a cooking pot and twisted tales
Thoughts and Tales…A Lifestyle Blog with a Zing.
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.
Lighting sets the mood of the room and this photo says different things to me
Its ambiance speaks of soft jazz, hushed tones and quiet laughter, of romance and dark shadows, of hidden secrets and open discovery.
In the darkness of the deep, little illuminations of light show the rich beauty of your soul – Jacqueline
It’s never too late to start again.
Not as long as you’ve got the breath of life in you.
Impossible only lies in the mind.
ℜ
Let no one tell you differently.
You are the only one who can define who you become,
indeed, that choice is all yours.
©
Jacqueline
Written for All New Writers Quote Challenge Prompt
Don’t let anyone define you. You define yourself – Billie Jean King
Bernadette at http://www.HaddonMusings.com
Jacqueline at http://www.Acookingpotandtwistedtales.com
Joan at http://www.familyparentingandbeyoned.wordpress.com
Oneta at http://www.onetahayes.com
To join us please check out this link.
I knew that I would run out of fuel living as someone else, so, the best shot I’ve got at living is to live as me – Jacqueline
The best peace that we can give ourselves is to come to terms with who we truly are, embrace it and move forward from there.
Our life is intertwined with sweet and bitter moments, sometimes the bitterness tends to erode the sweetness, but I’ve learnt and still learning that we can enrich our bitter moments and turn it into fodder for sweeter moments.
Don’t stay in that categorised box where others have chosen to keep you. Liberate yourself, cut lose and live fully. You are more than a label.
Lady Cee shares with us snippets of 12 shades of thinking and a free e-book by renowned Dr John Maxwell.
Life’s not all peaches and cream
many have barbed thorns
silent groans
and
priceless tears.
©
Jacqueline
For the day’s that I feel lost and my heart laden with so much burden, Lord, I give thanks. Forgive me for making you too small in my eyes.’
On days that depression hits me out of the blues, I don’t fight it. I welcome it inside. I give it a seat to hear what it’s got to say with a box of tissue in hand and I cry with her when she moves me with her tales.
I make her a strong cup of tea, or coffee, sometimes even some soup and remind her of the many things that are good about her life. I remind her that she should never put her God in a box, but allow He who began the good works in her to continue because He is faithful to the end.
I remind her of her journey and path to emotional freedom and mindfulness. I remind her of her talents and the burgeoning future before her eyes’.
I stoke her hope and remind her to keep her candle shining because the flickers of its light sends out good vibes and helps her to find her way in the dark
I remind her of her resilience, her unwavering positivity, and can-do spirit. I remind her that she’s resourceful, a source of light, the love of many people’s lives and I have her laughing in no time.
I gently show her the door and ask her to roam free. I ask her to go into the light and shine as bright as she can. I tell her that she’s welcome to visit anytime she feels lonely, but I’m quite sure that she knows she’s not alone because I see her light steps as she sprints down the street and her laughter rings in my heart.
This is me talking to one of my other selves.
If you wish to participate in a gratitude challenge, there are several gratitude/thankful platforms in the blogosphere that you can tune into and get your ithankful going on. I can’t express in words the enormity of Joy and fulfillment that comes from having a heart of gratitude. Please check out Maria’s blog, Colline’s blog and Bernadette’s for thankful/gratitude challenges.
Jacqueline
Buy yourself a one-way ticket away from Excuse Island, I just left that place and there’s nothing is happening there – Jacqueline
I have learned that excuses are as bountiful as ever but opportunities are so few and when our excuses become a habit, they simply perpetuate failure.
The choice to make changes or to make excuses is all yours, but remember to claim the results and not shift the blame on someone else.
Carol shares a beautiful post ‘Enjoy the gift of life,’ take a peek and find nuggets within.
Proverbs 26: 13 A sluggard says, “There’s a lion in the road, a fierce lion roaming the streets!” 14 As a door turns on its hinges, so a sluggard turns on his bed.
I am pushing to reach a 100 subscribers, click the button on my channel and help me up.
The inability to be in an automatic state of gratitude is a shortcoming that most of us have because most times our thoughts are reactionary and not proactive. We are always waiting for something to happen so that we can feel thankful for it.
Our focus seems to zoom in far more on the details of all those things that are not going quite the way we want them, failing to give more precedence to those one’s that are working out.
Then again, when all our lines do fall into place, our worries are reduced and a sense of complacency and taking things for granted takes over our thought pattern.
Thankfulness should be as essential as taking in air, as we wake up each morning to the gift of a new day.
Indeed, there are days that I feel run off my feet or overwhelmed by many things that are not going quite as planned, however training my mind has thought me to learn when to ‘press the stop button on the moaning and to tune into grace.’
I am thankful for this continued transformation and the emboldening of my mind power.
Today, I walked into the nearest supermarket around me to grab a couple of things for cooking and I give thanks for the abundance of food that’s available and the fact that I can afford it when some may not be in a position to do so right now.
I always look at the name tag of the sales person who waited on me to call them by their given name and thank them for their assistance.
Many times I enjoy the reward of watching a face transform with a smile from this little gesture of acknowledgment.
In so many ways, my needs are being met and a lot of times in rather unexpected ways, for all these underserved measures, I give thanks.
It’s the start of Lent and a season of deeper reflection. May your reflections bring you enlightenment.
Jacqueline
If you wish to participate in a gratitude challenge, there are several gratitude/thankful platforms in the blogosphere that you can tune into and get your ithankful going on. I can’t express in words the enormity of Joy and fulfillment that comes from having a heart of gratitude. Please check out Maria’s blog, Colline’s blog and Bernadette’s for thankful/gratitude challenges.
We have an Igbo proverb that says ‘when you choose to carry a clay pot up the slippery slope and fall thrice if the pot does not break, your waist would break.”
Repeating the same mistakes not only brings us heartache and failure but makes Wisdom to question our common sense.
It’s commonly said that to err is human, but why do we make the same mistakes over and over again?
It does seem as though our brains don’t learn from our past mistakes to the extent we might hope, as a matter of fact, dwelling on our past mistakes might not be the best way forward.
Instead, be more proactive and think about the future and what you can achieve if you avoid pitfalls.
© Jacqueline Oby-Ikocha
♦
This poetry is my contribution to Oneta’s quote for last Writers quote challenge prompt:
“I long to accomplish a great and noble task, but it is my chief duty to accomplish small tasks as if they were great and noble.” Helen Keller
Interestingly, Helen Keller’s quote reminds me of a saying that my parents were fond of ‘anything worth doing is worth doing well.’
This principle ‘to give it my best,’ has stuck with me in the little and the big things and especially now as I wisen up each day. I may fail in my attempt, but I am certainly going to keep doing it until I get it right.
I find that chores that used to bore or irritate me in the past have ceased to be so because of my approach and positive attitude towards them.
I’ve been training my mind to see the beauty and the positive sides of even the most mundane task and the interesting thing is that my views and perspective keeps expanding by the day.
Even the weekly task of cleaning the house that I do with the kiddos, we turn up the music and jive to the beats while dusting and polishing and the chore just breezes by 🙂
Positive energy can make a lot of difference.
The Writer’s Quote Challenge is a weekly blogging event. Either make up your own sayings or use a quote from a famous author that you find gives you inspiration. Each Thursday, a hostess will post the prompt and all you have to do is participate.
Our hostesses are:
Bernadette at http://www.HaddonMusings.com
Jacqueline at http://www.Acookingpotandtwistedtales.com
Joan at http://www.familyparentingandbeyoned.wordpress.com
Oneta at http://www.onetahayes.com
Please join us. You can check this link for more information.
I look forward to seeing you.
Jacqueline
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.
In my usual meandering, I came across this blooming plant sitting on top of the rocks and a thought crossed my mind.
We should see the rocks in our path as our stepping stones. That way, you can bloom where you are planted because love can grow even among the hard rocks.
A nondescript plant became a little lesson in nature and life.
Unfortunately, it was a bit steep to go up and since I’m not much of a rock climber, I admired it from below.
Jacqueline.
a cooking pot and twisted tales 