Every morning when my eyes open and prior to falling asleep into a peaceful slumber, clear messages are shared about life. Whether the words of guidance are shared through a soft, familiar voice or as a intuitive thought, I have learned to listen and to hear the messages. Sometimes the voice sounds male or female, and often unknown. Most people would be frightened, but after six decades, I question when the voices are not there and I call upon them with questions. Often when I am too sleepy or just not in the mood to give the voices my full attention, it's usually followed with a gentle shake, push or visual thought that wakes me up until I can digest the message, often making me write it down or type it into my mobile phone. Without fail, afterwards, I am shoved into a relaxed state of mind. Sometimes when having conversations with others, a gentle breeze or chill will alert me to stop talking or sharing information because it's not the right person to hear my concerns. Without fail, my intuition is followed. Often I am reminded to not argue with someone that Harriet Tubman would have shot. Tubman keeps me on my toes.
This has been a week of the same repetitive message. Each time the message gets louder, telling me to keep my opinion and ideas to myself unless someone is seriously asking for them. I knew a punch in the arm would soon be coming so I decided to hit replay and listen to those messages. Before sitting quietly, it felt like I was surrounded by a very dark cloud that I couldn't escape. That's when I began thinking about all the things that I have taken for granted over the years. Nothing and no one should ever be taken for granted.
For me, there is nothing more important than true friendship, especially in a world of deceitful people that pretend to be a friend. I realise now how well surrounded and protected my life has been with my family of friends. Before leaving America for a new country, I never knew how much I would miss my family of champs that were always there providing support in times of need, champagne in times of thirsty celebrations, home cooked meals in times of warmth and comraderie, and most importantly, laughter. These are the things that I crave and miss the most in my life this week. It's a valuable lesson that COVID has taught me over the past year. True friends was always something that I took for granted because I thought we would always be together. Online chats was an option to seeing each other, but I wish for that personal touch or interaction that Zoom or Google can't r provide. I am grateful that we have the option connecting and staying in touch, but there is nothing like a genuine hug. I look forward to the day when I can travel and see friends, true friends, living around the world. I will never take real friendships for granted again.
As I conducted a few errands throughout my community today, a voice reminded me that often strangers that we meet or see once or twice each week can become great friends or someone that genuinely care. As I was rushing to return home before the performance of the threatening rain clouds, I ran into someone that works at my local food market. He was on his lunch break, but insisted on giving me a warm welcome and inviting me, rather insisting that he buys me a lovely cup of coffee. As I started to create excuses of things that I had to do in my head, I heard a voice say, "Yes, thank you", before realising I had repeated the message out loud. Besides it was my favourite coffee cafe. It was a delightful thirty minutes of chatting, laughing and learning more about him and his family. He was also a great listener and actually lifted my mood. I was actually starting to smile. The staff at the cafe also teased me the entire time too. My final stop was to pick up a pair of jeans that I had dropped off for the replacement of a broken zipper. The moment I entered there was an instant connectedness to the owner who shared great life stories with me. Without knowing my mood of sadness, she focused on key words and shared personal stories that lifted my spirits and altered my mood for the rest of the day. Once I arrived home, I realised that the voices of these two familiar strangers were the voices delivering me messages all week. For many I know that's difficult to believe, but the belief of others is not necessary to doing what you believe and following your gut. Have you ever met a stranger that you instantly connected to or bonded with?
Kindness is another thing that I always took for granted. It brings me joy to share my kindness with so many others without expecting anything in return. I love seeing the smile on someone's face even when you make an effort to say hello, good morning or how are you today and wait for the answer. Often in my walks around the community, I will offer to help an elderly person or any person that may appear to need assistance. When traveling on the train or the tram, I always ask elderly people or women with bags if they would like to sit down. The smile is always amazing, whether they say yes or no.
One of the things that many of us take for granted is living in a safe space and waking up to live another day. Everyday I am grateful for another chance to do things better or make more mistakes that will help me to learn. Once awake, I always expect and take for granted that very soon I will be smelling the aroma of my coffee as I search for something good to satisfy morning cravings. I appreciate it now more than ever because so many people around the world are starving to death or undernourished. Today, about 8.9% of the world's population, 690 million people, go to bed on an empty stomach each night. Since 2014, the number of people affected by hunger has been slowly on the rise. If it continues at this rate, it'll exceed 840 million by 2030. In some countries, famine is already a part of their life. People are dying from hunger and suffering critical rates of malnutrition. Around half of all children under the age of five, that's 2.3 million, are projected to face acute malnutrition in this year. Some 16 million people face food insecurity. I could have been one of those children, so I am grateful for having healthy food. This week, neighbours that I adore and respect, took me on a tour of Foodbank Victoria. Even here in Victoria, over 100,000 Victorians need food assistance every month to survive. I also learned that today, it's more likely for a child to go hungry than an adult, with 1 in 5 Aussie children facing hunger. So I am grateful for every nibble that goes into my mouth.
I use to roll my eyes or say the words, "Bloody Hell", if it would take too long for the water to become hot. Today I am grateful to having water, especially clean water that I can drink, to wash my clothes and dishes and to use to clean my body. So many people all over the world have no water. Or, living in Flint, Michigan where residents were unable to use the water and if they did, it came with many health risks. This should never have happened in a rich country. The Flint Water Crisis was a public health crisis that started in 2014 and lasted until 2019, after the drinking water for the city of Flint, Michigan was contaminated with lead and possibly Legionella bacteria. Between 6,000 and 12,000 children were exposed to drinking water with high levels of lead. No more complaining about waiting 10 seconds for hot water.
Having the freedom to walk anywhere desired has a positive affect on my life in Melbourne. Many people all over the world are more accustomed to the fear of what may happen if you decide to go for a walk, a drive, jogging, or to visit a friend. The fear creates trauma in our bodies. In America, as a Black man, my mind, body, and soul were aware of the dangers of breathing and living while in my skin. The realities of racial profiling associated with police brutality, violence and murder was always at the forefront of my mind. There were many days, months and years that I was grateful to continue living and surviving in a racist society and world. I truly believed that one of the reasons I survived was a result of having a tough mother that taught her children to survive and to assist others that needed help. Later in life, I learned emotional intelligence through my work. Emotional Intelligence is the ability to understand, use, and manage your own emotions in positive ways to relieve stress, communicate effectively, empathise with others, overcome challenges and defuse potential conflicts. Make no mistake, no matter how good you may be at facilitating negative situation, trauma may still be absorbed into the body.
And finally, never again taking for granted the importance of a loving and supportive family. I like to emphasise that a family can be blood relatives that you care about or a family of true friends, colleagues, and even strangers that you may include to be in your loving circle, supporting and loving each other. It's priceless.
So that my voices will take a break or go on vacation, I start each and every day and end my nights being grateful for everything around me and in my life. By the way, that includes you. So, what are you grateful for today?
Comments