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Tuesday

Monday

Get Your Mind Right Monday~

That first peak is the best place to pause and look back, to see if you took the easiest route, to learn the lessons from the first climb. And it is the best place to examine the terrain ahead, to change your plans and goals, to take a deep breath and begin climbing again.

Friday

Trick Habit~

Dr. Rivera is in the house...and this time she isn't playing; got a pack of maneaters with a license to ill over unstable relationships! Director Patricio Ginelsa is amazing! Love the way this was shot!

Everyday~

Read, every day, something no one else is reading. Think, every day, something no one else is thinking. Do, every day, something no one else would be silly enough to do. It is bad for the mind to continually be part of unanimity.

Wednesday

The Psychedelic Furs~

One of my favorite songs ever! Love my way...there's emptiness behind their eyes, there's dust in all their hearts!

Esperanza Spalding...So Inspiring~

Oooh how I love her voice! Esperanza (Spanish for Hope) blends jazz, R&B, Brazilian vocalese and classical music. Her works have proved to have broad appeal at a moment when many in the music industry were fretting that young people were turning away from jazz en masse. She's managed that rare feat: earning raves from the most discriminating jazz aficionados while also attracting a loyal fan base all over the globe, remember her name.



Beautiful Soul~

"Beauty is that which attracts your soul, and that which loves to give and not to receive. When you meet Beauty, you feel that the hands deep within your inner self are stretched forth to bring her into the domain of your heart. It is the magnificence combined of sorrow and joy; it is the Unseen which you see, and the Vague which you understand, and the Mute which you hear - it is the Holy of Holies that begins in yourself and ends vastly beyond your earthly imagination."

Monday

Get Your Mind Right Monday~

Every day we slaughter our finest impulses. That is why we get a heart-ache when we read those lines written by the hand of a master and recognize them as our own, as the tender shoots which we stifled because we lacked the faith to believe in our own powers, our own criterion of truth and beauty. Every man, when he gets quiet, when he becomes desperately honest with himself, is capable of uttering profound truths. We all derive from the same source. There is no mystery about the origin of things. We are all part of creation, all kings, all poets, all artists, all musicians; we have only to open up, to discover what is already there.

Thursday

The Struggle~

I love this song for all that it stands for: hope, faith, love, a higher being, a higher meaning.

No matter who we are, where we come from all of us have struggles, and we all face some type of battle in one way or the other, this is life. We all have choices in our life too, to wake up and begin to overcome what holds us down by going against what suppresses or represses us. To choose to recognize our short comings, to right our wrongs. This is the beauty of the struggle...this is GrittyVelvet.



If you feel your heart is so heavy that you can not breathe or you feel tempted, angry, useless, accused; listen to your voice inside, have patience, and make a choice based out of love...because really love is all that matters.

Wednesday

I wonder...

...just what she was thinking at this very moment? Perhaps "Painting saved my life".

Tuesday

Nothing~

Nothing good comes easy~

Happy Birthday God's Son~

Nas evokes Gritty Velvet like no other! Happy 37th Birthday!



 ” I try to make more cream, By every September 14th, that’s my dream
So I can be more clean, as I grow yearly, I can see things more clearly
That’s why they fear me .”

 


"Everything must eventually come to an end
So try to savor your moments, cuz time flies don't it
The beauty of life, you gotta make it last for the better
Cuz nothin' lasts forever, ya know."




Boundaries~

I invite you to read this, it is a little long but very much worth it. I hope you gain some true gems from it and incorporate them into your life. I will share with you the full story of Vasalisa (whom is mentioned in this story), she is an inspiration to me. GV

Dear Souls: Boundaries. Just a point of view about boundaries from listening to many souls over the years... if we are hammers, we have to sometimes be careful not to see everything as a nail...

What does that mean? Discernment is often higher than 'first impulse.' Not everything is a nail, and not all nails need hamme...
ring by us. Maybe by someone else, and many not by anyone. Maybe not now, maybe later, maybe not ever.

Discernment provides a critical balance for the psyche... and the ego's impulse to react quickly without measurement often brings turmoil to the psyche's balance.

(Differentiation is another word for skills for psychic balance... some of the most acute measures answering the questions of exactly who, what, how, when, why, to what quality, in what depth, how much, for what duration, how progress can be understood, re-negotiation clauses etc. ).

Remember Vasalisa, and her separating the poppy seeds from the pile of dirt outside the Baba Yaga's house? The Baba Yaga, the Mother of all, set this task before Vasalisa to help her see/ measure/ assess 'beforehand' rather than afterward'... more minutely and acutely.

Vasalisa had spent years being confused that forgiving abuse and evil over and over was a measure of Vasalisa's goodness... She was good, that is, naively good one might say, rather than consciously determined and strongly differentiating.

(Vasalisa was a forsaken child tormented by stepfamily... and this outcome, wanting to be good always no matter what, can come from a child who's been harmed... for heightened empathic response as a side-effect of abuse, often has lost its stops and gauges for a time... and can thereby often be off-base... such as going toward a injured crying animal instead of away from... that is, not measuring all levels of possible outcomes accurately beforehand ... and being shocked, maimed or dying from resultant attack...

This going toward what is injured but actually harmful to oneself can be found too in choice of hapless, hopeless, harmful or narcissistic enamoratos [lovers] as well).

The way forward: short vesrion. Remember Vasalisa is given a flaming skull on a stick as a gift from the Baba Yaga when once Vasalisa has passed all of Baba's tests for discernment, consciousness, strength to bear seeing what one sees and moving onward...

And remember as Vasalisa goes through the woods, the skull aflame gets heavier and heavier ...until Vasalisa can barely bear 'the weight of the light.'

This too occurs to us. The more conscious we become, the more we see, hear, sense, know... sometimes the harder it is to bear until we develop even more discernment about what we are called to and what we are not called to... as you've heard me say many times in my work... letting live what must live, letting die what must die. And knowing being snagged by every projectile as we walk by is different than seeing and fully committing.

In the tale, Vasalisa thinks to throw away the skull afire. But the skull says to her, Dont throw me away. Do not.

And so she struggles along to bear the weight of becoming far more conscious and discerning than she ever has been in her life.

So too us. It is not easy. But because it is difficult to hold the flaming light, to let our very bones carry it ... does not mean we ought throw consciousness away just to comfort the ego.

The bounty of ego is in some ways, its blindness, its tiny little consciousness, it's ability to 'not see,' not hear, not to discern, not to differentiate.

But the anguish that comes to us when we carry and make life decisions by blinded ego alone, is to constantly be stepping in to hammer-- in other persons, events-- matters that often are not ours to 'fix,' not ours to hammer, not ours to tap back into place, not ours to construct.

There's a saying in our Swabian tribal family: "The hammer and the nail are only friends when they agree to build something beautiful together."

The operative words are 'agree' and 'together.' Not just one or the other. Not just jumping in wherever one sees a seeming loose nail. Without discernment.

In discernment, there is often such a large surge of "This is mine to do something specific with," "This is just the right moment to risk my life," and for this length of time and by this specific means," or "This is mine to bless and pass by" when it is really so... that one need seldom doubt one will be guided to do what is theirs to do...

Is there pain in upholding the light of discernment and acting as one sees much more deeply by light of soul and also light of consensual reality? Yes. And though one can ask counsel... other eyes to look with you... in final assay, no one can measure what another adult is called to or not called to engage with.

Yet being able to bear such consciousness-- most of us stagger about at first but learn to walk more and more strongly and with stability as we paradoxically practice remaining conscious. These progresses are the marks of a more and more seasoned soul; one who bears light in both meanings...

bearing as in casting the light of reality, the light of soul on all things, taking measure...

and bearing, as in withstanding what the light reveals to us in all truth-- whether we like it, don't like it, understand it, only understand a bit, are repulsed by it or embrace it.

And over all.. this is the silent chalice I believe we all carry at the center of our bodies... bearing all these illuminations together-- whether engaging with a matter or person somewhat or a moderate amount or fully toward whatever stands before us... or whether stepping back, stepping back a bit, pulling back moderately or pressing beyond in full force for now, or forever ...

The name of the light is discernment. The name of the chalice is not bitterness. The name of the chalice is compassion.

Bitterness with discernment rakes the wound with sharp metal tines. Discernment and compassion, insofar as we can manage, soothes and puts the soul back into its well deserved peace.

and with love,
Dr.E
from Warming the Stone Child book; Chapter: On Deciding Distance From Those Who Do Harm ©2010, by Dr.CP Estés

Monday

Solitude~

     “Put your ear down close to your soul and listen hard.”

The Sun Also Rises~

He was looking into my eyes with that way he had of looking that made you wonder whether he really saw out of his own eyes. they would look on and on after everyone else's eyes in the world would have stopped looking. He looked as though there were nothing on earth he would not look at like that, and really he was afraid of so many things.

Visions~

Perfect song for Autumn...

"I'm not one who make believes

I know that leaves are green

They only change to brown when autumn comes around

I know just what I say

Today's not yesterday

And all things have an ending

But what I'd like to know

Is could a place like this exist so beautiful

Or do we have to take our wings and fly away

To the vision in our mind?"

Sunday

Value your loved ones~

I am usually not so candid with what is going on with my life; however I feel like if I can help someone by sharing my story then my life has meaning.

My close friends know this story but it is one worth repeating. Short start to the story...about 8 1/2 years ago my Father was diagnosed with cancer of the liver, he got really ill and it was detrimental that he get a new liver. My Dad and I have the same blood type so without hesitation I gave him half of mine. The transplant was a SUCCESS! In fact he never felt better.

Now here we are today and since May of this year his health is taking a decline. I am usually so positive with my blog but this realization is taking a toll on me. This Wednesday I will be accompanying my Dad to a liver evaluation, they have already told him he needs to get on the donor list. They will also be running tests to see the severity of his liver.

So with this said...I ask you, please keep him in prayer. He is not just a Dad he is my Father. The kind of Father that was always there fore me, to love and guide me, make me feel secure and special.

Also, please remember to love, value and respect each other. Tell your family and friends you love them more, better yet show them.
 
Thank you,

G~

My Daddy used to sing the verse "When it's cold outside, I got the month of May", because I am his May baby girl.

Friday

Just taking it back a little~

I loved this movie back in the day...hahah looking back it is super cheesy. Still fun to rap along to though.

"Super sonic, idiotic, disconnected, not respected who would ever really want to go and top that?"

Thursday

Today's Lesson~

Read each one very carefully...can you find the word?


















The Moral of the Story is Don't judge people according to their appearance. 

Tuesday

Get Your Mind Right Monday~

"Nothing is more fleeting than external form, which withers and alters like flowers of the field at the appearance of Autumn"

I love this, the whole idea behind it that we are not all that you see on the outside. What you see externally does not begin to sum up who you are internally.

Adidas X Jeremy Scott Autumn/Win(g)ter 2010 Collection~

"I wear my Adidas when I rock the beat, on stage front page every show I go, it's Adidas on my feet,
high top or low."

Adidas were like my staple shoe back in the early nineties so when I see the old school shoe rocked in the new school style I get pretty excited. Not a big fan of Jeremy Scott known for the high gemmed, crucifix, played out duds, but this collection has a couple nice scores. Beginning with the achromatic hues and a wing bustier I can not hate.


Monday Music Take Me Away~

Bonobo feat. Andreya Triana - The Keeper
I just got this cd yesterday and can not stop playing it.