses to stop by.
I Am A Year Older Today and Hopefully Wiser.
Loving yourself is the best gift that you can give to yourself.
Finding happiness, fulfillment, success and the best version of you comes with the understanding that unconditional self-love is a critical determinant to achieving these things.
Take a listen to my video on ‘loving myself’ below and do subscribe.
It’s my birthday today, now I’m off to eat some cake 🙂
Sap It Is…
Mundane Monday Challenge is created to find beauty in almost everything.
The challenge is simple. Find beauty in everyday mundane things, capture the beauty and upload the photographs.
It’s simply a tree bark, yet it’s gorgeous in its rough and crumbly texture with the sticky sap oozing out of its pores.
The sap must taste like caramel toffee or a sip of nectar ‘cos I saw little ants running up and down the length of the trunk, fetching and carrying little bits of dried sap that’s 3x their size.
Did you know that plant sap is rich in sucrose?
Chatting and Connecting with Susie.
The first thing that drew my attention to Susie when I started blogging and during blogging 101 course which seems like eons ago is her consistent contribution and suggestions to a discussion. I find her frank talk refreshing and being in the business of trying to understand a personality through their words, I was drawn to her.
If my perception is not wrong, I would describe Susie as a gentle, conscientious, kind and tolerant woman.
Please read 🙂
A bit about me.
I am a 47-year-old woman, with a June birthday. I am a Syrian Christian by birth. I belong to the southern part of India. I come from a very loving background with caring, nurturing and guiding parents, who tried their best to instill Christian virtues in me. I went to a school that emphasized old-time values like love for one’s country, patriotism, helping others without care for who they were, and standing up for what was right. After school I went to a Medical School that had Christian values written all over it- this played a great role in my selection of this particular school for my higher education.
It was the first time I had stayed away from home and my parents. I was shocked beyond reprieve that the Christian values of care, love, putting others beyond self, helping one another, unity and patience were far from the real life of the people at the college. I went into an emotional and personal crisis at this stage. From being an A level student, I went to the bottom rungs of the academic ladder. Around this time, I lost belief in God and in my religion.
I wondered and pondered over a God that allowed all the atrocities that went on in the college in the name of Christianity. Injustice and blatant human right abuse abounded there. A system of ragging prevailed, that went to the heart and soul of a newcomer or a freshman to the college, which in many cases served to shatter the person from within. Being me, I protested openly against this and this made me hugely unpopular. A reign of terror was unleashed at me and I was made to feel hugely uncomfortable during my college life. Needless to say, I did not enjoy my college life.
It was divine intervention that helped me and kept me safe during this time and kept me away from the various vices a person could fall into while away from parental scrutiny. I survived and passed to become a doctor. A year after passing out, I married a man, who by some strange coincidence was from the same college. My marriage was a surprise to many of the naysayers in my college life as my husband was one of the most desirable bachelors of that college and I the least but again God brought us together. Over the years my faith in God has grown and I have come back to the fold like the lost sheep or the prodigal son.
I love writing. I have come to learn that I love listening to people. I can be a talker when I wish but I think I enjoy listening more and analyzing people and their thoughts and deeds. Most of these analyses lead me to life stories that I blog about. I guess I am an introvert.
I dislike two facedness. I am judgmental so am quick to find out if someone is not what he/she says he/she is.
I try to be a nurturer and love my two children very much. I am a dog lover by heart but the Good Lord has put so many cats in my life that I have lost count. I have come to believe that he really loves a good chuckle at my expense 🙂
The purpose of my blog.
At a low point in my life, about three years ago, I quit a job in Medical Research again because I didn’t believe in the work ethics of the place I was working at. I decided to move on, leaving a very respected job. For about a year and a half, I was unemployed and the object of a lot of ridicule. In an attempt to earn some money, I decided to do so by writing.
During this writing journey, I learned further that if one had a blog, writing jobs came easier. I didn’t land any major writing jobs but I got a blog and a lot of blog friends, many of whom are keepers. My blog is about my life. I have almost half a century of life lived behind me – perhaps I can be of good to some soul who has gone through issues like me and is hoping for a friendly listening ear.
I started this blog in order to write but became a reader and a listener by turn. So the objectives of my blog have done a U-turn now from when I started. When I started blogging, it was all about me and promoting myself. These days, it is more about being a listener and helping others, if that is possible. It seems to me that my blog is more about others now than myself.
I like the blogging world a lot except when it airs the political opinions of people who often don’t agree with my political thinking. When it gets beyond a limit, I stop reading their blogs. But otherwise, blogging has been a wonderful experience to me.
Links to some of my favorite posts:
5. https://susieshy45.wordpress.com/2016/12/31/last-day-of-the-year-post-five-helps-for-the-new-year/
How I stay motivated.
To be honest, I don’t motivate myself at all. I go for days without writing and then there is a deluge of writing with more silence. I like writing when I feel the whim and not when I am forced to do so. During moments of silence, I read others blogs and get inspiration from them, sometimes commenting on their posts that touched my heart or pulled a string somewhere in my being. Often times, these posts serve as inspiration for my own future posts. I have a long memory and so I have plenty of feed to write about inside my own head.
My Blogging Challenges.
I would say, not being able to express myself to my fullness, with absolute freedom for my words and my creativity. I am a little worried and scared about whether people I know and work with or live with will come to know of my blog and my blog opinions. So my blog posts will often be tempered down from what they actually should be. In the process, I have learnt diplomacy but perhaps lost out on some of my innate honesty.
My Word For Others.
Yes, I would surely encourage people to blog and especially if you are going through a personal crisis being a blogger certainly helps when you are down in the dumps. There are so many people out there, who are going through pain just like you and maybe more than you. Perhaps you can be a comfort to them and they, to you.
I would tell new time bloggers to keep writing, small posts frequently, till you reach that place where you can be a model of writing to others. So practice writing as often as your heart tells you. Also, I feel that one needs to write if one feels the urge and not when one feels that one has to join a group of people to belong to a certain belief group. Be honest to your own true self, as much as you can and your honest voice will reach others.
Spend a day with me.
I wake up hearing before the crack of dawn to prepare food for my human and animal family before I go to work. But the first thing I do is open ” Our Daily Bread” and read the readings for the day, reflect on them, pray about them and give thanks. Giving thanks is becoming a bigger part of my life with each passing day. It keeps me positive and hopeful that good things will happen if we go looking for them. After the cooking and packing of lunches and feeding of my strays, I shower and dress up to go to work.
I work as a research administrator in a university college and need to be at work at 8 am. Often being caught in rush hour traffic, I reach work only around 8:30but because I have an understanding supervisor, I often get away with it. Life has been getting easier as my children need less of me and my husband has become more independent in terms of their needs – so I have more time for myself. At work, I complete my day’s work in about an hour and the spare time I have, I sit at my desk and write or think about what to write. Sometimes I study Math to keep up with my daughter’s math homework. I read some books at my desk too and when my watch tells me I have been sitting too long, I take a walk around the corridors of my university.
Looking to the future plans.
First I would like to publish my own research in the world of medicine and make a few publications in my name and then I would like to see my own name in my publications – whether scientific or creative writing. I would like to earn some money from my blog and help other bloggers who so deserve the help they can get and I am working towards this aim. As to increasing the outreach of my blog, I am letting things take their own time and I am pretty casual about it for now. I get joy in seeing a new follower of my blog but more than numbers, I am now interested in making good friends, and people whose company I love. I learn a lot from my fellow bloggers and those I follow and I would like to learn more and more each day.
Thank you, Jackie, for having me.
Susie
Please Visit and Support My Awesome Partners
Anytime I see Eugenia’s tagline phrase ‘whimsical & capricious chatter’ I find myself wearing a smile. BrewNSpew is a blog that I’ve followed for almost as long as I started blogging. I’ve enjoyed dear Eugenia’s bright, witty thoughts and poetry, filled with chuckles and nuggets of wisdom. Whenever I visit, her style of writing reminds me that blogging is meant to be enjoyed, not endured.
She also authors another gem of a blog Thus N Such, and I’ve equally had the pleasure of interviewing her here, please do step in, have a cuppa and leave with a smile 🙂
My girlfriend, Tasha, the author of the blog Steps2Protect, is one gorgeous, smart lady and a beautiful soul. An admirable lady who runs her own safety business.
She’s a champion for personal and family safety and I always find her well thought out articles and recommendations valuable. In today’s world, such information is a need to know.
Please visit and get acquainted.
Kaylaa Blackwell, the lady behind Inspired Beacon is another lady that I admire.
Her tech savvy, business sense, and resourcefulness are enviable. I am still running after her for an interview in order to get to know this fascinating young lady better.
Let me share a link to one of her uplifting posts and her e-commerce site.
Go feed your eye’s and be inspired.
Beautiful Brenda Baker of Caffeinated Ramblings has been a wonderful support in this space.
Her pretty blog offers delightful visuals and excellent writing that will set your thoughts free while provoking it at the same time.
You can get to know more about Brenda by visiting her about page. I’ve also had the pleasure of interviewing her in my space and would encourage you to visit and get acquainted.
Michelle Malone, a sister, and a friend. The wise woman (I call her that in my mind), runs the blog “Two are better than one.” I always come away from Michelle’s blog enriched from
I always come away from Michelle’s blog enriched from reading posts that have wisdom infused in them.
Her personality and posts always have me singing this song in a part of my mind ‘you’ve got a friend in me’ and interviewing her gave me the pleasure of getting to know this gorgeous lady a bit better.
Thank me later for the connection 😉
When I see Anna’s Gravatar pop up, I just think of a conscientious, gentle and humourous lady and I’ve had the pleasure of interviewing her.
She not only shares from her well of experience with Type 2 Diabetes she shares nuggets of tips and thoughts that gives you a hands-on approach to common issues.
Anna also authors Websaladbar, where she shares snippets of her life outside Diabetes with us.
Lifting Up Taboos shares raw insiders stories of adoption from the angle of an adoptee as well as engaging fiction.
I find some of the articles gut wrenching, eye opening and informative. A visit would be worth your time.
A visit would be worth your time.
P.S. I’ve disabled comments on this post because I would like to encourage you to visit and get acquainted with them.
Would you like to partner with me? Shoot me an email let’s talk. Jacquelineobyikocha@gmail.com
The Tall and Short of Things…
Shortness is something that I don’t experience in most things except being short of funds and short of time. I am hardly ever short of thoughts, ideas and things to say.
I can’t quite recollect when I became physically conscious as a child that I’m not short. At 5 ft 11 inches tall, I remember my growing up years of gangly arms and long legs and standing a head above my peers.
The height invited teasing and taunting from male peers who for some shortness of genes didn’t get to grow tall fast enough. For a while, I recall praying not to grow too tall and hunching to appear shorter to blend in with others and not get teased as such. My mother and grandma used to straighten out my shoulders and reminded me often to stand tall and look the person in the eye.
Eventually, I grew into the arms and legs and became comfortable with my height especially when I got invitations to model clothes and calendar pages.
Fast forward to my present day, the roundness of motherhood and age has made me shorter especially in the presence of my young 14-year-old son who’s 6 ft 4 inches and growing and his siblings who are fast catching up.
I am no longer bothered about my height since that was long settled, I am more concerned with the plumper parts that jiggle and wobble these days.
I am fighting the gravitational force of nature to keep the jiggle-wobble on a short leash. I guess nature will take its course eventually though we must do our best in a healthy manner to help it along and prolong the shortness of things. I guess I’ve got that figured out if only I can get a handle on my shortage of funds and time.
P.S. I couldn’t resist adding this throwback photo of mine that my husband dug up from God knows where.
Jacqueline Oby-Ikocha
The Waterside Bloom…
Walking by the waters calms me,
it humbles me to see the expanse of nature’s’ beauty that abounds before me and
to realise that, I’m one of nature’s beauty and bloom.
©
Jacqueline
Building Better Connections – Blog Bytes
Building Better Connections
To build better connections for your blog, it’s far more expedient to spend a little time a day to read and comment on several blogs that you follow, than going through hundreds of them leaving your likes and Gravatar on a consistent basis like a sticker.
Your comments leave a more valid impression behind. It’s a painstaking and time-consuming affair, but worthwhile in the long-term.
Remember that people follow people – they essentially follow the perceived personality behind the blog, even when the blogger is anonymous – and not necessarily the website. It’s the connections that form the backbone of your blog and those few minutes spent commenting builds a bridge to networking.
Networking
Networking means doing a whole gamut of things that I have written about here before such as; Read More…
Your vibes…
Everyone has a dance inside them
have you found yours?
Just listen…
Even if you have two left feet
Move them to the beat.
©
Jacqueline Oby-Ikocha
Voilà- Echoes of my neighbourhood
My echoes of the week have been between slow running through life and fast sprinting to catch up with time trying to keep the loose ends tied up.
A better part of my week has been spent at Alliance Francaise, Dubai. I have a French Translation proficiency test for a program that I am considering and my French is getting a bit rusty from insufficient use;
donc j’ai decidé d’aller à l’Alliance pour quelques jours pour faire un peu d’immersion (therefore, I decided to go to Alliance for a couple of days for intensive catch up).
I am partial to things French and since I can’t go to France right now, let me enjoy the ambiance of little French around me.
Back to class. What are you up to?
Bon journée
a cooking pot and twisted tales 