I can buy myself flowers! I can hold my own hand!

Ahhh, I have a new favourite song! (Well, a new favourite to add to my list of 7000 favourites)

I can buy myself flowers
Write my name in the sand
Talk to myself for hours
Say things you don’t understand
I can take myself dancing
And I can hold my hand
Yeah, I can love me better than you can

Miley! Miley! You’re talking my language Hannah Montana! Damn girl.

I do buy myself flowers. I’ve been taking myself on solo dates, solo hikes, solo holidays, solo everything since day dot.

Why? Well, I happen to like my own company. Just like I love me a good one-on-one date with my hot man, a book club session, moms night, and those boozy Sunday lunches with 50 of my closest family members (ha! ha!), I happen to love me a little diner pour un too.

I’ve never felt awkward about these things.

In fact, my sister Chrissy reminded me just last week of the time when I was 14 years old and took myself out to a fancy restaurant by bus, wearing my mom’s perfume – which I stole while she was at work. Yes, I know, I know! I was always a bit of an early-adopter…or what do they call them now…INFLUENCER? I sat down, surrounded by business people in their fancy suits having business lunches and ordered a Coca-Cola which I asked the waiter to pour into a wine glass. “I’ll have the…escargot” I probably said, trying to act fancy and not knowing that it was in fact snails, you know?

But you get the point.

Self-love, self-care, self-respect are not buzz words. The more you do it, the more you’ll find that what you’re looking for out there you can probably give yourself, given half a chance. And then when and IF you add other people, they’ll slot into the open spots you’ve created for them just beautifully. Right!? (Besides, another lesson I learnt age 14 is that sitting around and waiting to be taken out on a date is sooooooo last season. Beautiful sunsets wait for no man).

Listen to the Miley song guys.

Do the things,

xoxo

Lee

We are ALL One – Just a Reminder

Have you ever been lost?

Were you lost in the forest of someone else’s shadow or perhaps lost in the company of familiar people dancing to a beat you could no longer hear?

Have you ever had a brush with God?

Did it happen when you were at the top of a beautiful mountain, or did it happen when you came face to face with a rapist?

Have you ever been an addict?

Did your drug of choice soothe you, own you, control you and lift you all at once? Did your alliance seem unbreakable?

Have you ever been seduced?

Did it help you to escape your bad reality only later to return you changed and unsure of the way forward?

Have you ever been betrayed?

Did you stand in the doorway of broken trust with a gun iun your hand? Did you bleed and let the light into the parts where your heart was shattered by the glass of lies and deceipt.

Have you ever danced? Really danced?

Did the primal impulse to sway create waves of sexual energy that made you high? Did you forget all about the pot on the stove while you followed the pattern of stops and starts?

Have you ever eaten through your heart?

Was it your granny’s roast potatoes that transported the serotonin throughout your body or was it a hot curry shared with a hot body on a chilly day that stained your arteries with bliss?

Have you ever been touched?

Whether by the 80-year-old hand of a stranger, rough with callouses but warm with unspoken stories about abuse, slavery, loved ones that have never returned? Or, was it simply a simple line from a simple song that charged your soul’s batteries and flooded your bones with warmth?

Have you ever blessed someone with prayer?

Did your heart send vibrations across tall walls and rough seas; intercessions seasoned with grand visualisations of success, prosperity, abundance to people who you dreamed glorious dreams for?

Have you ever wanted a glimpse of your future?

Did you follow that need to seek guidance from soothsayers, Tarot cards, and horoscopes perhaps? Anything that promised the slightest secret fast forward to a life more grand?

I bet you have! …and, guess what? So have many spirits before you, many souls yet to come. These shared experiences give us the assurance that we are on unique paths on the same journey. The “answers” we seek already exist in the great cosmic consciousness and this planet’s memory.

I urge you to remember, friends. That’s how the dream of separation ends and our journey back to each other begins. I’m holding space for YOU.

xoxo

DO YOU HAVE A STORY YOU ARE DYING TO WRITE BUT DON’T KNOW WHERE TO START? LET ME HELP YOU GET UNSTUCK. THE WORLD NEEDS MORE STORIES & WE ARE READY FOR YOURS.

SEE WWW.LEEMAYIMELE.COM FOR MORE INFO

Teach People How to Treat You

So, last week I wrote about my personal FORGIVENESS practice. Remember?

I said that every Friday, just before I indulge in a nice cold glass of wine, I do a quick stock take of my week to see if there is anyone I need to touch base with and apologise to, set the record straight with, clear the air with etc.

I don’t remember when last I wrote a blog that got so much attention! Within minutes, I have hundreds of emails, pings on my social media and, as usual, DM’s and WhatsApps (which seems to be what my community prefers. Nothing wrong with that. I think we’re…umm…perhaps more mature… and therefore more discreet about what we hang out there for all to see).

For the most part, people were saying HELL YES WE WANT TO TRY IT TOO but I also received lots of questions.

The ones I liked most were:

What about people who enjoy gaslighting you? Purposely causing drama? Repeat offenders?

&

How about where there has been a breach of trust? Do you still make the first move?

Well, guys. Small disclaimer: I am not Mother Teresa!

I didn’t say this last week, but not every single person with whom I get into a conflict gets the privlege of an audience or a phone call/text etc during my Friday khumbaya time.

Someone wise said “you teach people how to treat you” and I absolutely swear by that. So, in those instances, where I have looked at the situations of the past week that fall into the category of “boundary crossed”/”principle red light”/”repeat offender”, I simply do a mental reshuffle and move that person to the backrow of my priorities.

Again, it’s not easy. It requires me to assert my boundaries and trust me, people do not take kindly to people with boundaries (especially those who believe their age/gender/position entitles them to undermine yours).

So, there you have it. Yet another self-care challenge for you? Are you keen?

TEACH THEM HOW TO TREAT YOU BY WHAT YOU ACCEPT, WHAT YOU SAY NO TO AND HOW YOU ENGAGE WITH THEM GOING FORWARD.

Wishing you Courage Always,

Lee

P.S. When someone shows you who they are, believe them. The first time. (as famously said by Dr Phil or Oprah or someone like that).

Boundaries 101

Hurt People Hurt People

Read that headline again.

Hurt people hurt people. That’s right. I also did a double take the first time I read it.

I understand the statement to mean that when someone does something hurtful or bad to me, that they are really coming from a place of hurt themselves. The same goes for ME! How many times have I caused someone pain because I was not in a good space?

Now yes, I do realise that it is Friday, and this is quite a heavy thing to be bringing up on a Friday afternoon but I wanted to share something with you. Something that has helped me. And I think it could help you too.

I want to challenge you to look closely at your actions this weekend.

Look at the way your words and actions impact those around you and ask yourself “Is that how I would like to be treated?”

I’ve been doing this every Friday for 1 year now. I kid you not. I have been sitting down with my journal and looking at every interaction I have had in that week and evaluated if there is anyone who I need to have a heart to heart with, anyone I need to ask for forgiveness. It’s a Friday ritual that is a part of my life now and has served me so well.

It sets the tone for my weekend. I walk into the weekend with a sense of peace, a clear conscience and let me tell you another thing, my glass of wine tastes 10000 times more yummy once I release that energy from my aura.

Perhaps I can interest YOU in trying it? Let me know how you go.

It’s hard. But, it truly is liberating.

Ching Ching,

xoxo

Listen to your Mom

I know this sounds cliche, but I always knew I would end up being a writer. 

No, really. 

I must have been about 9 years old, when that spark first flickered. I wrote a poem about a Tiger and proudly handed in to be graded. To my horror, the teacher (an unusually tall woman with hairy legs) put a big red line through the poem, citing copying. Of course I was devastated, but my mom said something powerful to me

“Lee, think about it. Just think about it. You must be good?” 

Moms do know best, don’t they? I am so glad that I listened. 

I have never really stopped writing and now work in PR & Comms, running my own company Equilibrium Maverick www.eqmaverick.com . I have written many publications, poetry collections and am a freelancing content writer + ghostwriter too but by far my biggest and proudest moment as a writer was writing my first book, “Musings – Reflections of Gratitude” (Hopscotch). 

I guess I have both my mom and Mrs hairy legs to thank for that. 

I wanted to share this little story with you for two reasons:

1. To remind you that YOU have a purpose and unique gifts that this world needs;

2. To tell you that if I can do shit (like write a book and create new things), so can YOU.

Always,

Lee 

Dear BODY

My body and I had a chat today

When I paused briefly

To look at her nakedness just as I got in the shower

A little rounder

A little softer for sure

Lines, bumps, curves and colours

Familiar shapes, some only barely now

What do you need today? I asked

More water?

Some exercise?

A lymph drainage massage?

I know! How about a green juice detox?

Acceptance, she replied

Admiration

Appreciation

Love

Understanding

Deeper Connection

Touch

…isn’t that what we ALL want?

~ Lee Mayimele

Guess who is finally a PUBLISHED AUTHOR?

CRACK OPEN THE CHAMPAGNE. I have some good news to share!

I got to touch and feel and love and play with MY books today.  Yip, they are done.  

I grabbed a batch from the publisher today.  The rest were being packed into boxes and they’ll end up in bookstores and libraries and other weird and wonderful places.

I’ll be in touch regarding where you can get them. Those wheels turn slowly.

For now, please accept my gratitude. For reading my words, for telling me that you relate and most importantly, for indulging me while I tell you all about my dreams.

Eek!

 

 

P.S. I’m going to knocking on the doors of all my marketing manager friends in the coming days. Don’t say I didn’t warn you. This book is going to make a great corporate gift.

 

*Newsflash*

🌈Remember my desire to write a book? 🌈Remember how I started out with a bang? 🌈Remember how I would talk about nothing else?

Well, I never did share with you that right in the middle of that wave of high, I lost my mom and life smacked me hard.

My decision to hold off all my book publishing plans in order to hibernate and fully mourn my mom’s passing was a good one because I now feel balanced again, energized again, ready to focus on my dreams again and ready to bombard YOU with my passions again!

So, thank you for coming on this journey with me. Thank you for reading my stories. Thank you for giving me your feedback. Thank you for stopping me in the middle of the frozen veggie section to say “you know, your story about fear helped me so much”. That stuff melts my heart. And gosh, I can’t tell you how often it happens. You should ask my poor husband…

You know what else? I plan share my book cover design with YOU in a day or two. How exciting? Crap just got real and I am filled with so much GRATITUDE

~ Lee Mayimele

How I nearly MURDERED a Random Act of Kindness

A locksmith came to my house on this icy Monday morning.

Diagnosed a small problem

Fixed it

anddddd, wait for it, absolutely refused to accept payment for the call out.

“Consider it your lucky day” he said.

 

And you know what? Instead of letting Lady Luck give me feels, I immediately went into a mild panic.

How can I accept that?

His time?

His fuel?

Poor guy!

Look at his broken car! 

Whooooo does that?

Perhaps I can promote his business?

Maybe I’ll do a Facebook post?

I must pay it forward!

How much should I randomly donate?

Ah, maybe I’ll invent another few jobs for him? You know? Pay him double?

 

I know, right!? Gosh! Someone did something nice for me and I simply could not accept that RANDOM ACT OF KINDNESS. I had to spoil the gesture with my own crap.

 

Yes, I am going THERE.  Because it’s the truth.

 

Bottom line is that I give so freely and it gives me so much pleasure. The wavelength of GIVING, really is my best. But, it would seem that I have a real problem with ACCEPTING things. Gifts, compliments, random acts of other people’s kindness. This, despite my knowledge of the fact that the vibrations of GIVING and RECEIVING are each other’s oxygen. They need each other in order to exist.

 

I know the theory. But, my actions tell that I haven’t quite learnt to walk the talk, so to speak.  

 

So, here I sit this Monday morning and,

It’s still icy

I’ve diagnosed the small problem

Now I need to do some more work in order to try and “fix” it 

And I absolutely DO consider it my lucky day!  

 

Because I’ve cracked yet another code about myself.  Isn’t that’s really why we are even here? To try and understand why we do the things we do?  This journey of Self-Mastery is hard work hey?

 

So, I guess all that’s left to say is Aluta Continua.  That, and, how very grateful I am today and every day for the little gifts along the way.   

 

In Gratitude,

Lee

 

 

Copyright Lee Mayimele – All Rights Reserved

What makes YOU smile?

Today I had a long chat to a stranger.

I had a little cry with a friend who lost her mother.

I ate hummus with too much garlic.

I let my kids get all dirty.

I lit a candle and said a prayer for my dad’s recent bad health.

Today I told our housekeeper how much we love her.

I paid a long overdue bill.

I drank my favourite latte slowly-slowly while I walked.

Today, I spoke a painful truth to a business associate who played me dirty and released those feelings with a happy middle finger in the air.

Today, I wore a bright red lip and said a silent thank you for the health and safety of those I love, for the little bits of magic in ordinary days.

Ah life! It’s messy, but gosh what a ride.

🌶

Aluta continua, as they say. Gratitude is the only way.

#reflections #gratitude #whatmakesYOUsmile