Inspiration - Motivation · Lifestyle · Musings · My Thinking Corner · Quotes For You · Self Help · Weave that Dream

Tuesday Trickles…My Thinking Corner.

February 9, 2016 jacquelineobyikocha13 Comments

When we sow little seeds of good, we have no idea the depth of roots that we plant.

We can actually retrain the battle fields of our minds to think the way that we want it to.

It’s never too late to try to get it right. Except the person reading this post is no longer on this side of the great divide.

Happiness is truly at home with you. It lives and breaths within you and not in someone else’s abode.

Sometimes, in the bid to hide so many secrets, we bury ourselves alive and forget to live.

Noirfifre’s beautiful message is an advise that would suit a lot of people.

Stella’s simple, beautiful thoughts can take us very far.

Oba’s inspiring post on paying it forward speaks for itself.

I would encourage you to take a quick peek at these thoughts. Maybe, they mirror yours.

So, when can we get a sneak peek at yours?

My regards,

Inspiration - Motivation · Lifestyle · The Daily Post

If I can’t speak now, then when?…

February 4, 2016 jacquelineobyikocha48 Comments

There comes a time in one’s life when the desire to step up to living your dreams over-rides every other perceived fear and if you don’t start doing so, you will simply watch others live theirs.

By letting fear dictate the pace, each day that passes keeps counting, until all the shoulda, woulda, coulda’s pops out of the woodwork sometime in the future to taunt you and the worst regret ever, is the regret of not trying at all, than trying and failing.

Part of my aspirations is to be a lifestyle coach and this will probably involve standing in front of a crowd to speak.

Except I want to dump my dreams and stay by the sidelines to watch, I will simply have to step up to the podium.

The people that I will be talking to are fellow humans like me and okay maybe a handful of grumpy aliens tossed into the mix, but hey, if I can’t speak now to fellow humans then when and to who? I might get nervous the first time or so, but after the baptism of fire, I will rock it as much as I possibly can.

Where are the black socks and the microphone?

Let’s get this ball rolling.

The Daily Post Black Socks.

Are you comfortable in front of people, or does the idea of public speaking make you want to hide in the bathroom? Why?

Devotions · Gratitude · Hope · Inspiration - Motivation · Lifestyle

A Wellspring…

February 3, 2016 jacquelineobyikocha20 Comments

Just a few weeks ago, it was Christmas, then New Year and now January 2016 has come an end. It’s gone forever. We can only witness future January’s of other years, but never the last one.

January took some famous and acclaimed personalities with it, as well as so many other souls, but a whole lot of us are blessed to be well and see another new month cycle in.

That just keeps drawing the transient state of our lives home, that we truly have to spend our days living our best lives now and being happy with it.

As we pursue our dreams and aspirations with tenacity, buoyed with the desire to achieve a whole lot of different things, I am thankful for having had the Grace to stay on course with a good number of things that I set to do.

I am grateful that I have not lost the courage or the zeal to keep pushing along, because it is really so easy to get derailed with the little things that life throws in our path.

I am grateful for the stream of ideas that keeps coming to me and the strength to see them through. Sometimes, the wellspring of inspiration and creativity can run dry, leaving one grasping, so, for me, it is indeed a privilege thus far, to have a fountain that bubbles with inspiration.

I am grateful that for the first time in months, the aches and pains that plagued me has receded quite a bit and I can pencil this down to the consistent little exercising that I have been doing.

I feel a lot more limber and thankful for that. Sometimes, the discomfort of my Myalgia that I have in my back would keep me uncomfortable and awake at nights.

Living in a state of thankfulness, keeps the elusive Unicorn of Happiness close by. That way, you get to ride on it often enough.

Welcome to a new month of abundant blessings and inspiration. Never forget that the little seed of gratitude that you sow, grows into a bountiful harvest for your thanksgiving.

You can join Colline’s or Maria Jansson gratitude challenge platforms.

Lifestyle · Personal story · Photographs · This Is My Life

Hacking It Off! What I got up to in January #1 – personal

February 2, 2016 jacquelineobyikocha109 Comments

My 2016 started with a big step that I had been contemplating for some time. For the first time in forever, I hacked off my hair. It was a way of saying Happy New Year to me.

I even jump in alarmed trepidation as I say this.

I never knew that I would finally have the gumption to take the step to cut my hair down to a low cut and carry it like that, but I am totally loving it.

Why did I take such a drastic decision after decades or perming, curling, weaves and all what not?

The answer is as simple as the fact that I just needed a break from all the stress. Let me give you a brief synopsis.

A lot of African ladies or women of Negroid genetics might relate with me. Our kinky hair can be quite ‘a handful’ to manage and because of that, we have it in constant perm or weaves or braids which takes hours on end to go through the process in the salons. I was just tired of living under the thumbs of a salon dryer.
Due to the time involved in having these hair-dos, and the need to keep it looking good, we avoid our hair getting wet by all means; hence, when I go to the pool, I find myself keeping my hair at an odd angle, never willing to enjoy a good swim because of that. A good number of African ladies that I know don’t mind getting soaked to the skin under the rain but they must find a piece of nylon to shield their hair. Giiirlll! I was sick of the torment especially living in a neighbourhood where the pool stared at me, morning, afternoon and evening.
The cost of keeping the hair in the latest style is not cheap. I am not complaining about the cost, but sometimes, I think it’s a big rip off especially in the Western World where doing your hair costs an arm and a leg. Besides, all the perms and stuff was just making my poor tendrils get thinner by the day.

So there it is and that list up there could go on…..

Now I stand under the shower and enjoy the warm water cascading down and soothing my poor, frazzled brain.

I swim without any worries. I don’t even bother to blow-dry it. Just apply coconut oil and let it dry by itself.

I don’t have to bother plunking my butt down for hours on end for any hairdresser, for now at least. I am totally tickled and thrilled.

Now, I will rock it until I get bored and I can always choose what next to do. I can always revert to the braids and weaves to switch up my looks, though I am seriously contemplating getting them locked into fabulous locks.

The good thing is that I thought I wouldn’t have the nerves to do it, but I braved it and did it. My dear Himself was shocked at first, but it’s growing on him 😉

A few of the different looks.

Challenges · Inspiration - Motivation · Life · Lifestyle · My Thinking Corner · Success

Tuesday Trickles #7…My Thinking Corner.

February 2, 2016 jacquelineobyikocha24 Comments

Every Tuesday, I share snippets of thoughts that I call ‘My Thinking Corner.’

I would like to invite you to participate. The challenge is quite simple.

Each Tuesday, share your very short snippets of positive, inspiring, motivating, health, spiritual, writing advice, clips, posts etc, that can serve as a prop to motivate others and simply add my link to your post.

I call it my thinking corner because, I actually take out a bit of time just to think through things, encapsulate my thoughts as much as possible and detoxify my mind.

It might work for you in a different way, but the idea is to get the positive thoughts flowing.

Please send in your little thoughts. You never know whose life you might inspire.

Affirm positive words over your life each day. They are little pebbles that helps you find your way.

If we spend our lives worrying about being judged, then we will simply do no living, because either sides of the coin, You will be judged!

You have to live in the present, to get the best from it. There is no better time for your best life other than now. Tomorrow, will arrive at it’s appointed time and you will deal with it equally.

On those rainy days and dark days of our lives, we must keep a flicker of light and an umbrella to shelter ourselves during such periods. The flicker of light and umbrella can be kept in the storehouse within you.

Peace is not going to run and grasp you by the hands. You run to peace and hold on to it with your tentacles as a consciously cultivated effort. Sometimes, having peace might involve letting go of some people who are simply not good for you.

Very wise thoughts sent in from Deb of Bookyglover

When you are not so sure, you could try doing this from Rosema of the Reading writer.

Can we hear you think aloud? Please do tell and join in with your little snippets.

Regards,

Challenges · Inspiration - Motivation · Lifestyle · Stream of Consciousness Saturday. · This Is My Life

An Averted Anxiety Moment…Streams Of Consciousness Saturday.

January 30, 2016February 1, 2016 jacquelineobyikocha25 Comments

Today is one of those days. I woke up with AN anxious pressing of thoughts, yet my mind was scattered to the four winds and I initially could not pin down what it was that caused the pressing niggles.

It was such that I felt like not doing anything but just crawling between the sheets and allowing the thoughts marinate and vacillate.

This was not the ‘I am feeling lazy today thoughts,’ rather, it was more like the ‘let me stew in some unknown worry and annoyance thought.’

However, I knew the fore-warnings and the possible resultant effects of such marinating. I would gradually spiral into a ball of anxious worry wart and by the end of the day, the snappy, stressed dragon will start showing it’s ugly face and it just goes downhill.

So I had to actively decide to turn my ANxiety moment into an active moment and I did just three things before the emotional waves came into balance.

These are the three simple things that I did:

I prayed briefly with my children.

I dragged on my exercising clothes and lazily sweated out for an hour and twenty minutes.

After the sweating, I sat in my thinking corner and turned to piece my thoughts apart to try and put my fingers on the niggles. Some thoughts were dealt with and resolved as quickly as a phone call. Other thoughts were written down and turned into action points to be resolved at assigned specific times.

Doing these three things decompressed my mind. I found myself back to a balanced tandem and my day continued on a good note.

Those moments of ANxiety can possibly be turned into moments of ANswers, but it takes a lot of conscious effort to deal with it.

I have learnt over time, that putting pressing thoughts or issues off or pushing them under the rug does not make them go away, rather the rug only gets higher.

This is my first post in relation Stream of Consciousness challenge and we Linda has asked us to use ‘an’ for today’s prompt.

Life · Lifestyle · Love · Personal story · The Great Book Of Lists

My Lettered Mind… The Great Book Of Lists Chapter 1.4

January 28, 2016January 28, 2016 jacquelineobyikocha46 Comments

At a young age, deciphering the lettering in the pages of a book became No. 1 on the list of my favourite things and if it is possible to say, I would say that I gobbled up literature with such veracity, that one would think it was an Olympic contest.

The adventure that I have with books has led to a rhyme or two words.

Out of my forays in reading, I got to learn that I am an incurable romantic realist *if such a term exists* and I always look for the happy endings or at least something heartwarming.

I read several horrors after a fad and found it absolutely not to my taste.

Yes, I admit, the amount of Mills & Boons, Harlequin Romances, Barbara Cartlands, Penny Jordan’s, Barbara Taylor Bradford, Amanda Quick and the rest of the crew that I read, must have contributed some coins from my piggy bank to the authors pockets and it’s amazing how much content the brain can take in and still keep soaking up more each day.

Ah! These brings back the days of mobile library and the ice-cream van to my mind. The two always seemed to come around the school premises almost at the same time and now that I think about it, that ice-cream man must have been responsible for my love for sweets. Just imagine bringing my two favourite things together 😉

I digress. Back to some of the books that caught my mind, held my thoughts and stoked my imagination enough to steal into the toilet for a quick page of reading when I was meant to be watching the beans on the fire and yes, a page turned to several and the beans got burnt.

For this weeks The books that transport me, chapter 1.4 of TGBOL, these ones come easily to my mind:

Lorna Doone – Richard Doddridge Blackmore
Wuthering Heights – Emily Brontë
Jane Eyre – Charlotte Brontë
Little Women – Louisa May Alcott
The Basket Of Flowers – Christope Von Schmid
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn – Mark Twain
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer – Mark Twain
Oliver Twist – Charles Dickens
The Mayor of Casterbridge – Thomas Hardy
The Count of Monte Cristo – Alexandre Dumas
Pride and Prejudice – Jane Austen
Gone with the wind – Margaret Mitchell
Things Fall Apart – Chinua Achebe
Sands Of Time – Sidney Sheldon
The Secret Garden – Frances Burnett
Great Expectations – Charles Dickens
The Merchant Of Venice – William Shakespeare
Comics of : Archie, Betty & Veronica, Jughead, ASTERIX, TinTin
Fairy tales by The Brothers Grimms
Enid Blyton books

Numbers 18, 19 and 20, I pretend to buy for my children and still sneak in a good read and a chortle. Please, you are free to think whatever, I am still a child at heart 😉

Gratitude · Inspiration - Motivation · Lifestyle

Why Not? Are You Too Much Of A Man?…

January 27, 2016January 27, 2016 jacquelineobyikocha39 Comments

Is it possible to wake up and express a heartfelt gratitude for everything, without a ‘but?’

Some gentleman openly made a scornful statement, asking why we should have to express our thankfulness and gratitude for all to see? Why couldn’t we just be thankful in our minds?

I thought it through and my wonder is, maybe he feels it’s not manly enough to be seen doing something as sissy as being grateful or thankful? Who knows.

Anyway, to this retort I say, why not? We talk about virtually anything and everything under the Sun. So why not gratitude and thankfulness? Must we save it only for the day of Thanksgiving, on 24 November?

Is it because the word carries the connotations of Religion or Christian tenets?

Well you are wrong! I think it would be wise to remember that the state of gratitude is a life tenet, which does not respect any doctrine, dogma, race, religion, age or sex.

Thankfulness is a state of being that is the mother of all virtues. When we are thankful, we have less to grumble about. When we are thankful, it makes the little that we have enough. When we are thankful, we are not going to be envious and envy breeds wickedness.

We don’t have to look far to find things to be grateful for: family, food, shelter, friends, clothing, seasons, life, nature, beauty, truth, salvation. The list could go on for decades.

A heart of gratitude opens doors of love, peace and plenty.

Today, I am grateful for life and good health. It’s really a privilege and nothing can truly compare to the promises that I have in God.

A grateful heart will always find satisfaction. May your heart find a grace for gratitude. Like the Bible tells us, ‘God inhabits the praise of His People.

You can join Colline’s or Maria Jansson gratitude challenge platforms.

Five Sentence Inspiration · Lifestyle · My Thinking Corner · Quotes For You · Success

Tuesdays Trickles 6…My Thinking Corner.

January 26, 2016 jacquelineobyikocha23 Comments

Every Tuesday, I share snippets of thoughts that I call ‘My Thinking Corner.’

I would like to invite you to participate. The challenge is quite simple.

I call it my thinking corner because, I actually take out a bit of time just to think through things, encapsulate my thoughts as much as possible and detoxify my mind.

It might work for you in a different way, but the idea is to get the positive thoughts flowing.

Please send in your little thoughts. You never know whose life you might inspire.

The single truth that we tell ourselves is a million times better than the half-truths that we are told by a dozen.

Hope is that last little flicker in the rubble of our burnt ashes. When you stoke the embers sufficiently, the flames will come alive.

Our dreams can never be the same neither will our journey. You must dream your dreams and not wait for hand-me- downs.

An empty heart will never have anything to give. Fill it with good things and it will overflow naturally.

Once that little voice in a mind asks, is this all there is? Then, there must be more to be done and we should be on the quest for that more.

Here Are Last Week’s Thinking Corner Thinkers 🙂

Small Choices. Rosema of Reading Writers little nuggets in brief.

The gift called today from Oba of the King’s Oracle fills me with beautiful thoughts.

Tuesday’s thoughts by Bisi of Femininematerz connects the dots of rising to the skill of your art.

Deep thoughts of Trickles and Tears from Diane of Ladies who lunch reviews.

Persevere. These very few words from simply me speaks very loud and clear.

Let’s hear your thoughts, quotes, advice et al.

Five Sentence Inspiration · Inspiration - Motivation · Lifestyle · My Thinking Corner · Quotes For You · Weave that Dream

Tuesdays Trickles 5..My thinking corner…

January 19, 2016January 19, 2016 jacquelineobyikocha38 Comments

Every Tuesday, I share snippets of thoughts that I call ‘My Thinking Corner.’

I would like to invite you to participate. The challenge is quite simple.

I call it my thinking corner because, I actually take out a bit of time just to think through things, encapsulate my thoughts as much as possible and detoxify my mind.

It might work for you in a different way, but the idea is to get the positive thoughts flowing.

Please send in your little thoughts. You never know whose life you might inspire.

Sometimes we stare hard at a closed door for too long that we fail to see the new ones opening for us.

When we expunge the negative, we must endeavour to fill the space created with the positive, because nature abhors vacuum in our existence.

As difficult as it might be, hold on to those positive thoughts. It never fails to expand your coast and broaden the possibilities of your impossibilities.