Dear Kids (A reflection from a greying Mama’s Heart)

Dear Kids

Whilst no parent has all the answers and whilst this mama is constantly, still learning, know this for sure:

1. You are never alone
2. Travel is the best teacher
3. “No” is a good word. Use it often. It’s particularly lovely when there’s a dead silence and you offer no explanations
4. “Please” and “thank you” never goes out of fashion
5. Water heals. Oceans. Tears. 2 litres a day
6. You have a built-built in “people” radar. Please listen to its beep beep beep when something feels offish
7. Sleep is medicine
8. Play, play, play. Never stop playing
9. Less sugar, less screen time, more grass, more laughs
10. God is inside you and no one one has a special hotline that you need to go through
11. Betrayal is painful. Nothing can prepare you for that kick in the groin
12. Go out and explore. You can always come home to cry
13. Try and remember who you were before the world started pinning its labels on you
14. Your body is beautiful. Exactly as is. Explore it. Admire it. Treat it right and it will reward you so much
15. No one knows it all
16. Blood makes you related. Loyalty makes you family
17. Believe in magic. Those who don’t, never find it
18. Your word is your honour. Do what you say you will. Always
19. A grateful heart is a magnet for miracles
20. Give freely. Of what you have. Of your time. And quietly please
21. No one likes a show-off
22. Learn to listen. To God’s voice in the early morning. To yourself. Certainly to people who you trust
23. Shortcuts never work
24. People will forget what you say but they will never forget how you made them FEEL. Be kind
25. Books, music, thunderstorms and tea are good for lonesome days when you need your mama
26. Abundance and prosperity are your birth right
27. Look beyond the labels of race and religion, gender and social standing. How people treat people from whom they need nothing is where you should focus your scoring and grading
28. Jealousy is when you count other people’s blessings instead of your own
29. Love does not need to hurt
30. Speak your truth. Even when your voice shakes
31. What sets your soul on fire? Go there
32. Learning is constant
33. Messing up is okay. Intentionally hurting someone never is
34. You teach people how to treat you
35. You may have one “true love” or many or even none. Remember that you are whole anyway
36. You have a story that only YOU can tell

 

xoxo

Mama

 

© Aluta continua, as they say.  A Heart Full of Stories, 2017

How a DUSTBIN schooled me (A Lesson in Self-Worth)

I had been shoving things into my kitchen dustbin for 2 days over a long weekend. I pushed down hard each time.  Every item that went in I noted would be the last thing that would fit. But lo and behold, the old cow of a dustbin was a dark horse. She had lots more capacity for crap than I had given her credit for. She had a BIG Inbox for rubbish. I was happy.

 

She got me thinking:

Isn’t it amazing how much crap (aka bullshit) we accept?

Isn’t it funny how much shit we think we’re made to take?

Isn’t it fascinating how much grime, dust, dirt and other people’s nonsense we’re open to receiving?

Isn’t it interesting how we take more and more and more and more pushing when we’re already sick of it? 

 

When Monday afternoon rolled around, I knew that there were only a couple more hours to go before the long weekend was over.

 

My dustbin was acting up. Big time.  The cow was getting cocky. Pushing back at me.  I tried a pizza box, but she resisted.  I tried something more eco and diet friendly, but she wasn’t accepting the old tofu (don’t ask!) either.  Stupid tart!

Again, she got me thinking:

Isn’t it amazing how our tolerance for crap (aka bullshit) decreases as time goes on?

Isn’t it true that our capacity for rubbish shrinks with time?

Isn’t it beautiful how much grime, dust, dirt and other people’s issues we just close off to? 

Isn’t it magical how we simply take less and less and less pushing when we’ve had enough?

 

I decided to deal with the rebellious dustbin in the old fashioned way: I decided to ignore her.  I left her to deal with her own “issues” of boundaries, self-worth, value, dignity. I knew better than to mess with a cow who has had enough!

 

Allow me to wish you strength in dealing with your own capacity for bullshit too.  It’s a dirty business, but let’s face it, the more shit you take, the more shit you will get.  Only YOU can decide when enough is really enough and when is the moment you decide to cancel your subscription to the circus casting call.

 

Aluta continua, as they say. The road to calling that “end” is often a tad too long…

 

© A Heart Full of Stories, 2016. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Lee-Ann Mayimele and www.aheartfullofstories.wordpress.com with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.