One of the Realest Thing I Have Ever Said

I will never forget where I come from, it does not matter how successful I become. I help because I have been helped. I give because I have been given to. I do this for everyone who is not able to. I do this for Virgina, Beverly, Sarah, Mattie, Cody (and now Marlon and Mr. Williams) and Terrence. I do this for Barbara, Willie and Ashley. I do this for my family. I do this for my people.
AE

Get Away

This song is beautiful. J. Cole has a way of telling great stories. I will be using it sometime in the future for some work. Enjoy.

Art of the Day:Ferrari

(c) AFG Creative Productions Group x (tm) One Life Brand
Ferrari(R)

Pedro Alvarez

Pedro Alvarez, Alum of Vanderbilt University and now MLB Player. Watch out for him. He is destined for greatness. Good luck my friend.

The Message of Pain

February 18, 2010
DailyOM
The Message of Pain
Valuable Information

When we feel pain, our first impulse is often to eradicate it with medication. This is an understandable response, but sometimes in our hurry to get rid of pain, we forget that it is the body’s way of letting us know that it needs our attention. A headache can inform us that we’re hungry or stressed just as a sore throat might be telling us that we need to rest our voice. If we override these messages instead of respond to them, we risk worsening our condition. In addition, we create a feeling of disconnectedness between our minds and our bodies.

Physical pain is not the only kind of pain that lets us know our attention is needed. Emotional pain provides us with valuable information about the state of our psyche, letting us know that we have been affected by something and that we would do well to focus our awareness inward. Just as we tend to a cut on our arm by cleaning and bandaging it, we treat a broken heart by surrounding ourselves with love and support. In both cases, if we listen to our pain we will know what to do to heal ourselves. It’s natural to want to resist pain, but once we understand that it is here to give us valuable information, we can relax a bit more, and take a moment to listen before we reach for medication. Sometimes this is enough to noticeably reduce the pain, because its message has been heard. Perhaps we seek to medicate pain because we fear that if we don’t, it will never go away. It can be empowering to realize that, at least some of the time, it is just a matter of listening and responding.

The next time you feel pain, either physical or emotional, you might want to try listening to your own intuition about how to relieve your pain. Maybe taking a few deep breaths will put an end to that headache. Perhaps writing in your journal about hurt feelings will ease your heart. Ultimately, the message of pain is all about healing.

via DailyOM.com

Life is Beautiful, Capture It™

(c) AFG Creative Productions Group

Friendship is Life

(c) AFG Creative Productions Group

Rules of Sushi Etiquette

No.1 - Finish your meal with, "Gochi-so-sama-deshi-ta."
Saying “gochi so sama deshita” is the equivalent of saying “Wow, what a feast that was!” Although we wouldn’t deliver such a compliment unless truly deserved, it is standard protocol to say so after every meal in Japan.

Say it to your sushi chef and he will likely bow to you. However, if you visit a Korean-run Japanese restaurant (there are a ton of these), the chef might just squirm awkwardly.

But if the chef is hardcore, he will respond by saying “osamatsu deshita,” which basically means “I’m sorry I couldn’t have provided a superior meal” -- even if, in his mind, he knows that he may have served you the best sushi you’ve have ever had.

Found this to be an interesting article because I hope to own a Sushi restaurant one day. I will own my own Sushi restaurant one day. Be sure to check out rules 1-9.
via AskMen.com

Get Him to the Greek

much respect to diddy for working across the boards.

A Message from the Blogger

not knowing is part of the journey
tread tough
get lost
find a tool along the way
find a friend
shed some blood
shed a tear
in all things, don't be afraid to live life
keep moving forward
dream ingeniously

A Message for the Heart

February 11, 2010
DailyOM
Open Heart
Returning Home

Spiritual teachers have always pointed to the heart as the seat of consciousness, and recently Western science has found evidence to support this realization. It turns out that the heart has its own central nervous system and is not simply under the rule of the brain as formerly believed. Anyone who has taken the time to explore the heart knows this and, more important, has realized that the heart is the source of our connection to a consciousness greater than the ego. Approaching life with an open heart means that we have opened the door to this greater consciousness, taking up residence alongside it in the seat of our soul. Fortunately, at this time there is a lot of support for this shift energetically as well as practically. To some degree, approaching life with an open heart is as simple as shifting your attention onto your heart.

Eventually you will be able do this any time, any place, but at first it may help to try it in a quiet place where you won’t be disturbed. Simply sit with your eyes closed and draw your breath into your heart. As your breath expands your chest cavity, your heart expands and opens. You may feel tenderness or sadness in your heart, and you may also feel relief. Any emotions that arise can be effectively witnessed and healed through the meditation process, which benefits both your physical heart and your energetic heart. The more you practice, the more you will find your heart opening to your own presence and to all the situations your life brings.

When we open our hearts, they may feel tender and vulnerable, which simply means that they need our loving attention as we cleanse and heal them of past hurts and blockages. This process asks us to practice some of the heart’s greatest lessons—patience, compassion, and unconditional love. On the other hand, we may take up residence as effortlessly as a bird returns to its nest. Either way, approaching life with an open heart simply means returning to our true home.

via. DailyOM.com

No Sé Por Qué Piensas Tú

No Sé Por Qué Piensas Tú
por Nicolás Guillén

No sé por qué piensas tú,
soldado, que te odio yo,
si somos la misma cosa
yo, tú.

Tú eres pobre, lo soy yo;
soy de abajo, lo eres tú;
¿de dónde has sacado tú,
soldado, que te odio yo?

Me duele que a veces tú
te olvides de quién soy yo;
caramba, si yo soy tú,
lo mismo que tú eres yo.

Pero no por eso yo
he de malquererte, tú;
si somos la misma cosa,
yo,
tú,
no sé por qué piensas tú,
soldado, que te odio yo.

Ya nos veremos yo y tú,
juntos en la misma calle,
hombro con hombro, tú y yo,
sin odios ni yo ni tú,
pero sabiendo tú y yo,
a dónde vamos yo y tú Y
¡ no sé por qué piensas tú,
soldado, que te odio yo!

Dominican Republic

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Have a Little Faith

"'That's right. Which is why our sages tell us to repent exactly one day before we die."
But how do you know it's the day before you die? I asked.
He raised his eyebrows.
"Exactly."'
From Have a Little Faith by Mitch Albom

Dear Parents

February 4, 2010
Practicing Nonattachment
Allowing Our Children To Be

"Truly loving our children requires us to set them free and practice nonattachment. Trust and allow."

Parenting asks us to rise to some of the most difficult challenges this world has to offer, and one of its greatest paradoxes arises around the issue of attachment. On the one hand, successful parenting requires that we love our children, and most of us love in a very attached way. On the other hand, it also requires that we let go of our children at the appropriate times, which means we must practice some level of nonattachment. Many parents find this difficult because we love our children fiercely, more than we will ever love anyone, and this can cause us to overstep our bounds with them as their independence grows. Yet truly loving them requires that we set them free.

Attachment to outcome is perhaps the greatest obstacle on the parenting path, and the one that teaches us the most about the importance of practicing nonattachment. We commonly perceive our children to be extensions of ourselves, imagining that we know what’s best for them, but our children are people in their own right with their own paths to follow in this world. They may be called to move in directions we fear, don’t respect, or don’t understand, yet we must let them go. This letting go happens gradually throughout our lives with our children until we finally honor them as fully grown adults who no longer require our guidance. At this point, it is important that we treat them as peers who may or may not seek our input into their lives. This allows them, and us, to fully realize the greatest gift parents can offer their offspring —independence.

Letting go in any area of life requires a deep trust in the universe, in the overall meaning and purpose of existence. Remembering that there is more to us and our children than meets the eye can help us practice nonattachment, even when we feel overwhelmed by concern and the desire to interfere. We are all souls making our way in the world and making our way, ultimately, back to the same source. This can be our mantra as we let our children go in peace and confidence.

Childhood Dreams

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