a cooking pot and twisted tales
Thoughts and Tales…A Lifestyle Blog with a Zing.
‘Female friendships that work are relationships in which women help each other belong to themselves.’ Louise Bernikow
For some good moments, I enjoyed watching their similar expressions at each given moment. 🙂
Always laugh when you can. It’s cheap medicine. George Gordon Byron
The writers quote Wednesday’s prompt for this week is laughter and I looked up that lovely quote above.
I love laughing. In my opinion, robust laughter is like a song to the ears that the soul dances to. I like being around people who have a good sense of humour and can make me laugh and who equally laugh at themselves. They don’t nitpick and take offence easily. Staying around grouches can be bone wearing and grey. At some point, we would all die, but while we are alive let’s live it with laughter on our lips.
Sometimes, especially during the weekends, I deliberately go on YouTube to look up comedians and enjoy a good half hour of silliness 🙂
When we moved here, I was initially taken aback by the number of serious, stoic faces that dotted the horizon. I even wrote a poem about it which languished in my draft. Some looked outrightly like people who had sucked on sour lemons as if it would hurt them to smile while some wore a grimace like they had a bad case of gas.
Over time, I started distinguishing them by their nationalities and realised that some of the tightness of the faces are due to upbringing and religion. Of robbing the minds of reasons to be joyful and to see a fellow human in suspicion or disdain.
Some reminded me of the staunch hard-nosed Church deaconesses whose lips are perpetually pursed in criticism. Some religious tenets sap some humans of the joy of living. Their belief that your hard faced stoic stance shows you as a serious Muslim or Christain or whatever, is so wrong. Laughter or smiling is beautiful.
No one expects anyone to go around looking like a clown, but life can be taken seriously without looking morbid about it.
Since we are all going to die anyway, I think I would look better with a smile on my face as I sign off on the last day in mirth.
© Jacqueline Oby-Ikocha
Waking up with the spirit of doubt trying to invade my mind is not my idea of a fun way to rise in the morning. This spirit of doubt was implanted by events outside my control, which affects a member of my loved and extended family *unfortunately, I can’t disclose nor breach their confidence, but nonetheless, this issue weighs heavily on my mind that I found myself entertaining seeds of fear and worry.
Fear and worry add no value, but rather, they take away from the person inflicted by the noisome presence.
They are like creeping plants that grow so fast and try to smother everything good along the way. I am still a fledgling Christian in the sense that I cannot lay claims of having it all sorted out spiritually, but I am so grateful that I have matured enough in the spirit to always remember that God gave me the spirit of love and of sound mind and not of fear.
It may sound juvenile to some, but please believe me, when I say that I deliberately started recounting the positive things of just the previous days and not only did I drown out the voice of fear and worry, but I experienced such upliftment inside me.
The Spring break is over and we are back to the hustling shift of rising early, school runs and what not. I am so grateful for my children and the beautiful time spent together.
My babies are growing up, enough to slap gooey peanut butter sandwiches together, to flip pancakes and make light breakfast for themselves so that their mother can get a little extra lounge time in bed.
For a beautiful, caring soul in my husband who showed me lots of surprising sweet spots through his concern and ministration to my needs these past few days and brought loads of laughter to my lips.
I am thankful for Grace. Grace not to wilt in the sight of pressure. Grace that has stood by my loved one in their trying times and lest I forget, I am thankful for earning my first 34 cents in this blogging space as well as the sustenance to keep at it and not to lose focus.
A lot of times, life brings temptation that seems quite burdensome, but if we keep our face up, the load will slide off our shoulders.
I hope that you are thankful for something today. You can join Colline’s or Maria Jansson gratitude challenge platforms.
© Jacqueline Oby-Ikocha
Image credit: Pixabay
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‘PLEASE KEEP SENDING IN THE LINKS.’
Today’s featured blogs are:
A bookworms burden I am of the belief that writers are very greedy people when it comes to books 😉
5 tips for children to play nice As a mother/parent, these are useful everyday tips for raising these young ones.
Margo’s Views serves you humour and so much more in a little voice 😉
Alkagirdhar‘s magnanimous words is a potpourri of all things nice: haiku, poems, stories…
Too broke to have an opinion an article that I find not only candid but a release as well.
Let’s play twenty questions I enjoyed playing this. Do you remember any or all of the above? Find out.
The Sparrow What a poem! For someone who says he’s not much of a poet, Mr. D’s sparrow is so beautifully sad. Take a read
Commanded Do you think stones have power, or is it just in stories? Still following Sarn on his trying journey.
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
‘Whenever you read a good book , somewhere in the world a door opens to allow in more light. ‘ Vera Nazarian
#I love capturing such moments. Sublime 😊
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There are times that I have been asked how I can prove that there’s a God and I have always responded with the same quote above.
God is God all by Himself. I cannot limit him by trying to define him in the human context, neither can I constrain his Supreme presence because I seek for him to appear before me so that the doubting Thomases can believe that he exists.
I would rather believe deeply in God and live my life serving him through my fellowship with others than to spend a thousand years drifting in disbelief.
Every day, I see God. I see him in the gurgling laughter of a little child. I see him in the brilliance of the shining Sun, I see him in the birds that roam free and feed on the fat worms of the earth, I see him in the flowers that bloom in glorious colours, I see him in the love of my children and husband, I see him in everything that surrounds me.
Do you see God?
© Jacqueline Oby-Ikocha
This week’s haiku prompt ‘life & path’ is sweet. Thank you Ronovan 🙂
A racy life
On a crooked path
Destroys the runner.
—–
He ran for his life
But the path was a bit dark
He stumbled and he fell.
—–
On the walk through life
There are stumbling blocks in our path
We fall and we rise.
—–
© Jacqueline Oby-Ikocha
Image credit: Pixabay.com
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 helps give me clarity of vision and might help you too.
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.
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© Jacqueline Oby-Ikocha
Last week thoughts came in from several great thinkers:
Tuesday’s Truth So many beautiful nuggets attached here.
Detachment Let nothing own us even as we acquire so many things.
Truth Tuesday Let me quote some of Tikeetha’s word’s below and how much I like them because I personally believe that if we fail, to be honest, and open to ourselves and those around us, we fail!
I chose to be open. It is when I’m open about my life both good and bad that I feel like I can see the growth. That I can see the changes that can and need to take place.
Worried? How to deal with it. Our worries can literally debilitate us and weigh us down. How do you deal with worries?
Annette’s Thinking Corner Sometimes the negative vibes of things going on in our lives would want to drown us, but when we start dwelling on the positives, we silence the voice of disquiet and find peace.
Thank you to Tikeetha – A Thomas Point Of View and Dehan Taylor for joining Thinking Corner.
I appreciate this and pray that the transformation of our lives will bring us joy and expand our horizons.
Let’s hear from you and do peek into the thoughts shared by others.
‘You can tell when people are truly happy. Their energy is genuine.’ Alex Elle
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No, I have no idea why he’s covering his face 😉
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We make plans about all that we want in life, but life makes its plans for us as well.
We have a good idea of the structure of how we want it to turn out, but something derails us along the way.
At times, these curve balls actually end up helping to straighten and put us on the right path.
It all depends on how we respond to the challenges and detours that we are offered.
Do we choose to see every strike and fall with a jaundiced eye?
Such an approach bodes chances that we could become embittered and probably lose sight of the little openings and apertures that these lessons offer.
We should focus on other possible alternatives that may be available to us.
© Jacqueline Oby-Ikocha
a cooking pot and twisted tales 